Can I use cycled freshwater gravel to cycle a reef tank?

[Vincerama]

I have a well established 10 gallon freshwater plant tank that I'm going to convert to a nano.

 

I heard that I could use the gravel (well, it's red and blue and ugly) to help cycle the tank in it's new "nano-reef" configuration.

I am currenlty running a well cycles biowheel filter (penguin) on it.

 

Can I cycle the tank by saving the gravel (maybe in a bowl in the tank, as I'm going to get some live sand) temporarily in the tank along with curing live rock and continue to run the biowheel to help the rock cure and cycle the tank? (I read that with a new set up, you can simultaneously cure live rock and cycle at the same time, which is basically the same thing for a tank with nothing but the live rock in it).

 

Also I have some old "Hagen Cycle" should I dump it in?

 

And lastly, I heard that a fishless cycle can be done with pure amonia, which I have. Of course I won't put the amonia in with the live rock (!!!) but if I had a small layer of non-livesand sitting in the tank along with a bowl of my seeded gravel and my bio wheel and put a few drops (3-5 drops per 10 g) of amonia in the tank, will this quick start the sand bed to cycle?

 

In conclusion, I'd like to cycle and cure some rock by....

 

1) mix some saltwater, put it in the tank

2) continue to run the biowheel

3) put some of the freshwater gravel in a bowl or a mesh bag and put it in the tank

4) put some amount of aragonite or crushed coral (ie; non-live sand)

5) keep the bacteria alive with some ammonia ( a few drops per day) while the small layer of sand cycles...

6) Change out the water as needed (50% when nitrite level drops)

7) In theory, put in some live rock, and stop putting in ammonia.

8) Let the rock cure with the help of the biowheel and the freshwater gravel and the small amount of cycled sand.

9) when the rock is cured and the tank cycles with it...put in some real live sand....

 

Does this sound reasonable? Or will the freshwater bacteria instantly die and my bio wheel turn into a salt lick? I could also

take off the wheel and let the HOB filter just run.

 

Thanks in advance for your help! I am looking forward to joining the collective!

 

Vince

[Raise]

Id just put some good sand in to begin with.... I could be wrong but I doubt that SW and FW organisms are the same?...?

Biowheel: Most people give the wheel a thumbs down. Id say ixnay on the wheel and put some carbon in the HOB.

And as far as adding ammonia to speed up a cycle.....ive never heard of that method before..WHy not just use some live arag and say a cup or two of sand from OTHER peoples tank? I used a few lbs of live arag and two cups of sand from my 55 and I virtually had NO cycle... I know its not likely. In my opinion using natural sea water, live sand (store bought) AND from another established tank is the BEST way to start up a tank.

[skeletor]

eeeek ! don't do it.... don't put that gravel in a SW tank...and don't put any chemicals/additives made for FW in a SW tank.

 

Has there ever been any copper in the tank ?

 

as Raise said, live sand is the way to go...

[Panic]

I've heard of using pue ammonia to cycle... but I think using a few drops each days is highly excessive. You may only need two or three drops in total otherwise you'll have such high nitrates at the end that a total water change will be neccessary.

 

I personally find it risky, I'm going to catch a little rock goby and one or two glass shrimp in the rockpools this weekend and chuck 'em in with a few temporary rocks which are thickly encrusted with pink coralline. Of course, I will probably struggle to get them out again, but that's OK.

[Vincerama]

Wow! Where do you live? Hawaii?

 

There are some tidal pools near me down the Pacific coast that have some hermit crabs and such, plus I could go down to Monterey and see what kind of stuff I can find on the beach, but I don't know enough about the ecology and fauna of the area to go picking stuff out of the ocean! I'd also feel bad about sacraficing them.

 

I have a 37 gallon FW tank that I cycled with a goldfish named Mr. Smackdown, who I gave to my (ex)girlfriend to cycle/keep in her 20g FW. He eventually passed onto the big bowl in the sky (via the small bowl in the bathroom) but I kinda feel bad for "cycling fish". Though cycling rock is OK for me. That's why I thought using ammonia for a fishless cycle might be OK. I guess I can also do a "pieces of dead FW plant" cycle as well.

 

Thanks for the input guys!

 

V

[donkeykong]

THe bacteria from the gravel will not help. Freshwter bacteria is completely diffrent then saltwater, you will just be making things more difficult.

I would never add chemicals if I didnt have to. Some of those quick start chemicals messes with your test kits and never lets you get a good reading.

Just start with the sand, live rock, and if you can get some sand from any body elses tank that will help. The curing live rock will produce more than enough ammonia to keep the cycle going. The biowheel and filter is a decision you will have to make.

[lizbeth]

Thanks for typing that out donkey, you are exactly right.

 

BTW you can use ammonia to cycle saltwater tanks the are going to be fish only. You have to carefully monitor the levels, there are net sites about how to do it. But believe me if you are going to use live rock you will have more than enough dieoff to start a cycle. If in doubt you can always add a raw cocktail shrimp to kick the cycle off. My tanks have always been spiked off the charts with ammonia so I've never done the shrimp routine.

 

California coastal waters are to cold, generally stuff from our beaches won't survive in our tropical tanks. Plus it's against the law to take some of the critters...so don't.

[Panic]

Nope, I'm in Cape Town, South Africa... we're certainly not tropical, but we have relatively clean seas and a lot of common fish which are found in both Indian and Atlantic oceans.

 

And a LOT of crusty coralline on all rocks below the low water mark... looks rather pretty. We also don't have such strict collection laws here, but then again, there aren't many people who collect pink coralline rocks here anyhow