Would this work to start out an aquarium?

mdebilio

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I want to start an aquarium and I need to cycle the tank. I have heard best practice after cycling the tank is to run the aquarium without the lights on to help keep the bad bacteria at bay.

I want to get this started before I move to a new apartment in a couple months… I want the tank to be operational and looking nice when I get it set up.

Can I cycle the tank and ghost feed it’s in a Rubbermaid Tupperware with the live rock, live sand, salt water, and some water flow (no fish maybe snails) so that I can easily transfer the live rock when it is ready for coral and I move into the new apartment with the full setup? Is this crazy or would it work?

This would help so that I don’t have to move an entire 90 gallon tank that’s already set up and full…..

Thoughts? Will this work?
 

Jedi1199

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I want to start an aquarium and I need to cycle the tank. I have heard best practice after cycling the tank is to run the aquarium without the lights on to help keep the bad bacteria at bay.

I want to get this started before I move to a new apartment in a couple months… I want the tank to be operational and looking nice when I get it set up.

Can I cycle the tank and ghost feed it’s in a Rubbermaid Tupperware with the live rock, live sand, salt water, and some water flow (no fish maybe snails) so that I can easily transfer the live rock when it is ready for coral and I move into the new apartment with the full setup? Is this crazy or would it work?

This would help so that I don’t have to move an entire 90 gallon tank that’s already set up and full…..

Thoughts? Will this work?

Honestly, I would recommend against it... Setting up and tearing down a tank is quite a chore. Once you have livestock, you are on a timer to get the tear-down and setup done. If you are only talking about a couple months, then it is better IMO to simply wait. If you want to get the tank up and running asap after the move, bottled bacteria will do the same job without the work.
 

Peace River

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Welcome to Reef2Reef!!! Cycling/prepping/building the bacteria on the rock is an option. It is extra effort and may save a couple of weeks after the move. I would take my time and not add extra stress to your move, but you know your situation better than we do. Good luck with your new adventure!
 

Jedi1199

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By the way... Welcome to the Dark Side...

Welcome.jpg



Now, if you are anxious to get your hands dirty on your tank project, here is another way to go. Order your rock now (it may take a couple weeks to arrive) and start planning and building your aquascape. Personally I prefer the look of the NSA scapes. Acquiring the materials and building it can take some time. Make a mockup of your actual tank so you can visualize it in 3D, play with placement, size, height, depth ect ect...

I just do not see any real advantage to what you are proposing. The time, work, and money you will spend to "pre-cycle" your rock, while adding extra work to your move, does not seem to be worth it to me personally. a "?"$ bottle of cycling bacteria and your are ready to go from day 1.
 
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mdebilio

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Thank you so much for the response.

The goal is to try and start now, before I move into a new apartment in 2-4 months, and not have to disassemble and move a full tank.

The process would be more like this…

-filter and saline water into a rubber ware bin
- add live rock and live sand
- add bacteria
- test till stable levels
- don’t add fish yet
- let it sit and ghost feed for 4 months with no light to help promote good bacteria and limit bad from growing ( due to lights)
- Move into new apartment in 3 months
- setup new tank and add live rock and sand with good and healthy bacteria established tosetup in new apartment.

Benefits:
- start now and not have to disassemble and move a full tank into my new apartment

thoughts? Hopefully I explained this a little better
 
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mdebilio

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Welcome to Reef2Reef!!! Cycling/prepping/building the bacteria on the rock is an option. It is extra effort and may save a couple of weeks after the move. I would take my time and not add extra stress to your move, but you know your situation better than we do. Good luck with your new adventure!
Thanks so much! I cannot describe how excited I am
 
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mdebilio

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Welcome! You can do that if you want, but like everyone else said you’ll be adding stress to the move. Not to mentioned moving 5gallon buckets of water with rock in them is a pain.
I totally agree. I was thinking that moving a 5 gallon bucked might be easier than a tank full of water etc
 

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I want to start an aquarium and I need to cycle the tank. I have heard best practice after cycling the tank is to run the aquarium without the lights on to help keep the bad bacteria at bay.

