Cycling dry rock and dried old sand

[giangnambui]

Hi all,

I have 7 months 76 gallon tanks as below. My scape is very high and at the moment I don't have any position to place the sps frag. I intend to make a new dry scape, so i would like all of you give some advice with dry rock and dried old sand.

1. Taking the dry rock and old sand into the establised tank without cycling the rock (ofcourse there will be many problem are happened).

2. Taking the dried old sand into the tank but cycling the dry rock out side (using plastic box to cycle) in 2 weeks.

3. Cycling both of dried old sand and dry rock outside (using plastic box) in 2 weeks. Old sand at the bottom, using water changing from the main tank, T5 light, small wave maker, small pump and oxygen maker machine.

So which is the most suitable solution in these and why.

Thank all of you so much.

 

[brandon429]

This is what you need to do to avoid a massive dinoflagellates outbreak from the above plan.

I recommend change it this way:

change your plan so that 100% of all your current rock is used in the new setup. Add or stack dry rocks on top of it all, but still use your current live rock don't remove it all.


Skipping the cycle will be easy in the above plan


but you are removing the stabilizing factor for all that healthy coral growth if we remove all your live rock.


Your sand does not matter, we can just rinse out the current sand that's in there, and re assemble the living reef back as you want it, with the added scape rocks that are dry. added to the current existing setup.

You can change out all rocks for new, and we can pre-cycle them.

But the corals w suffer a while, cyano and dinos will hit hard.

 

[Soren]

I can't offer advice, but I have a similar question for transitioning a 75-gallon FOWLR with sand and some live rock to my 90-gallon reef I am planning right now, so I am following along.

 

[brandon429]

I am 100% sure we have those jobs logged for 40 pages in the sand rinse/tank transfer thread Soren i'd love to make a custom run job right here.

Sight unseen, the trick is pre rinsing.

there is zero risk of bacterial loss upon transfer, even after harsh rinsing (because that removes all detritus and waste transfer, the sole locus of the dreaded mini cycle)

removing live rocks altogether is the harshest loss of bac, so I hope we can customize the OP's plan. No harm at all blending jobs in one thread, saves posting all over the place and these two tanks share similarities in the process.

we have never lost a single reef in five years in the sand rinse thread which is about 40% tank upgrade/combining jobs

its always the same set of moves. while everyone else is very concerned over loss of bacteria (in transfers keeping original rocks) we know that won't happen, so rocks are always swished/twisted hard in saltwater to cast off their waste from the pores (all live rocks trap waste, surface area has this liability along with benefit)

but sand is washed in tap water, not RO or saltwater because thats a waste, and tap is free.

The bacteria from sandbed do not matter, though old rules used to claim they do. Only the live rock bacteria matters, its why in the OP's job I'd rather preserve it, those corals are sharp.

if we 100% make cloudless sand by tap water rinsing, the final rinse is RO water to evacuate the tap, we now have snowglobe-grains type sand that cloudless transfer and move tank to tank.


tap water rinsing of sand, whether its brand new (still tap rinse it) or old (for sure tap rinse it) is not a short job.

it takes probably one hour per bag, rinsed in sections in buckets.

You might be tempted to follow the bag directions and not pre rinse


dont do that heh

we make our own rules so that every job is consistent with a consistent outcome.
dont stack rinsed new sand on old sand from an existing tank, rip clean both sands before combining.

If we literally ignore every common reefkeeping rule about what bacteria allow, we can make both these tanks blend 100% safely.


to move any form of detritus tank to tank is the sole risk. no matter how many pro-detritus folks may be, not during surgery

the final trick from the sand rinse thread critical to both reefs here is dont shine full lights after you are done with the cleaning and blending.

you must re ramp your led's over a week just like when they were new. making light adjustments in relation to the removal of organic sinks-> sand rinse thread info and that above is all we need to rip flip and combine any reef materials we want and never harm corals.

 

[Soren]

I am 100% sure we have those jobs logged for 40 pages in the sand rinse/tank transfer thread Soren i'd love to make a custom run job right here.

