Buying complete setup from a seller. Do I still need to cycle?

[AquaVaj]

I will be looking at a complete setup from a seller today. It's a 100gal and they're including a 37 quarantine tank as well. The tank is currently taken down with the live rocks and sand in buckets. 2 fishes are relocated to quarantine tank until purchase.

If they provide me with little to none of their old saltwater, do I still need to cycle if I mixed new saltwater? I have ~40gal of RO water ready to be mixed. I should have enough water for the quarantine tank so I'll keep the fishes and as much live rock as I can in there til I can make enough RO water for the DT.

 

[ScarBosh]

yes do cycle. even if they gave you half of their water I would play it on the safe side and wait for a spike to happen.

 

[ScarBosh]

ps

Good luck and keep us updated

 

[james-lee]

Yes you will more than likely start a new cycle. You can keep the rocks and sand alive buy using a heater and power head to provide circulation and then get your tank set up. However I would suggest doing it this way:

1. Calculate how much live rock and how much sand you have weight wise. One gallon of water weighs about 8.3 lbs. With that in mind you can calculate how much water displacement you will have.
2. Once you get your water displacement you can then calculate how much water you will need between your DT and sump and start filling up and mixing salt.
3. Once filled and mixed run your heater to get your temp to 78 and let the tank sit for atlest 24 hours after mixing the salt and water with a power head circulating everything.
4. You can now add your sand and then rock.
5. Make sure you start to run your skimmer once you have everything the way you want it. Some people say dont skim during initial setup but I feel the ocean never stops skimming and so shouldnt you. :dance3:

Hope this helps and I am sure many others will have great advice for you and good luck and post pictures when you are done!

 

[suvuong7]

yes you'll need to cycle and you'll have a lot more room to fill up your tank than mine.....hahaha...I need to upgrade my tank size but don't have time right now.....

 

[Tangwich]

The only advice I would give when buying an established system is to NOT use their sand or if you want to use the sand, make sure you rinse well with ro water before using in your system once you set it back up. I didn't do that in my last tank and had nitrate problems and couldn't figure it out until someone mentioned that to me.
In my current setup, I went with new sand and my system has been running flawlessly and corals are growing incredibly fast.

 

[TypicalWhiteAZN]

naaahh, when you get the tank.. put all the sand and rock in there, dump the RO water in there and fill the remainder w/ your garden hose... pour enough salts and blast as many powerheads you could find in there..... marine fish are strong, they can handle being in the tank during the whole process...

I'm just kidding..

If the sand and rocks are still moist or kept 'wet' in the buckets then use saltwater to rinse out the sand and clean the rocks... there are many methods to this, everyone has their own quirks to it... I prefer hand-bucket method w/ many rinses for the sand and brush-bucket method for the rocks...

maintain salinity so all those cute lil bacteria are happy....

add bacteria solution and cycle for a few weeks following which add fishies and enjoy!

 

[AquaVaj]

Thanks for all the great advice.

Here's an update. My live sand will be delivered today. It's 160lbs worth. I also have ~80g of RO water ready to go as well. Live rock has been sitting in a large plastic garbage bin with a heater and powerhead circulating the water.

My plan is to:
1. Connect everything
2. Lay the sand bed and fill slightly with saltwater to keep sand moist
3. Aquascape rocks
4. Fill rest of tank and check for leaks
5. Check water parameters
6. Run tank overnight and recheck parameters next day
7. Start cycle

Does this sound right? Seems some people mix the water in the tank but won't you have to drain it before you can add the sand and rocks?

 

[StarBlenny]

Remember, if you fill it up with water first and then add sand/rocks, they will displace water and you might have to take out more water. I have a 29g system but with the sand/rocks, I have about 22g of water in it (but my rocks are dense base rocks I 'sorta' got scammed into buying it instead of lighter porous rocks).

IMO, I think your plan is a good idea to aquascape before adding water. It's easier to move the rocks around when there's no water. The live stuff in the rocks will be fine if its wet, as long you don't do it under MH or take a full day to aquascape it.

Just make sure the tank is leak free before adding the sand/rocks in it. You'll be pissed when you do an awesome aquascaping job to realize that you have a leak in the bottom back of the wall.

 

[Tangwich]

no mixing saltwater in the tank and yes i agree to add your sand and do your rockscape before adding water...

 

[wickedfish]

I do my scape In front of the tank, out side on a piece of plywood the same size as the tank. Or just use tape to outline the size if the tank.

Then I add the sand, then the scape, then the water. I place my hand in front of the hose when it goes in via pump. (so you don't scatter the sand.) place a sock on your drain the finest possible.

160lbs of LS is too much unless your doing a really deep dsb. I used 160lbs mostly dead and some live sand, on my 225g and I have 4" of sand all the way around. If it was an old system it will probably be a quick cycle.

My original tank was 5 years old when it was brought to my house by the previous owner. He didn't even change the sand or clean it. Never had a spike never cycled. Mind you it had like 180lbs of rock in a 90 gallon ( it was a rock tank ).