Newbie Question from an old school reefer

[TimberTDI]

So I'm getting back in the game after a long absence. I've got a 60 gallon cube that i was going to take my time setting up. I've spent the last 6-7 months cooking my old rock. It's super clean now.

My plan was to mess around with the scape until I got something I liked. Then I was going to fill with water and start the cycling.

You know what they say about the best laid plans... I ended up buying a whole bunch of beautiful live rock for crazy low price from a hobbyist. I haven't seen rock this full of life and clean in a long time. Don't know the weight but it's filling a 20 gallon long to the brim. With it I have a several zoa colonies (100-200 heads) and 3 green bubble tip anemones. I've had the small tank setup for 2 weeks everything is good.

My dilemma is how to go about setting up the 60 now? I want to incorporate the live rock with select few pieces of the dry rock. Should I just fill the tank with water and transfer the live rock and existing 20 water and do my aquascaping underwater?

What about cycling? What should I expect?

BTW I have a nuvo 16 that's been running for awhile.

Thanks,
Steven

 

[BioMan]

I cycled a tank, added new rock and it cycled again.

 

[Tonyscoots84]

Are you going to have a sump in this setup. if you do whatever live rock you don't use can go in the sump. Me personally would use more of the live rock then anything else.

 

[prattreef]

Assuming the vast majority of the rock in the new system is the mature rock you describe, I would not expect much of a cycle at all, though of course a small one is possible. You can scape with the rock out of water for a little while without issue.

 

[TimberTDI]

Tony, I'm going to use all the live rock and just fill in and accent with the base rock.