Sight unseen, the trick is pre rinsing.

there is zero risk of bacterial loss upon transfer, even after harsh rinsing (because that removes all detritus and waste transfer, the sole locus of the dreaded mini cycle)

removing live rocks altogether is the harshest loss of bac, so I hope we can customize the OP's plan. No harm at all blending jobs in one thread, saves posting all over the place and these two tanks share similarities in the process.

we have never lost a single reef in five years in the sand rinse thread which is about 40% tank upgrade/combining jobs

its always the same set of moves. while everyone else is very concerned over loss of bacteria (in transfers keeping original rocks) we know that won't happen, so rocks are always swished/twisted hard in saltwater to cast off their waste from the pores (all live rocks trap waste, surface area has this liability along with benefit)

but sand is washed in tap water, not RO or saltwater because thats a waste, and tap is free.

The bacteria from sandbed do not matter, though old rules used to claim they do. Only the live rock bacteria matters, its why in the OP's job I'd rather preserve it, those corals are sharp.

if we 100% make cloudless sand by tap water rinsing, the final rinse is RO water to evacuate the tap, we now have snowglobe-grains type sand that cloudless transfer and move tank to tank.

dont stack rinsed new sand on old sand from an existing tank, rip clean both sands before combining.

If we literally ignore every common reefkeeping rule about what bacteria allow, we can make both these tanks blend 100% safely.


to move any form of detritus tank to tank is the sole risk. no matter how many pro-detritus folks may be, not during surgery

Yes, thanks for the input. I know there are many discussions about my question and I am still doing research myself and mostly have my answer.
I do not want to derail this topic to discussing my situation, but rather just wanted to follow where this thread goes for additional information that may relate to my situation.

 

[brandon429]

no derailment at all. totally pertinent to
giangnambui
aimed direction for the thread. He's contemplating the single deepest surgery possible on a reef tank.

Number of threads online that show that being worked: so rare I don't know of any. perhaps this one (totally matured sps system 100% transferred into a dry sand, dry rock, just barely cycled reef like Gian wants)

its pretty now, but look at the challenges too. keeping current live rock is advantageous every time


however, Tuffloud's now matured former white rock is dreamy he earned it and now has new live rock due to toughing out the wait and work period.

 

[brandon429]

Connecting Established Reef To New Tank

EDIT: 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...

www.reef2reef.com

any discussion or work thread examples anyone would like to link specifically expands options for Gian

 

[Soren]

no derailment at all. totally pertinent to
giangnambui
aimed direction for the thread. He's contemplating the single deepest surgery possible on a reef tank.

Number of threads online that show that being worked: so rare I don't know of any. perhaps this one (totally matured sps system 100% transferred into a dry sand, dry rock, just barely cycled reef like Gian wants)

its pretty now, but look at the challenges too. keeping current live rock is advantageous every time


however, Tuffloud's now matured former white rock is dreamy he earned it and now has new live rock due to toughing out the wait and work period.

I have definitely read the advantages of keeping current live rock and agree with your advice to @giangnambui to not replace all of the rock.

Also, thanks for relevant links!

 

[giangnambui]

This is what you need to do to avoid a massive dinoflagellates outbreak from the above plan.

I recommend change it this way:

change your plan so that 100% of all your current rock is used in the new setup. Add or stack dry rocks on top of it all, but still use your current live rock don't remove it all.


Skipping the cycle will be easy in the above plan


but you are removing the stabilizing factor for all that healthy coral growth if we remove all your live rock.


Your sand does not matter, we can just rinse out the current sand that's in there, and re assemble the living reef back as you want it, with the added scape rocks that are dry. added to the current existing setup.

You can change out all rocks for new, and we can pre-cycle them.

But the corals w suffer a while, cyano and dinos will hit hard.

It is so useful knowledge for me and for the new member.

Cause of not having enough space in present tanks so i will cycle the dry rock in a big plastic box. I use water and some live rock from the main tank. It is the safetest way for me at the moment.

Many thank for you.

 

[giangnambui]

no derailment at all. totally pertinent to
giangnambui
aimed direction for the thread. He's contemplating the single deepest surgery possible on a reef tank.

Number of threads online that show that being worked: so rare I don't know of any. perhaps this one (totally matured sps system 100% transferred into a dry sand, dry rock, just barely cycled reef like Gian wants)

its pretty now, but look at the challenges too. keeping current live rock is advantageous every time


however, Tuffloud's now matured former white rock is dreamy he earned it and now has new live rock due to toughing out the wait and work period.

Thank you so much.

I have to learn from you many ))