New tank with old water, skip cycle?

When I went from my 90g to my 200g, I used all LR from my 90g, plus quite a bit of fully cured LR, most of my old 90g water, and new sand. I used a few cups of live sand from the 90g.

I had no cycle at all.

 

even though you might not think it... there is detrius real deeeeeep in your LR that will stir and cause a mini cycle... shouldnt be too much of a problem though

 

I have pulled off a same day change over using the same water but I also didn't care if I lost a few damsels or corals that I had placed. How about using it for a frag tank?

 

I think I will go with that idea, might as well make some money to spend on my DT. I will do this from scratch though and use all new water and live sand, can I do this with no livestock other than some snails and hermit crabs. What else do I need in order to set up a successfull frag tank for the best coral growth?

 

I didnt go through the whole thread so forgive me if I repeat, but the water has nothing to do with a cycle. What "cycles" is basiclly the LR and LS. You can use the water from an established system to fill up the new tank, ut that will not help you in "skipping" a cycle. If you switched your LR and LS from one system to the other, that will shorten the cycle period.



Luna

 

don't forget the pipefish. they are really cool too i just got one for my 20 long.

 

When ever you move live rock or live sand from one tank to another you will distube how everything is sitting and stir up detritus and you will always have some form of a cycle when you move things to a new tank. good bacteria dont live in the water column they live on solid surfaces such as your lr and ls and on the glass

 

The beneficial bacteria are not free swimming, they live in and on the rock(mostly down deep inside porous rock) and sand so using old water has little if any benefit. I prefer to use new saltwater so I don't transfer any bad things which may be present in the water. Remember water is the single largest ingredient in a reef system and everything revolves around its quality.
Use dry sand, cured rock if possible and add a few cups of real live sand from an established tank to jump start it. There won't be much of a cycle that way.