Hernkgiggleshh Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 I am currently the proud owner of a 10 gallon reef tank. My sights have been set a bit higher though and have purchased a 29 gallon tank that I will be setting up. My question/curiosity: To help "boost" the first cycle of my new tank, can I re-use the water I take from my established tank during water changes? Currently the new tank sits dry, waiting. So I figured that while I still have the 10 gallon set up I could use it as basically a starter culture. Good idea/ bad idea/ won't make a difference? Link to comment
WibblyPig Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 Your water contains next to no bacteria and shouldn't contain any ammonia or nitrites to kick start things. Your best bet will be to add some of the sand after you add your additional rock and get the 29 filled. Depending upon the age of the sand, you might want to give it a good rinse in salt water and get the gunk out of it before you put it in. No matter what, when you move the new stuff over, you're going to have some sort of a mini cycle. Link to comment
Benny314 Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 The water won't make much odds. Putting established live rock and sand into your new system from your old will help boost the life in your tank. You will still need to cycle the system fully though and by all means transfer your water, but the point of a water change is to remove nitrate and other desolved organic waste, so using old tank water for water changes isn't going to help export waste from your new system if that makes sence. Link to comment
alanwest09872 Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 Setup the new tank trying to match all the perimeters of your current tank (temp, ph, salinity, so on) Water doesnt contain very much bacteria. What contains the bacteria is surface area. So any Rocks/Sand/decorations that you have will have the actual bacteria that you want. Action Plan 1. I would setup the new tank matching as many perimeters as possible from your old tank. Move over any Live cycled rock that you have. 2. Your gonna need additional Rock So I would recommend going with a base Rock. reefcleaners.com actually has reef rock that you can add to your tank as soon as you get it. (the live rock that you have currently will seed the base rock) 3. Purchase New sand (since old sand will contain lots of traped Nitrates. (wash the sand really well, Not with Soap) If you do all this it should be fine to add the fish you currently have to the new system. If you do everything right you will have little to no new cycle. I did this about 1.5 months ago when I swapped tanks. Link to comment
FishI Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 I put some of my new rock in my old ten gallon to seed it with bacteria while I was setting up my new tank. Link to comment
Hernkgiggleshh Posted February 18, 2015 Author Share Posted February 18, 2015 My short term plan was to use the water from the 10g water changes to fill the 29g. I intend on making my own rock, and waiting the weeks/months it will take to cure, before stocking anything. Really this question was just to see if for the time being I could avoid buying 29 gallons worth of ro/di and salt for the initial setup. Link to comment
4x5 Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 If you're looking to save some cash and the water isn't too dirty then go right ahead and recycle it, it's not going to do any harm IMO. Link to comment
Benny314 Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 Totally, using your water changes to fill the new system is fine. I see what you mean now. I did the same with mine while I was setting up. It won't cause any issues with the cycle, but it also won't make the cycle go away quicker. Link to comment
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