Getting a QT up and running in a pinch?

[lockrookie]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

Nonsense. There's nothing in tank water that will prevent a cycle. If you add fish to an empty tank with nothing but tank water, ammonia will rise. The only difference between clean fresh salt water and tank water is one is clean and fresh, the other has fish poop in it. The "bacteria" in DT water is insignificant.

I was told different by a local reefer loooong time ago and just followed this practice of using old tank water to start a new tank. I do agree there can be a spike but less significant than if you use fresh mix with no bacteria whatsoever.

When I transferred everything from my 90 to my 180 I did a process I will call transfusion I actually pumped back and forth from one tank to another for a week before transfering Rock coral and fish over. I had no spike whatsoever in the swap