I started a 10 gallon tank in January '09 and want to upgrade/modify. I dont have any space in there to add corals to and want something larger. Outlets are pretty much used up so starting up a new tank to cycle wont happen. Do you think I could pull this off...If I were to add say a 29 gallon with about a 3-4 inch sand bed as a sump spark a cycle large enough to be lethal? My goal is to add the tank untill the sand becomes "live",then move rocks and corals into it and use the 10 as the sump just to hide equipment. If I were to get a dry aragonite sand and rinse the crap out of it would it still cause a major cycle? Any thoughts on what might be the best way to make this happen?
Adding a sump with sand bed to existing tank
- Thread starter Scampy
- Start date
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I think you should fit as much extra rock into your current tank to seed it, fill the 29 with sand and then transfer the rock into the 29. Since the rock won't die off then you shouldn't see much of a cycle. Especially since you won't be increasing the bio load. You may experience a small cycle but nothing horrible...
TJL
copod
Agree with Seth on this, transfer all LR and water to the new tank quickly and other than a diatom bloom on new substrate as it is colonized with bacteria it should be a piece of cake 
arty:
If you can get the old 10g plumbed in on the same day then you'll keep most all bacteria alive on its surfaces as well. If not, and you need to clean/dry and silicone baffles and such in no biggie.
Cheers, Todd
arty:If you can get the old 10g plumbed in on the same day then you'll keep most all bacteria alive on its surfaces as well. If not, and you need to clean/dry and silicone baffles and such in no biggie.
Cheers, Todd
Would there be any benefit to rinsing the new sand first or is it just a waist of time? Also, I was going to add a couple cups of the old sand to help seed. Should I add more? I figure stirring up the old and adding it to the new could make more of a cycle than I want to see.
As an aside - you might want to think about something larger than the 10 for a sump. I assume you will use a submerged return pump as well as a submerged skimmer pump. A 10-gallon would be getting pretty crowded with just those two pumps.
Keep the 10 for a Q-tank.
Keep the 10 for a Q-tank.
