buying a used established tank

Question
Hello,
A week ago, I purchased my first salt water aquarium. It is a used tank that was set up and running for 1 year by the previous owner. It is a 45 gallon tank with about 40 pounds of live rock, live sand, a few mushroom corals and about 10 hermit crabs. I was able to transport 90% of the water and set everything up in 1 day. The system came with a Magnum canister filter, Prizm protein skimmer, and power head.

I have been testing the water everyday for 1 week and everything is in the normal range, so I was excited to add my first fish thinking that the tank would already be cycled, being that it has been running for a year. However my LFS advised me not to put anything in the tank other than emerald crab (2) for a couple of weeks, because moving all the sand/water/rock will cause a spike.

Since then, I have added a cleaner shrimp.


How long would you advise before adding more (1 clown fish, 1star fish)?



Robert.


Answer
Hi Robert. I don't see any reason why if you moved an entire established tank, that you would need to wait to put a fish in it! What would you have done if there was a fish in it when you got it? If there has been no ammonia spike yet I would have to say it isn't going to happen. Your tank is supporting some corals and some crabs and your biological filtration is in tact. Nothing was stored for a long period of time and you did it all within one day? Go ahead and put a fish in there! Just go slow and don't fully stock your tank all at once and you should be fine. Your good bacteria can withstand a lot more than a one day move!