Connecting Established Reef To New Tank

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Tuffloud1

Tuffloud1

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In conclusion, if using the method I did - connecting an established reef to a new system with dry rock (clean), I recommend the following:

1. Dose your new tank prior to connecting to your old tank with NO3 and PO4 enough to raise to your established tank levels.

2. Take your skimmer and filter socks offline until your NO3 and PO4 are stable and consistently matches established tank prior to connecting, run it dirty!

2. Don’t freak out if you have a bacterial bloom in the beginning, it will clear up after a day or so.

3. Overfeed your tank (assuming new system is substantially larger) in the beginning as the additional water volume has diluted your system but watch NO3 and especially PO4 closely.

4. Don’t run lighting on the new tank during this process.

5. Obviously, monitor your alk, calcium, mag and adjust dosing as needed and be sure to dose the new tank up/down to established tank levels prior to connecting.
 
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ScottB

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In conclusion, if using the method I did - connecting an established reef to a new system with dry rock (clean), I recommend the following:

1. Dose your new tank prior to connecting to your old tank with NO3 and PO4 enough to raise to your established tank levels.

2. Take your skimmer offline and do not clean your filter socks until your NO3 and PO4 are stable and consistently matches established tank prior to connecting.

2. Don’t freak out if you have a bacterial bloom in the beginning, it will clear up after a day or so.

3. Overfeed your tank (assuming new system is substantially larger) in the beginning as the additional water volume has diluted your system but watch NO3 and especially PO4 closely.

4. Don’t run lighting on the new tank during this process.

5. Obviously, monitor your alk, calcium, mag and adjust dosing as needed and be sure to dose the new tank up/down to established tank levels prior to connecting.

Excellent summary!

In the likely event that someone happens upon your post searching for this kind of info, perhaps you should Edit: your initial post so that the reader can see your conclusions on the initial page hit from their search.
 
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Excellent summary!

In the likely event that someone happens upon your post searching for this kind of info, perhaps you should Edit: your initial post so that the reader can see your conclusions on the initial page hit from their search.

Good idea, done!
 
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A little update, I have a major bloom of what appears to be green cyano on the sand bed.

I had thought about using Chemiclean to wipe it out but not sure if I should just let things run their course. I have already vacuum siphoned the sand bed twice. It returns within a day.

The new rock already has coralline covering anywhere that light is hitting. Entire rocks turning purple by the day.

PO4 - .02 - .08

NO3 - steady at 5 ppm

BCA27575-AB63-41DE-B66F-5A120B395A33.jpeg
7D5C0732-1197-44D2-A4E7-5403DDAC6198.jpeg
9E24FEB5-D89E-40E8-BB00-0138FEE71A2C.jpeg
 

brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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For such a large system I’d have to be using UV to help intercept, those large systems are hard to deep clean for sure


a pond sterilizer off Amazon isn’t that costly and can be ran until not needed then offline/new substrate uglies sounds norm
 

ScottB

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Hmmm. I am having something similar at a store tank. Thin sheets of what look/seem to be green cyano. It gets O2 bubbles in it and blows off easily. Had a bout of low nutrients (almost dinos) when I connected a 90G frag display to it. Corals don't seem to mind, it is just annoying to tidy up.

I have to guess it is just transitional for us both and nothing to worry over.
 

brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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was just using this thread as an example of old school contact cycling, thought it was worth a re bump. hope the new tank uglies have cleared up
 
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was just using this thread as an example of old school contact cycling, thought it was worth a re bump. hope the new tank uglies have cleared up

It totally cleared up. I used Chemiclean and it worked great. I highly recommend. Corals appeared completely unaffected.

A30A57B5-1A08-4F1E-815F-B909AD4CB284.jpeg
 

brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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Ok perfect I won’t forget that for upcoming large cyano jobs, in a tank that massive there likely were few other options and it was a true rough patch at the start, wonderful after pic there
 
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brandon429

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Tuff

we are using your thread right now to protect a reef probably worth four grand from dying, as we move it to a new tank.

nice job on documentation and 1st post summary.
 

brandon429

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A bump. This was one of the more important cycling threads, tank transfer threads and detailed documentation of the last two years
 

brandon429

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one thousand reef cycles benefitted from reading this thread glad you checked it our LRT I enjoy linking to it. every few years a rule breaker shows up, then the rules get adjusted. viva the totally free cycle. this was specifically a cycle earned without having to buy anything.