I want to get this started before I move to a new apartment in a couple months… I want the tank to be operational and looking nice when I get it set up.

Can I cycle the tank and ghost feed it’s in a Rubbermaid Tupperware with the live rock, live sand, salt water, and some water flow (no fish maybe snails) so that I can easily transfer the live rock when it is ready for coral and I move into the new apartment with the full setup? Is this crazy or would it work?

This would help so that I don’t have to move an entire 90 gallon tank that’s already set up and full…..

Thoughts? Will this work?
Cycle the tank, but don’t replace the filter media if you don’t have filter media, try adding some sponges and filter floss to harbor the bacteria. Once you start to move just take that bacteria out and reuse it with bottled bacteria that’ll help you with your move tremendously.
 

Jedi1199

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Thank you so much for the response.

The goal is to try and start now, before I move into a new apartment in 2-4 months, and not have to disassemble and move a full tank.

The process would be more like this…

-filter and saline water into a rubber ware bin
- add live rock and live sand
- add bacteria
- test till stable levels
- don’t add fish yet
- let it sit and ghost feed for 4 months with no light to help promote good bacteria and limit bad from growing ( due to lights)
- Move into new apartment in 3 months
- setup new tank and add live rock and sand with good and healthy bacteria established tosetup in new apartment.

Benefits:
- start now and not have to disassemble and move a full tank into my new apartment

thoughts? Hopefully I explained this a little better


Ok, let's start at the top.

How are you going to get water? RODI? NSW? Another source? If RODI, do you have a unit now? Do you plan to get one? Will you have a place in the new apartment to set it up? If going with NSW, That is a huge expense and a lot of hassle for a tank the size you propose. Can you handle that expense?

Add live rock and live sand. Easiest done in the tank. No real benefit from doing it earlier. By "live rock", do you mean actual real live rock, or the impregnated dry live rock (the purple stuff)? See my earlier post about building your aquascape. Do you have a way to aerate the sand? Regular vacuuming? All that food has to go somewhere...

Add bacteria.. If you plan to add bacteria anyway??? See my post above.

Test till stable. This is irrelevant. Once you add a significant amount of new water to the system, your tests go out the window.

Don't add fish yet... Bottled bacteria jumpstarts the cycling process to a level where you can add fish to a new tank from day 1 or2.

Let sit and ghost feed.... Irrelevant if using bottled bacteria.

The last couple points are not really involving the direction I understand your questions to be aimed toward.

Now.. after saying that. My simple answer to your question is, YES, it WILL work. I simply add that it is an unnecessary step. Get a brute can to hold your rock and sand. 90g tank= 90lbs of sand, plus 90lbs of rock (give or take).. Add your bacteria, water circulators, aeration devices, and then regular water changes for 2-4 months. Then drain all that water, move wet rock and sand and water.... If you plan a NSA scape, DRY out all the rock so you can break it up and reassemble it (*defeats the purpose right there no?) Then after ALL of that, you might have the stability you hope to achieve, but not guaranteed.

This is my own opinion and of course you are free to chose whatever plan you wish. It will work, but is it really worth it?
 
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mdebilio

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Neither Welcome to R2R!
Interesting idea but not sure it will work?

98FF4244-1B3B-4EDB-BCB3-34BBB974ADD3.gif
By the way... Welcome to the Dark Side...

Welcome.jpg



Now, if you are anxious to get your hands dirty on your tank project, here is another way to go. Order your rock now (it may take a couple weeks to arrive) and start planning and building your aquascape. Personally I prefer the look of the NSA scapes. Acquiring the materials and building it can take some time. Make a mockup of your actual tank so you can visualize it in 3D, play with placement, size, height, depth ect ect...

I just do not see any real advantage to what you are proposing. The time, work, and money you will spend to "pre-cycle" your rock, while adding extra work to your move, does not seem to be worth it to me personally. a "?"$ bottle of cycling bacteria and your are ready to go from day 1.
Thanks you. I am starting to think you might be right. I was really hoping to avoid the 4 months of “dark” so that by the time I get the new setup in the new apartment it is ready for lights on.

