Moving from 14gal BioCube to 24 Gallon Nano

[BiocubeBlakey]

I am moving up from my 14 gallon biocube with 48W Power Compact Lighting to a 24 Gallon Nano Cube with a 150 Watt Sunpod Metal Halide. I have upgraded the return pump to a Maxijet 1200 and I have another 1200 shooting out from behind the live rock (24 pounds). The live rock has been in my buddy Shane's propagation tank for months and is really lightweight and porous. I moved some of the bioballs and live sand from my Biocube over to the nano. Tank has been up and running about 24 hours. Water is clear. Temps are about 78 degrees with the light on. Calcium is at 410 ppm. PH is 8.2. There is a bit of nitrates from my tap water (will use R.O. in the future). The questions that I have for you guys are:

 

1. What products would you recommend for me to remove the nitrates in my system until my next water change with R.O. Water?

2. With well-seasoned live rock and bioballs and sand from my 2 year old biocube, how long should I wait to add my first:

a.Fish (moved from my other tank)

b. Inverts (crabs, snails, cleanup crew)

c. Corals (soft corals, lps corals, sps corals)

3. How long do you guys think it will be before my tank is ready to have everything moved over? My live stock includes

• Fish (2 inch six line wrasse, pair of 2 inch false percula clowns, 2.5 inch yellow spot goby)
• Inverts (about 15 hermit crabs (red and blue leg), 8-10 various snails, a couple nudibranchs that randomly came from the rock, Cleaner Shrimp
• Corals (Single Mushroom Coral, 6 polyps candy cane coral, frogspawn, ricordea mushroom, green pagoda, various zoas, slipper coral, galaxea coral, plate montipora, encrusting montipora, Australian Acan lord. Favia Coral, Lapastrea, blue clove polyps, green star polyps, yellow scroll coral, button corals, fiji pom pom xenia, regular xenia, acropora)

4. Seeing as I have a lot of established bacteria in the tank already, will I see the spikes associated with a normal cycle if I just start adding stuff?

 

Thanks for your help. This website is awesome.

[Charlie]

One of the things that most of the folks here will tell you is to get rid of the BioBalls. Your live rock and sand will carry all of the bacteria that is necessary for your biological filtration. That may be the source of your increased Nitrates. I would let the tank settle for a couple of weeks, testing frequently (daily) and keep an eye on the rocks to see if there are any unwanted critters, like aptasia. After everything tests well, then you can start adding stuff SLOWLY. I would start with the inverts to get rid of any algea bloom (it will propably be small) then in a couple of weeks, a fish. Don't add everything at once! Other than that, welcome to the site and I hope that you enjoy yourself.

[gmubeach]

Hopefully you got everything heads up I never see terrible nitrate spikes I would recomend ditching the bio balls they always hurt my tank!

[BiocubeBlakey]

Thanks for the input so far guys. I just wanted to say that I don't have bioballs. They are ceramic rings. Also, the only thing that is new in the tank is the water. Everything else, including the filter media was previously cycled. Does this effect the timing at all? Also, should I just let the live rock cycle the water or should I put a fish or dead shrimp or something in there. Thanks again.

[Charlie]

You should be ok, but I would still make the ceramic rings go away. I've seen folks use that area as a refugium (they attached a light to it somehow), but I would do away with them anyway. As far as adding livestock goes, I would still give it a week or so (longer would be better) to make sure that everything is working correctly and that you have the rock arranged the way that you want it. Don't put a dead shrimp in there! How would you like it if you moved into a new house and somebody put dead shrimp in it? Just kidding, but I wouldn't do that. I might put a pajama cardinal in there to help with the cycling or even your hermits and snails, but not a dead shrimp.

[BiocubeBlakey]

Thanks Charlie. I think I'm going to turn the center chamber into a refugium. Hitting up home depot and the LFS tomorrow for supplies. My ammonia already spiked and the nitrites are on their way down already 48 hours after setup. I guess the rock is cycling it. I am considering putting a fish in just to make sure it is a proper cycle. Didn't really want to use a cardinal or damsel because I know that I don't want to keep those fish, and I don't like the idea of stressing out/killing a fish just to cycle a tank. I was thinking that using a small piece of dead shrimp to get the cycle going would be no different than living in an apartment that others have spent years farting in...as long as it's clean when you move in.