Raddogz Posted November 17, 2004 Share Posted November 17, 2004 Okay, I admit I have not set up a new tank in quite awhile. I am setting up my minibow 7 in my office (it's kinda cool cuz we have a 155 bowfront in my sales office). I dumped about two thirds of a twenty pound bag of live sand. Added pre-mixed ro/di salt water, and plan on bringing some live rock in from my existing five year old fifty gallon tank. So how do I speed up the cycling? I can add tank water from my fifty (mixed reef - predominately sps) as I know it the water parameters are good (i.e. 0 nitrates 0 phosphates etc.). My tank at home also uses ro/di water for topoff and water changes as well. Logic tells me that one month is the least I can go to let everything cycle, but I would like to speed things up a bit. Advice and suggestions welcome. Link to comment
pineomt Posted November 17, 2004 Share Posted November 17, 2004 if u can keep the rock in the water during transport, i bet you dont get much of a cycle at all. Maybe 2 weeks Link to comment
Raddogz Posted November 17, 2004 Author Share Posted November 17, 2004 Good deal, thanks - yeah I drive into work so the commute is maybe half an hour tops. I know the routine of checking the ammonia, phospahates, and nitrates which I will do on a weekly basis. Link to comment
EtOH_is_good Posted November 17, 2004 Share Posted November 17, 2004 wouldn't expect much ammonia, nitrite or nitrate from fully cured lr transported in water. what are you going to keep in new tank? may just want everything to settle for a couple weeks before adding anything, but really should be good to go from the beginning. Link to comment
Raddogz Posted November 17, 2004 Author Share Posted November 17, 2004 Soft corals like the zoas, leathers, blah blah (you know), maybe some baby clowns in the future. My 50 gallon has way too much light for the the zoos and ricordia to get going. Link to comment
MillerLite Posted November 17, 2004 Share Posted November 17, 2004 Hey Radddogz, Sounds cool. Wish I could have a mini-bow in my office. Quick question. What kind of live sand did you add to your tank? You mentioned 20 lbs bag, is this the live stuff you can buy in the store (like petco or petsmart) or is it LFS stuff? Also, if you are adding rock from your 50 gallon, why not steal some sand as well. This would definitely be better than using the store bought stuff unless again you got it from LFS. Even then, the more diversity of bacteria and sand critters, the faster your cycle. With the store bought bagged stuff, I still had a 2 week cycle in my minibow. Its was quick but still it was there. I would still give it an extra week or two after the cycle to balance out and add everything very slowly, especially fish. Sound like you already have a good reef so I will try to refrain from boring you. Good luck with the mini and keep everyone posted on its progress. Link to comment
Raddogz Posted November 17, 2004 Author Share Posted November 17, 2004 Yeah, the 20 pound stuff is Natural Ocean or something like that (same stuff as Petco or lfs stuff). I have crushed coral in my 50, which I don't like (visually it sucks for me anyway). I'll probably add some a cup of stuff from my tank to help it speed it along too. Thanks for the suggestions as I do appreciate it - never hurts to hear it again all the same. Link to comment
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