Tank upgrade questions

[kyleb1993]

In the not too distant future I’m going to be upgrading from a 45 gal cube to a reefer 250. The new tank is going to be in the same place as the old. What are best practices to make sure everything goes smoothly. Cycling? Reusing sand? Etc

 

[blaxsun]

I'm summarizing, but I'd look at transferring the rock and existing water into a Rubbermaid tub nearby, thoroughly cleaning the existing sand and combining with new sand, set your new tank and gear up, add any new rock and sand, fill with new saltwater and then insta-cycle it with the existing rock. You can also add some supplemental bacteria like Bio-Spira.

You should be able to transfer over your existing rock, corals, fish and inverts (in that order for ease of moving).

You can probably get away without filtration for 24 hours, but you'll still need your heaters, wavemakers and lights to keep everything going during the transition.