moving into larger tank

reefmaster70 · Jul 10, 2026

Hey all. Ok, this weekend is the BIG weekend where I am moving all my rock and inhabitants from a 20g and a 75g upstairs into my new 180g down in our family room. I have an idea that uses minimal buckets, containers, etc, but wanted to run it by the group before I did it and ended with a disaster. SO....here's my plan.

put all new "live sand" bed down into the 180g and then fill up half way with new freshly mixed saltwater. Check the parameters to make sure pH, Salinity, and Temp match my upstairs tanks...once confirmed, I am going to start pulling the liverock (with corals attached) out of both the 20g and 75g and putting them directly into the 180g downstairs. Once all my liverock and corals are moved over to the new tank I'll drain the 75g and 20g tanks down with the water going into the new 180g. Once I only have a few inches of water in them I"ll catch the fish, and rehome them to the 180g as well. To me it seems like this should be simple enough. I know it never is, but I just want to be sure there won't be any "mini cycle" issues that I may not be thinking about.

Thanks for any input.

KrisReef · Jul 10, 2026

That new tank with water needs oxygen exchange (water movement) during the livestock move to prevent stress (or death) in newly added livestock. MOving all the old liverock into an uncirculating system could cause serious problems. Water movement, otherwise, it seems like a reasonable plan.

Also, Water movement and possibly temperature control (don't explode a heater or burn up a tank accidentally) is important in the upstairs tanks during the transition. Have a check list to ensure nothing gets unplugged, or left plugged in during water and livestock transfers until it is safe to make that change.

HTH.

reefmaster70 · Jul 10, 2026

KrisReef said:
That new tank with water needs oxygen exchange (water movement) during the livestock move to prevent stress (or death) in newly added livestock. MOving all the old liverock into an uncirculating system could cause serious problems. Water movement, otherwise, it seems like a reasonable plan.

Also, Water movement and possibly temperature control (don't explode a heater or burn up a tank accidentally) is important in the upstairs tanks during the transition. Have a check list to ensure nothing gets unplugged, or left plugged in during water and livestock transfers until it is safe to make that change.

HTH.

sorry..i should have mentioned that I will have one Gyre in the large 180g tank just for moving water, and, I can drop in an airstone too. I don't imagine it'll be more than maybe 5-6 hours before I can top it up and kick the sump in to start running.

Also, the tanks upstairs will continue to fully function until all livestock are out of them and moved downstairs. Once liverock, corals, and fish are transferred down there, then I'll shut down the upstairs tanks.