Andto be honest…. I’m not super patient, so if that tank is all setup in my new apartment, it will be REALLY hard for me to keep the lights off for 4 months plus the slowly adding fish etc. I need to learn patience but was hoping to skip this phase with the bucket
 
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mdebilio

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Ok, let's start at the top.

How are you going to get water? RODI? NSW? Another source? If RODI, do you have a unit now? Do you plan to get one? Will you have a place in the new apartment to set it up? If going with NSW, That is a huge expense and a lot of hassle for a tank the size you propose. Can you handle that expense?

Add live rock and live sand. Easiest done in the tank. No real benefit from doing it earlier. By "live rock", do you mean actual real live rock, or the impregnated dry live rock (the purple stuff)? See my earlier post about building your aquascape. Do you have a way to aerate the sand? Regular vacuuming? All that food has to go somewhere...

Add bacteria.. If you plan to add bacteria anyway??? See my post above.

Test till stable. This is irrelevant. Once you add a significant amount of new water to the system, your tests go out the window.

Don't add fish yet... Bottled bacteria jumpstarts the cycling process to a level where you can add fish to a new tank from day 1 or2.

Let sit and ghost feed.... Irrelevant if using bottled bacteria.

The last couple points are not really involving the direction I understand your questions to be aimed toward.

Now.. after saying that. My simple answer to your question is, YES, it WILL work. I simply add that it is an unnecessary step. Get a brute can to hold your rock and sand. 90g tank= 90lbs of sand, plus 90lbs of rock (give or take).. Add your bacteria, water circulators, aeration devices, and then regular water changes for 2-4 months. Then drain all that water, move wet rock and sand and water.... If you plan a NSA scape, DRY out all the rock so you can break it up and reassemble it (*defeats the purpose right there no?) Then after ALL of that, you might have the stability you hope to achieve, but not guaranteed.

This is my own opinion and of course you are free to chose whatever plan you wish. It will work, but is it really worth it?
Ok, let's start at the top.

How are you going to get water? RODI? NSW? Another source? If RODI, do you have a unit now? Do you plan to get one? Will you have a place in the new apartment to set it up? If going with NSW, That is a huge expense and a lot of hassle for a tank the size you propose. Can you handle that expense?

Add live rock and live sand. Easiest done in the tank. No real benefit from doing it earlier. By "live rock", do you mean actual real live rock, or the impregnated dry live rock (the purple stuff)? See my earlier post about building your aquascape. Do you have a way to aerate the sand? Regular vacuuming? All that food has to go somewhere...

Add bacteria.. If you plan to add bacteria anyway??? See my post above.

Test till stable. This is irrelevant. Once you add a significant amount of new water to the system, your tests go out the window.

Don't add fish yet... Bottled bacteria jumpstarts the cycling process to a level where you can add fish to a new tank from day 1 or2.

Let sit and ghost feed.... Irrelevant if using bottled bacteria.

The last couple points are not really involving the direction I understand your questions to be aimed toward.

Now.. after saying that. My simple answer to your question is, YES, it WILL work. I simply add that it is an unnecessary step. Get a brute can to hold your rock and sand. 90g tank= 90lbs of sand, plus 90lbs of rock (give or take).. Add your bacteria, water circulators, aeration devices, and then regular water changes for 2-4 months. Then drain all that water, move wet rock and sand and water.... If you plan a NSA scape, DRY out all the rock so you can break it up and reassemble it (*defeats the purpose right there no?) Then after ALL of that, you might have the stability you hope to achieve, but not guaranteed.

This is my own opinion and of course you are free to chose whatever plan you wish. It will work, but is it really worth it?
Yeah that is starting to become clear. I am happy I took this question here.

I was really hoping to avoid the 4 months of “dark” so that by the time I get the new setup in the new apartment it is ready for lights on.

Andto be honest…. I’m not super patient, so if that tank is all setup in my new apartment, it will be REALLY hard for me to keep the lights off for 4 months plus the slowly adding fish etc. I need to learn patience but was hoping to skip this phase with the buckets etc
 

vetteguy53081

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While its not a failed method, best to prepare the conventional way and build bacteria, seed the tank and filter and go through the typical ugly phase.
 

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