Seeding a 29g help

[AngiGiles]

I am setting up a 29gal as a qt for the obscene amount of new corals I purchased (thank you again zoanthids.com!!) I have dry (used) rock. I've let it bake in the sun for weeks now, and it was previously dry when I got it. My thought is that I would add a rock or 2 from my main tank and siphon a bit of sand to cover the new sand. I am also culturing phyto and pods that I'm going to add along with the rocks. Is this sufficient? This will be filtered with a canister filled with a black large pore sponge and trays of broken up dry rock. Would it be best to add smaller seeded rocks to the canister? Directly to the tank? Do I still need to add bacteria? Would mbclean be of any use? Just trying to use what I have on hand, but also be successful. My main tank is amazing, no real pests, no algae, plenty of coralline. Also. Was planning to siphon and use some of the water as well when I siphon the sand.

Any help is much appreciated!

Just a little background, the tank was up and running for 5yrs before we bought it 2 months ago, brought it home and set it back up - no losses - 2 days later woke up to an empty tank, fish flopping on the sand, entire kitchen flooded, even filled the 75 freshwater below it, put everything in coolers with heaters and circulation, bought a new tank and put everything back in again, no losses.

Now the tank remains stable, coral are happy and growing/multiplying.

 

[jasrivas]

hi, i would definitely add bacteria i use fritz turbostart, the thing about using used dry rock is all the organics in it will break down, so don't add it all at once. What i do when starting a new tank is i will take a small amount of sand, live rock, water and used filter sock/pad to seed the new tank that should be enough