Everyone that posted here is correct, my daddy use to say there are 101 ways to skin a cat. Just like there are 101 correct ways to set up an aquarium, and like Bill said patience is everything. In todays market you can start with sterile live rock, sterile sand, and just about any type of good bug out there from the internet to add to your tank to keep it healthy. To me I love Phyto (everything starts with phyto dose my tanks constantly) Mysid Shrimp and Copods both are staples for newly added fish plus they do a pretty good job of clean up. Problems I have had by adding established live rock to my tank was adding a hitch hiker called a rock crab which is normally harmless until he grows to 3" and eats a puple tang, Clown Fish, and a bluespot jawfish before you can get him out. So it really depends on how particular you want to be? Good luck and welcome to MAAST. Oh yea back to your answer I love using old water out of my 300 to set up a new tank or a quarantine tank like I did just recently for a small adult blue face angel.