[ejwsr]

I have a NC12 DX, stock, plus a Nano Fission skimmer and a bag of Purigen. No bio balls or rings. I was having microbubble issues when I installed the skimmer, but I used a SeaChem Bag as a bubble screen in chamber two. No more micro bubbles!

The tank is cycling nicely, but I was wondering if what I am planning next is advisable.
When the cycle completes I was planning on draining the water through a coffee and saving it. Next pull and rinse the rocks, rinse the sand, then replace the sand and rock. Part of the reason is that I need to glue the rocks together nad I neglected to rinse the sand when I first assembled the system. The final step would be to fill with two gallons of new water and top off with the mature water.

Am I asking for trouble?

[Danakor]

if its live rock and live sand no to the cleaning the sand and the rock. if you clean/rinse it you are pretty much just making regular rock and sand for your aquarium. What I would do, not sure if its the right process either, is take the rock out and clean the area where you will apply the glue just big enough for the contact of the two rocks. place the cement there and let cure.

Now if you don't have live sand or rock, I would say go for the rinsing of the sand. but if the rocks have any bacterial growth on them you are just killing it making your tank cycle again.

[glampka]

How do you plan on rinsing it - fresh or saltwater? Fresh water rinse would probably wipe out all the bacteria you just grew when you cycled. Saltwater won't kill it but would possibly remove some of it. Either way you're lokking at some more cycling when you're finished gluing the rocks.

[ejwsr]

I was planning on using the aquarium water, the two gallons that I would replace.

I guess the real question is are the bacteria resident in the water or on the substrate , or both.

Any issue with siphoning/vacuuming and recycling the water?

Thanks for the info. Sounds like I have a choice of cleaner substrate or finishing the cycle sooner.

[glampka]

Bacteria is mostly on the substrate but you do have some floating around. There are times when I have vacuumed & ran the water thru a very fine filter & put it back into my tank. That shouldn't be a problem.