New tank help??

[marine_addict]

So many amazingly experienced reefers in this forum... I thought I would ask...

So, I'm in the process of starting a new reef tank. Tearing down my 120G and switching to a 46G.
I have moved my established (2yrs) live rock and sand from my existing 120G to the new tank, also have moved current equipment and about 1/2 of the needed water to fill the new tank was taken from the old/established tank. Then topped up with fresh mixed water.

My thought was that this would speed up the cycle time, since all of the rock and sand have tons of bacteria thriving.
The new tank has been filled, aquascaped and waiting about 3 days now for it to start a cycle.

My question is... Will this tank go through a cycle? Will there be a die off to start the cycle process? Should I add something to help start it or just wait it out??

I've never moved established rock to a new tank and not sure what to expect??
Any advise would be great, thx

[Cubeman]

If the rock and sand did not dry out I doubt you will experience a cycle. I've done pretty much what you've described several times and moved the livestock at the same time without any adverse affect.

[lpsreefer]

Test ur water if its okay. Then transfer all ur livestock

[daplatapus]

When I started my reef tank (77 gal) I put in 100 lbs of tonga live rock from my lfs. Rock was out of water maybe an hour or so. Started ghost feeding the tank for the first few days - no ammonia. Threw in a cocktail shrimp - waited about 2 weeks. Cocktail shrimp completely dissolved and disappeared - no ammonia. I never did see any spike of any kind in my tank.
My only slight concern about your situation is the re-used sand. Actually it's not the sand in itself, it's the detritus that accumulates in it over 2 years. If you rinsed it well and are not reading any NH3, NO2, or NO3, I would suspect you won't see any cycle at all.

[marine_addict]

rock and sand did not dry out, the two tanks are sitting about 10 feet from each other so I basically transferred directly to the other tank.

and I did rinse the sand before transfering it over, the original sandbed also contained crushed coral and I didnt want it in this setup so it was rinsed and the crushed coral peices strained out lol..

I'm just afraid to move my livestock over and create a cycle.. should i try the cocktail shrimp as a test?.. if there isn't enough nitrifying bacteria it will cycle right? and if not it should be ok?

[kien]

Originally Posted by marine_addict

rock and sand did not dry out, the two tanks are sitting about 10 feet from each other so I basically transferred directly to the other tank.

and I did rinse the sand before transfering it over, the original sandbed also contained crushed coral and I didnt want it in this setup so it was rinsed and the crushed coral peices strained out lol..

I'm just afraid to move my livestock over and create a cycle.. should i try the cocktail shrimp as a test?.. if there isn't enough nitrifying bacteria it will cycle right? and if not it should be ok?

As others suggested, you should be fine :-) Many people (myself included) have moved tanks a greater distance than 10 feet with previously established live rock. I don't think you will go through a cycle. The best way to know is to check your ammonia and nitrite. You should not detect any. If you do, then you'll know something bad happened and a cycle is probably occurring. But again, my money is on no cycle for you. As for dumping dead shrimp into your tank, I would advise against this. First check to see what your tank is doing (ie, is it cycling or not; test your parameters to find out). If it is not cycling, why force it to cycle ? :-)

[marine_addict]

ok, thank you