Seeding a new tank with rock/media from established tank advice

Brav403

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Looking to start a small anenome tank with a couple of Clowns and want to get some advice on this.

Obviously I know you need an established environment for anenomes and wondered if I would be able to use some rock or media from my established tank to 'speed' things along for a small 13.5gal to use as an anenome tank.

Or would I be better to cycle the tank as normal and be patient and wait 6 months or so until its established enough for a nem?

Advice/guidance appreciated
 

Fear

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Looking to start a small anenome tank with a couple of Clowns and want to get some advice on this.

Obviously I know you need an established environment for anenomes and wondered if I would be able to use some rock or media from my established tank to 'speed' things along for a small 13.5gal to use as an anenome tank.

Or would I be better to cycle the tank as normal and be patient and wait 6 months or so until its established enough for a nem?

Advice/guidance appreciated
I am Also doing something of this sort. However, I have a well-established 40-gallon tank and am upgrading to a larger system. 80-gallon total volume. Initially I wanted to just mix up some new fresh water and then use the remaining "clean" fresh water and established live rock from my current tank to quickly establish the new tank. I assumed that doing it in this way would make it similar to doing a large water change.

I've watched many videos online of people doing this exact thing. But ALL of these videos are from YEARS ago. Some even have the comments turned off. Upon speaking with SEVERAL different friends in the hobby for MUCH longer than myself, they all suggested setting the new tank up as a fresh new tank and letting it cycle and establish.
I have made a thread to follow this process.
So this is the path I am currently taking. I have the new tank. I added roughly 30lbs of new rock. I filled the new tank with exactly 50 gallons of NEW saltwater. I've added one entire bottle of DrTimms one and only (treats 60 gallons) and exactly enough ammonia for 50 gallons of water volume. I am currently waiting until the end of this week to test the tank and see where levels are at. If my ammonia is at 0 or near, then I am going to continue with my current plan, I will work on transferring the remaining 40lbs of live rock from the existing tank into the new tank, along with roughly 30 more gallons of existing CLEAN saltwater. I WILL NOT be transferring any of my sand over, as in the new tank I am going for more of a bare bottom tank. My stocking is relatively low, but there is a fair amount of corals. Most. if not all of my coral is attached to the already established rock.

You're welcome to wait and see how my adventure goes, and you can base your next moves on the result of my tank upgrade.

Hope this helps some.
 
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Brav403

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I am Also doing something of this sort. However, I have a well-established 40-gallon tank and am upgrading to a larger system. 80-gallon total volume. Initially I wanted to just mix up some new fresh water and then use the remaining "clean" fresh water and established live rock from my current tank to quickly establish the new tank. I assumed that doing it in this way would make it similar to doing a large water change.

I've watched many videos online of people doing this exact thing. But ALL of these videos are from YEARS ago. Some even have the comments turned off. Upon speaking with SEVERAL different friends in the hobby for MUCH longer than myself, they all suggested setting the new tank up as a fresh new tank and letting it cycle and establish.
I have made a thread to follow this process.
So this is the path I am currently taking. I have the new tank. I added roughly 30lbs of new rock. I filled the new tank with exactly 50 gallons of NEW saltwater. I've added one entire bottle of DrTimms one and only (treats 60 gallons) and exactly enough ammonia for 50 gallons of water volume. I am currently waiting until the end of this week to test the tank and see where levels are at. If my ammonia is at 0 or near, then I am going to continue with my current plan, I will work on transferring the remaining 40lbs of live rock from the existing tank into the new tank, along with roughly 30 more gallons of existing CLEAN saltwater. I WILL NOT be transferring any of my sand over, as in the new tank I am going for more of a bare bottom tank. My stocking is relatively low, but there is a fair amount of corals. Most. if not all of my coral is attached to the already established rock.

You're welcome to wait and see how my adventure goes, and you can base your next moves on the result of my tank upgrade.

Hope this helps some.
Thanks for such a detailed response. I'm not likely to start this for a while on my end but will be keen to see how you get on.
 
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