I guarantee 100% if we make a poll checking, 90%-99% of any respondent sample will select that a cycle cannot occur without adding literal bacteria from a bottle or by live rock transfer. they will not agree it can come from the water only, because someone once typed that water carries no bac and it stuck as a decades-long claim.

this thread is also used to show surface area exchangers what to expect in new uglies phasing, and when it clears, for huge setups vs nano reefs.
 

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Just running through a few pages of this as I know someone planning an expansion.

Now that we are (knock on wood) post Covid, do you think you and the family were early adopters on C19 late Feb of 2020? That s**t was very real around here in February March April 2020. Now my town is 77% vaxxed and we are all licking door nobs. Awesome improvement.
 

TnFishwater98

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Just running through a few pages of this as I know someone planning an expansion.

Now that we are (knock on wood) post Covid, do you think you and the family were early adopters on C19 late Feb of 2020? That s**t was very real around here in February March April 2020. Now my town is 77% vaxxed and we are all licking door nobs. Awesome improvement.
It was here WAY before that...
 

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Finally got back to read this thread!
Pure gem. On point assessment and coaching. Would love to know how everything looks today @Tuffloud1 ? Really wish I would have given this thread a read before recent upgrade.
Totally different circumstances but could have applied 100% parameter control advice given in this thread instead of learning on the fly.
 

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Finally got back to read this thread!
Pure gem. On point assessment and coaching. Would love to know how everything looks today @Tuffloud1 ? Really wish I would have given this thread a read before recent upgrade.
Totally different circumstances but could have applied 100% parameter control advice given in this thread instead of learning on the fly.
I was 0 for 3 in avoiding dinos, but I did get better each time.

Will be going through a large tank transfer in a few months and hoping I can get it right this time. A little more at stake this time...
 

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I was 0 for 3 in avoiding dinos, but I did get better each time.

Will be going through a large tank transfer in a few months and hoping I can get it right this time. A little more at stake this time...
Scott are you using ocean rock, cycled dry rock from mature system or new dry rock in your upgrades?
Although this was entirely different from my recent upgrade tanks. I still seen 100% of the nutrient and parameter control you advised here. Tbh i feel i owe full success that I've had with my shroom lagoon to diligently matching and maintaining old system params to the T. I did not expect my lagoon to take off running the way it did but quickly caught on to alk and nutrient dispersement/usage and once I got a handle and stabilized it really did settle in nicely.
I did have to dose Nitrates and Phosphates daily but I took the lower dose approach of 1-2 ppm nitrates and .03-.06 phosphates. Didnt take alot of nitrate dosing maybe a week or 2 for my regular feeding to lock me back into around 5ppm, but seemed to take a solid month or 2 for phosphates to catch up and stay in readable range to now sitting at around .1 phosphates months later. I never did see an ugly phase in shroom lagoon knock on wood. I feel like it was super tight line I walked with lower constant dosing of nutrients.
The cpl times I missed dosing phosphates I did have a cpl of my super fussy shrooms start losing color. Was super critical keeping Phosphates in system. Did mine with all gulf rock though not sure if that makes much of a difference.
 

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this cycling thread here can be best summed up as


Macna talks
forum claims
youtube videos
common knowledge / duh

all say reef tank water has no transmissible bacteria

it’s a reefing rule etched into stone tablets somewhere


Tuffloud: hold my cycling bac, watch this:
 

A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

  • I currently have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 64 36.8%
  • Not currently, but I have had feather dusters in my tank in the past.

    Votes: 59 33.9%
  • I have not had feather dusters, but I hope to in the future.

    Votes: 25 14.4%
  • I have no plans to have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 26 14.9%
  • Other.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
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