Reef Tank upgrade from 50 to 110 Gallon

[shivamerlin]

Hi fellow reefers,
I need some advise regarding my upcoming tank upgrade/transfer.

Basically, I am moving everything except for sand from my Red Sea XL200 to a 110 gallon Waterbox. The tank has been running for almost 2 years and the transfer is supposed to be simple as the new tank will be setup right next to the old one.

I've seen many posts on how the transfer is done and things to watch out for however, I could not see any posts about how to transfer your live rock fully stocked with corals on it. Every post refers to the live rock only.

Here is the thing, ideally you would place your rock in the new tank, add the sand then water. Since there are corals on all rocks I am having a hard time understanding how this is done since you don't want to have your corals exposed without water for more than a couple of minutes.

I will definitely not use any of my old sand to seed, there should be plenty of bacteria on live rocks and all filter media from my sump.

Main focus on my thread should be Corals on life rock.

Thanks for all your advise, if there are any checklists out there I would greatly appreciate it.

 

[SlugSnorter]

fill the tank quarter or so way, add rocks, then sand.

No need to use old sand yes, but make sure to rinse the new sand!

 

[shivamerlin]

fill the tank quarter or so way, add rocks, then sand.

No need to use old sand yes, but make sure to rinse the new sand!

Thank you. One more thing. Since rocks go first then fish, should I be worried about nutrition spikes? Hard to catch fish with rocks still in place. Please note, I have been sifting the sand every week during water change. TY!

 

[SlugSnorter]

Thank you. One more thing. Since rocks go first then fish, should I be worried about nutrition spikes? Hard to catch fish with rocks still in place. Please note, I have been sifting the sand every week during water change. TY!

Sand before fish and inverts! Good that you have been sifting the new sand