DannoOMG
Active Member
I almost called it the Belgium method. Tssst. What are we making waffles or somethin? Tssst...
I have had my 13.5 Evo running for 2 years now and have decided I want something a little bigger and something that will give me some better options for returns pumps etc... Things are getting tight and making maintenance more difficult so bigger would help me out. I am trying to wrap my head around transferring everything from the old tank to the new tank and wanted to run it by this forum first. I have watched videos and read about people using live rock to skip the cycle phase of a new tank. It seems logical and technically I have done something like that already when I did a rip clean of my Evo last spring and everything worked out fine. However the volume did not change in the tank where this time I am going up by 12 gallons. Regarding this method I have read something on the lines of "The typical rule of thumb is to use from 1-2 lb (0.45 to 0.9 kg) of live rock per gallon (US) (3.7 liters) of aquarium water depending on the density of the rock"
Wide tank shot:
Close up:
My plan is to move everything in this tank to the new 25 gallon tank. I am not sure about moving the existing sand bed even if I rinse it. Would love feedback on that. I plan on getting new sand to put in. I also want to get a couple more small pieces of live rock to throw in the tank so my acans have something to grow on. I will NOT be adding any new live stock to this new system for a bit and if I do it will be a peppermint shrimp and maybe another Urchin.
So I plan on moving my existing live rock with corals to the new aquarium.
I am not sure if I should rinse my existing sand and put it on top of new sand? Should i just go with new sand and ditch the old sand?
I have a drop in algae scrubber that uses an airline that has growth on it that will be going in the filtration section of the tank. (see image)
I want to bring over my sponge/mechanical filtration over to the filtration part of the tank cause it should have bacteria on it. (I think?)
(see the green foam stuff under the filter floss)
I am going to make sure the new water has the same salinity as my existing tank water. I plan on keeping my lights down low and let things acclimate for a couple weeks.
So in theory people can do all of this the day you put water in a new tank and it is supposed to skip the cycle process. But I am a little apprehensive about it cause I am increasing my water volume by about 11-12 gallons and not sure I will have enough bacteria on the rocks I have. I can add some new small live rock from a local fish store to help.
Will I be okay using this method to skip the cycle or should I just wait 2-3 weeks? Again I will NOT be adding new livestock to the tank. Just what I have already.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and don't worry if you think this is dumb or whatever. I won't get offended. I am a rookie and still learning.
I have had my 13.5 Evo running for 2 years now and have decided I want something a little bigger and something that will give me some better options for returns pumps etc... Things are getting tight and making maintenance more difficult so bigger would help me out. I am trying to wrap my head around transferring everything from the old tank to the new tank and wanted to run it by this forum first. I have watched videos and read about people using live rock to skip the cycle phase of a new tank. It seems logical and technically I have done something like that already when I did a rip clean of my Evo last spring and everything worked out fine. However the volume did not change in the tank where this time I am going up by 12 gallons. Regarding this method I have read something on the lines of "The typical rule of thumb is to use from 1-2 lb (0.45 to 0.9 kg) of live rock per gallon (US) (3.7 liters) of aquarium water depending on the density of the rock"
Wide tank shot:
Close up:
My plan is to move everything in this tank to the new 25 gallon tank. I am not sure about moving the existing sand bed even if I rinse it. Would love feedback on that. I plan on getting new sand to put in. I also want to get a couple more small pieces of live rock to throw in the tank so my acans have something to grow on. I will NOT be adding any new live stock to this new system for a bit and if I do it will be a peppermint shrimp and maybe another Urchin.
So I plan on moving my existing live rock with corals to the new aquarium.
I am not sure if I should rinse my existing sand and put it on top of new sand? Should i just go with new sand and ditch the old sand?
I have a drop in algae scrubber that uses an airline that has growth on it that will be going in the filtration section of the tank. (see image)
I want to bring over my sponge/mechanical filtration over to the filtration part of the tank cause it should have bacteria on it. (I think?)
(see the green foam stuff under the filter floss)
I am going to make sure the new water has the same salinity as my existing tank water. I plan on keeping my lights down low and let things acclimate for a couple weeks.
So in theory people can do all of this the day you put water in a new tank and it is supposed to skip the cycle process. But I am a little apprehensive about it cause I am increasing my water volume by about 11-12 gallons and not sure I will have enough bacteria on the rocks I have. I can add some new small live rock from a local fish store to help.
Will I be okay using this method to skip the cycle or should I just wait 2-3 weeks? Again I will NOT be adding new livestock to the tank. Just what I have already.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and don't worry if you think this is dumb or whatever. I won't get offended. I am a rookie and still learning.
