Jestersix

kick starting new to me 90g

Qckslvr

Qckslvr

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If everything goes well I will have my new to me 90 gallon tank set up over the weekend.

In the 90 will be new sand, and new rocks, and I would to try and kick start the tank rather than wait 3 - 4 months for it to get going. I thought about taking a live rock from my 30, but they all have corals on them. Also seeing as I do weekly 10% water changes on my 30 I thought about tossing that 3 gallons of water into the 90. I also have 4 bio media balls that I used to kick start my 30. I was thinking of replacing two of those balls with new ones, and placing the old ones in the 90.

I was also wondering about the bio media sticks.... 1" square with a hole in the middle. If I should put like maybe four of them in my 30, then move them to 90 in like a month?

let me know thoughts, or if I am completely off the mark.
 
What do you plan to keep in there ? Dead rock and sand is asking for a super long cycle to maturity. Like a year to year and the half for stability sps.
Others might say I’m wrong. I think your gonna grow every algae possible
 
Still a newb here but my understanding so far when setting up is more bacteria, and types, the better. In the 30gal tank I setup Jan 5th I put 12 of those sticks you mentioned in the hob filter, and maybe 30lbs of sand from a 4yr old system. Also two cans of some live bioballs from PetSmart that may or may not be worth anything lol. Either way in the last 10 days there’s still been some, but I’d consider minimal, ugliness. My bigger issue right now is no idea what par I’m putting down, but luckily this clubs got the tools for that!
There are also 8 zombie snails, few hermit crabs, and 1ea trochus and turbo snails in there.
Not sure that helps much at all but throwing my two cents out there.
 
you can jumpstart a tank by adding mature media from one to another. its what i generally do each time i setup a new tank and QT tank. I keep extra media in my sump at all times for just such occasions.
don't expect to skip the ugly phase, but i generally haven't had to deal with any bad algae outbreaks. I also add a bunch of pods near immediately as the first member of the CUC. You will need to monitor for excess dino's, as such i do ghost feed the tank. I also start the tank with corals and slow roll adding fish.

These are just my experiences, i do the same with FW systems as well, swap corals for plants though. have 4 reefs and 3 small FW tanks up currently.

edti: my recent experiences show initial better results with marco type rock vs man-made rock (which sux, since i have a bunch of man-made rock NIB in my shed). over time, matters alot less - time being the key.
 
There are also some of us with media that wouldn't mind giving you some to jump start things. Good to have some from a few different pest free systems for increased biodiversity.

+1 with @divewsharks it's unlikely you will avoid ugly phase, but starting with seeded media or rubble from other clean tanks, will get you a great jump start in the right direction. In my opinion (definitely not based on science or research) seeded rocks, rubble, or media is Much better than any of the retail quick start bottle concoctions out there.
 
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