New/Used 25 Gallon Progress / Help

[breadlegs]

Hey there everyone. Thanks for having me.

I am new to the site and new to reefing. Always wanted a reef aquarium. I have experience with freshwater. Have kept many african cichlid tanks so I understand the cycling process enough to maintain those tanks. I always would do a fishless cycle to get them going.

Short Story: I bought the tank used today. Got it moved home with the water and all of its contents. I was short on water when I got home for the aio system to run so I quickly fired up an hob I had laying around and put the foam filter from the back of aquarium into the hob to keep the water turning and bacteria alive. Rock is new as the original owner I believe used the old rock to seed her new tank. There is from what I can tell hair algea already in the tank so that leads me to believe I am in the ugly stage.

I am going to verify the cycle by feeding it some ammonia. Most likely will be some liquid ammonia unless someone has a better idea here. My plan is to begin doing 10 percent water changes weekly. Briefly thought about doing them bi weekly if that would help. Once cycle is verified (waiting on test kit to show up from amazon today) I was going to add a clean up crew. ( Looking for recommendations on where to start on that)

Any help here is appreciated. Please see photos. Water has been running through the hob for maybe 5 hours.

Again thank you for having me and look forward to learning from everyone here on the forums!

Breadlegs

 

[Peace River]

What did you move (water, sand, etc.)? Typically GHA is not considered part of the ugly stage and it likely was present in the previous tank. There are ways to treat it including chemicals and an appropriate clean up crew. Additionally, it looks like there was a lot of detritus and waste in the sand so you may want to work on that before you start adding livestock to the tank.

 

[breadlegs]

What did you move (water, sand, etc.)? Typically GHA is not considered part of the ugly stage and it likely was present in the previous tank. There are ways to treat it including chemicals and an appropriate clean up crew. Additionally, it looks like there was a lot of detritus and waste in the sand so you may want to work on that before you start adding livestock to the tank.

I drained water to only half inch above sand bed. Removed rock and stored it in buckets with water. On arrival replaced rock and then replaced water. I figured that was the case with the GHA. Whats your thoughts for the detritus? Heavy vacuum and then large water change?

I have the lingering thought of stripping everything from tank and start new but I would hate to lose all of the Benefial Bacteria in the process.

 

[Peace River]

While you will lose some beneficial bacteria, you will also "lose" all of the problems left over from the previous tank.

 

[breadlegs]

While you will lose some beneficial bacteria, you will also "lose" all of the problems left over from the previous tank.

I had the same thought. I am fairly sure there is a population of bristle worms in the tank as well as the previous owner pointed at least one out after draining the water. I know they it can be subjective on having them in the tank from what I have read. Do you feel like its worth keeping the cycled sponge and rocks in a bucket with circulation and maybe an air stone? I appreciate the help here. I have a week of vacation coming up soon that will be the perfect time to make this happen.

 

[Peace River]

There are mixed perspectives on this because the GHA, bristle worms, and other yet-to-be-discovered challenges will be on the rock and sponge. It is possible to deal with those issues and keep the cycled items or you could do a full reset and start from scratch. If you take option one it will probably give a more diverse bacteria population, but you may have more challenges with pests. I would lean toward that option and then be prepared to deal with the pests. However, starting completely over is lower risk.

 

[Anna K]

I have the lingering thought of stripping everything from tank and start new but I would hate to lose all of the Benefial Bacteria in the process.

I'd just restart and do it the correct way you'd like.