Couple cycling questions

[Juice780]

I bought a tank off a guy and he had it broke down. All the live rock was taken out and stored it in tubes with saltwater on them. I scooped at all the sand and remaking water and I’m starting with fresh sand. There was some hermit cranes and at least one shrimp still alive with the rock. When I cycle the tank can I throw the crabs in there with the shrim or should I wait till the tank is finished cycling?  Also since I will be using already established live rock do I need to add anything else to the tank to help the process?  I’m assuming I’m going to have a lot of die off since the rock has been out a while. 

[Clown79]

22 minutes ago, Juice780 said:

I bought a tank off a guy and he had it broke down. All the live rock was taken out and stored it in tubes with saltwater on them. I scooped at all the sand and remaking water and I’m starting with fresh sand. There was some hermit cranes and at least one shrimp still alive with the rock. When I cycle the tank can I throw the crabs in there with the shrim or should I wait till the tank is finished cycling?  Also since I will be using already established live rock do I need to add anything else to the tank to help the process?  I’m assuming I’m going to have a lot of die off since the rock has been out a while. 

Was the rock allowed to dry? 

 

If it was kept in saltwater, it should still have life but that also depends on if it was kept heated with water movement.

 

Only way to know is testing ammonia levels and nitrate.

 

If not, there is a chance that you will have a cycle, maybe not a full blown one but possibly a spike.

 

With liverock besides adding some bacteria, there should be nothing else to do as it will cycle on it's own if there is die off.

 

If the shrimp and hermits are still alive with the rock, that to me means the rock is still fine.

[nickfarmer]

Smart move of not putting the sand in.  I did that along time ago and caused all types of problems.  

[nickfarmer]

Also, if you keep the shrimp and crabs out of the tank be careful about keep them as you may cause just as much issues by keeping them out of the new tank.

[nickfarmer]

As long as the rock was still wet, which it sounds like it was.   If I was doing it and had to move everything anyway I would just keep it all together. I would bet you would have at least a small spike but watch the readings and do water changes if needed.   Good luck

[mcarroll]

Ya...IMO is sounds like it was in pretty good shape all the way around if the shrimp was still kicking.  You also said it was out of water tho, which is concerning and confusing....shrimp can't live out of water.  So what part was and what part wasn't?

 

If it was kept wet (even damp) just get it into the new tank as quickly and smoothly as possible so there's minimal air time.

 

Wouldn't be bad to watch for an ammonia spike just to be safe, but doesn't seem like it should be likely (and not large, if it happens).

 

Keep an eye on it just in case and be ready, but don't be disappointed if there's no emergency. 😉 

 

 

If they moved the sand into the bin, chances are it was pretty clean (or the bin would prolly look like heck).  If it seems clean, I'd use it -- live sand is an advantage.  If it seemed dirty, you can either clean it in saltwater (which is some work, but will preserve at least the bacterial life) or replace it (it's cheap).