experienced reefers need advice

[luisse25]

ok i started my 24 gal 4-5 mos. ago and its getting overcrowded..i am upgrading to a 55 gal..i already have everything,,except how am i gonna transfer everything without going into a cycle again or at least just a pre-cycle..should i put the water and some sand(from my 24) plus add on the new sand and just add new saltwater(like a 50% water change)..or i have to cycle again?...pls anyone who have the knowledge and have done this upgrading pls let me know some pointers..

i will really appreciate any advice thank you..

 

[Holygral]

ok i started my 24 gal 4-5 mos. ago and its getting overcrowded..i am upgrading to a 55 gal..i already have everything,,except how am i gonna transfer everything without going into a cycle again or at least just a pre-cycle..should i put the water and some sand(from my 24) plus add on the new sand and just add new saltwater(like a 50% water change)..or i have to cycle again?...pls anyone who have the knowledge and have done this upgrading pls let me know some pointers..

i will really appreciate any advice thank you..

Well, lets start off with how much LR you have in the new tank and the old. And tell us a little about your present tank.

I recently upgraded from a 75 to a 125. I used 130#s of new cured LR, and new sand. I let the new tank run for 3 weeks with no cycle. I then just equaled up all the parameters on both tanks and transferred the old 60# of LR and all corals and fish over straight from the old tank to the new. No cycle at all and no casualties.

tom

 

[Scooterman]

Water from your old tank is useless, depending if your putting in more LR & sand you can do this transfer easily. If you do plan on adding more LR then start with all new water made up the same way as what you already have, add the new LR & let it cycle or mature even if there aren't not cycles let it mature a few weeks. Then when the day comes, you can transfer your LR & corals in one shot should be fine.

 

[Krish]

IMO, a few things will determine how you should/could go about the transfer...It all depends on how much live rock you have now, how much new rock you plan on adding to the new tank and the condition of that that new rock (ie if it is fully cured already etc). If the rock you are adding is "cured" then you should pretty much be able to transfer the whole tank over no problem with the new rock, but that will be a chance you will have to decide if you want to take as some people will tell you that you are getting fully cured live rock when infact it isn't so you have to be very careful there. If the new rock isn't fully cured, depending on how much rock you have now and how much of the new rock you will be adding, in some cases you can still go ahead and do a complete transfer one time as any ammonia, nitrites etc that are produced from any die-off should be taken care of by the old rock and not pose a problem. That again is a chance you will be taking as it is quite possible the old rock you have may not be able to support the tank's current bioload along with any die-off from the un-cured new rock. So you will have to weigh out your options properly. The safest bet though (which would possibly take a bit longer) would be to take Scooty's approach and add all the new rock to the new tank and let that cycle out first and once you aren't reading any traces of ammonia and nitrites for a few days then you can go ahead with the transfer.

Just a few personal thoughts...Good luck!

 

[luisse25]

thank you guys for the advicethanks krish,youre always there to help..how about i buy live rocks from establish tanks will that help?im not worried about my corals being transferred as they are easy to care for..(shrooms,lps,zoas and some sps)..what im worrying is my rose anemone..is my rose gonna be ok if i move it to a new tank?

 

[Krish]

Yea, if you can get some good rock from an established tank, then you should be good to go IMO. It's when you are dealing with rock that isn't fully cured that poses the biggest problem. If you still are a bit weary of doing the swap one time, maybe get all the new rock you plan to put in the new tank and put it in the new tank and let it run for a few days just to see if you experience any real die-off to be concerned about. If not, then I'd go ahead with the swap. Anenome's I've read need mature established tanks to thrive properly, but couldn't say fir sure. Maybe someone else will chime in on that, but IMO, on the swap, I personally don't see an issue at all with doing the swap given all the rock that is going to be used is coming from mature established tanks with which the rock is fully cured. Just be careful where you get your rock from as pest/hitch-hikers are the last thing you want to transfer to you tank .

 

[jag3534]

We recently upped from a 29g to a 46bow, and we bought the "extra" liverock first that we wanted to add to the new tank (we got a good deal on it & it was going fast). We left it in the little tank for like 2 weeks while we finished building the stand and setting up the new tank. Then we added the new sand to the tank and let the snowstorm settle for a couple days(til we could actually see in there) with some powerheads. Then we just moved it all over, started with the rock, then the fish. Oh, but we moved the "stuff" very first, skimmer & whatnot. Everything did fine! After that was done we used the old tank to turn into a refugium/sump, so it took a few more days before that was set up. but it was all good!

 

[jag3534]

oh and we didn't use any of the old water or substrate.

 

[luisse25]

krish the only thing im worried about really is my anemone..its doin really good in my 24 right now,,my 24gal is just 3-4 mos when i added the anemone and i got it a little bleached but now its a good red color and tan body..well i guess what im gonna do is buy live rock from a established tanks and let it run for weeks then ill try to put a stalk of xenia to see if its gonna do good..thanks everyone

 

[Krish]

Sounds good! Good luck!

 

[ReefferMan]

I went from a 125 to a 300 in just a few days. I did find some well established LR for sale local and some so so cycled LR. I put all the water i could from the 125 and then toped off with new water, being i knew i would be doing a big water change soon anyhow. I added more so so cycled LR as time progressed on and had no cycles to speak of. We have a rose anemone as well. The wife and i put all the corals into a QT for a few days to be sure that the water was safe...... thats the nail biting time!

I would venture to say that you can safely add up to 20% of your total cured LR. JMHO.

Good luck and keep us up to date.

 

[morgan]

i have moved quiet a few customers tanks and some mates genreally this is just taking the tank down and moving it to a new house i wouldnt have any problem upgrading my 165l to a 300l in 1 day wiht or with out adding rock
and ive got a purple crispa anenome thats quiet rare i wouldlnt feel like i would be risking the health of any of my animals its just low tide