Transferring to a larger tank

[Mmsetta]

I see a couple small posts, but nothing substantial on this.

I am upgrading from a 36g to a 75g. In no hurry. Right now I have about 35lbs of live rock and about 25lbs of live sand. Also have a bta, clown, royal gramma, and a yellow tang. Also have a skunk shrimp, a zoa colony, a pociliopora, a trumpet coral and a small monti frag. Using a reef octopus hob skimmer solely for filtration along with a mp10 .

I guess I am looking for step by step instructions. I will be using the hob skimmer for the 75 until I save up for an in sump version. I will have a sump for the 75. I am going to get about 30 more lbs of dry rock that I will seed with my existing live.

Lots of questions:

Should I fill the 75 with water change water from my 36? Or just fill it up and cycle it separately?

I could just use some step by step instructions to guide me with my transfer.

 

[Feathers&Frags]

I went from a 72 bow-front to a 180. I used about 40 gallons of water from my 72 when I set up the 180. I put in about 70 pounds of live rock then three 40lb bags of live sand. I filled it up the rest of the way with fresh salt water and let it cycle. It completed it's cycle in about three weeks but I didn't add anything until six weeks. It's been up for seventeen months and looks great!

 

[cginter]

Nice upgrade! What I did was put my live stock and coral in a holding tank ( 10g tank I bought at petco) then I pulled as much clean water I could to reuse for the upgrade.

 

[Mmsetta]

So here's my plan:

Fill 75 1/2 way with new water and about half the live sand I need. Use one large live rock from current tank and add about 30lbs of dry rock. Just use a powerhead for now to circulate water on the new tank, no filtration. Start cycle with a couple (dead) shrimp. Add 3 gallons of watter from water change of my current tank to new tank each week while the new tank is cycling. Should take about 3 to 4 weeks to cycle.

Then remove fish and corals to quarentine tank. Move remaining live rock and live sand from old tank to new along with the remaining water to fill rest of tank. Turn on filtration and monitor levels for a week. Then drip acclimate the fish and corals into the new tank.

Please show any holes in this plan.

Concerns

Too much stress putting fish into quarentine the to new tank

Cycle too new to add fish and corals to new tank

Amonia spikes due to adding live sand from old tank and releasing detritus

 

[Rausch]

everything looks great!!! i am currently doing an upgrade from a 36 gallon to a 90 and following all of the same steps as you!! it is a very intense process! but i agree, better to do it safe, then do it wrong. As for what i have heard you are being very generous giving it a 3-4 week cycle especially using current sand, water and seeded rock. fish could be added as soon as 2 weeks from when you fill up the tank. What i am doing is just using my old 36g setup as a fish store, have the new tank set-up next to the old one and add a couple corals or fish once or twice a week until complete, this way they aren't stuck in quarantine for a week or two. Pretty much turned my old tank into quarantine until the process is complete. i will be following along as i am in the same boat!! congrats on the upgrade!!... p.s. careful with that old sand! i was steered away from using my old sand and put in fresh dry sand along with the rock to cure, just a small cup of my old sand.

 

[Mmsetta]

I hear you on old sand. All signs point to ditching it. So expensive though! And full of life. But, also full of crap- so probably going to ditch.

 

[IdahoNano]

I'm going to be moving up from a 10 to 29 Biocube (24 gal) tank very soon. I like the ideas I'm reading! I will be using new sand or bare bottom...haven't decided yet! I'll move my existing live rock over, which is about 15 lbs, and add around 5-7 more. I'll use 8 gallons of my water, and the rest a fresh mix. I've bot a mini bow tank (3 gal) that I will keep my clown in with a small piece of live rock until my new one is ready. I'm excited about the future move and tank!

 

[tyler1503]

So here's my plan:

Fill 75 1/2 way with new water and about half the live sand I need. Use one large live rock from current tank and add about 30lbs of dry rock. Just use a powerhead for now to circulate water on the new tank, no filtration. Start cycle with a couple (dead) shrimp. Add 3 gallons of watter from water change of my current tank to new tank each week while the new tank is cycling. Should take about 3 to 4 weeks to cycle.

Then remove fish and corals to quarentine tank. Move remaining live rock and live sand from old tank to new along with the remaining water to fill rest of tank. Turn on filtration and monitor levels for a week. Then drip acclimate the fish and corals into the new tank.

Please show any holes in this plan.

Concerns

Too much stress putting fish into quarentine the to new tank

Cycle too new to add fish and corals to new tank

Amonia spikes due to adding live sand from old tank and releasing detritus

Sounds like a solid plan.
I don't think adding the fish to QT then to the new display will be too stressful. We do this all the time with online purchased and LFS fish.
To avoid adding fish to the new tank and a possible ammonia spike, you could add a new fish every couple of weeks. That way you can add the more docile fish first and the can settle in before adding more boisterous fish later. Just like you would when stocking a new tank.
I too would ditch the old sand. If your worried about the cost of new live sand you could start with all dry sand and add a small amount of live sand to seed the rest

 

[laskyj428]

I'm upgrading to a innovative marine nuvo 40 from a 15 gallon column and was wondering if anyone had advice for transferring in a single day.

 

[Mmsetta]

My lfs said just use a little water from old tank, new sand and the live rock. Since live rock has enough bacteria to support the current bio load , it will work on the new one. He's pretty reputable, but I am still skeptical.

 

[Mmsetta]

I was thinking dry sand (cheaper) seeded by a bunch of my existing live sand for the new tank.

Any fallout using dry sand? (Ie. phosphate spikes,ph issues?).

Can anyone suggest a good brand of cheaper dry sand?

 

[Mmsetta]

How did the followers of this thread do? Did you transfer? I haven't transferred mine yet!