Cycled quarantine with live rock ?

[Gsxkid]

I have a 30 gallon bare bottom tank with a HOB filter. I used it as a quarantine tank. The whole time I was testing ammonia and doing water changes every other day but I had constant fear the ammonia would spike and have negative effects. Any reason I can't just cycle it and put live rock in there? I have another hospital tank for doing any treatments. Just seems like I would have less to be concerned about and it would be less stressful on the fish.

 

[Gsxkid]

Second thought would I even have to cycle it? Should just be able to fill it with some of my tank water and rock and it should e good to go no?

 

[mpsteve]

Yes it should be fine.

 

[AlbertG]

yes my last 3 tanks set up i havent had a cycle .
using rocks and half of the water from my 150 gallon set up
i even use new live sand and still dint have a cycle or wait time

 

[wpeterson]

If you're down for a long quarantine, you should be OK to use that tank and keep ammonia in check with live rock or other options.

You also might consider doing tank transfer instead of a long quarantine, which requires have two tanks/vessels but can get by with shorter time in the water and less issues cycling. If you're doing a tank transfer every 2-3 days per the regimen, cycling isn't an issue. Here's a great thread from Reef2Reef describing a tank transfer methodology for fish: http://www.reef2reef.com/threads/tank-transfer-method.192655/

If you're worried about fish disease and mitigating it, TTM may be more effective than a long quarantine. If you're doing quarantine at all you're doing good stuff - so figure out what plan works best for you.