Transferring from 17G Cube Tank to New 55G Aquarium - Need Advice!

[Caccamo]

Hello,

I'm currently in the process of planning a transition from my existing 64L (16.9 gallon) cube tank to a larger 160L (42.3 gallon) tank with a 55L (14.5 gallon) sump, and I'm in need of some expert advice.

Current setup:

• Berlin-style tank without a sump.
• Contains approximately 8-9kg of Fiji live rocks.
• Radion G5 XR15 Blue
• 2 x Vortech MP10
• Tunze 9001 Skimmer
• 4 heads dosing pump

New setup:

• Radion, Vortecs and dosing pump will be transfer
• New Skimmer Tunze 9410
• Will have a 55L sump with socks filtration.

The tank is over 4 years old, originally set up as a mixed reef with simple SPS and mostly LPS. The first two and half years had their ups and downs but were generally stable. However, during a house renovation period, the tank faced challenges. There were pollutants in the air, water change frequency decreased, and unfortunately, the tank experienced several blackouts. It was without power for extended hours during winter in an unheated home. Needless to say, during this period, my SPS population and many of the more sensitive LPS didn't survive. After this challenging phase and upon returning home, I cleaned everything up, and the tank quickly rebounded without issues. I believe the live rocks are still in excellent condition.

Before the Crash

now

I'm aiming to give my new tank a totally different aesthetic. I’m thinking of not using the majority of the old rocks for the new main display, with the exception of around 20% where there are corals that I don't want to lose.
I'm contemplating placing most of the old rocks in the new tank’s sump and setting up the main display with new synthetic rocks. This leads to my first major question: Will I need to cycle the new tank again if I'm introducing mostly new materials?

Also, I don't have separate equipment for both tanks.
In my mind, the best solution seems to be initiating the cycling process for the new tank and, once established, transferring the old rocks to the new sump and shifting all the livestock into the newly cycled tank. However, this would mean needing duplicate equipment to keep both tanks operational during the cycling period of the new aquarium.

What are your thoughts? Is there a better approach you'd suggest?

Thanks in advance for your advice!

 

[brandon429]

we have a fifty page tank transfer work thread on file, would love to do that job above thats big money and time on the line. a top shelf system

recommend based on prior jobs: transfer it first as is, set in the new tank without changing out the scape

put the rocks to be cycled in the sump, not these, these stay in the display for a reason

then after the successful transfer which has it's own steps, we arrange the scape once the new rock cures in the sump.

 

[brandon429]

is there a sandbed in the tank, how deep is it

when you transfer, you don't run full power on the new lights in the new tank, those ramp up over 2 weeks time from a lower intensity setting than you'd normally run this is important bleach protection/prevention in sps lps tank transfer jobs. essentially you're moving over just the live rocks and corals there and setting into a new larger tank matching temp and salinity, already running, and the lights re ramp up over two weeks

no old sand goes from the old system to the new without a detailed pre rinse. cloudless transfer is what makes it safe.

 

[brandon429]

the new curing rock will take on uglies phase that you'd appreciate not mixing into that fine setup there, to intertwine an invasion among all that

curing out the new rock as inert substrate in the sump/away from the display is ideal for many reasons. that live rock in the display area is what contacts the fish waste fastest, it needs to be up top vs in the sump out of the main contact zone. that isn't enough live rock to fill up a new tank so you can add other surface area to cure mixed in it, but keep that component up top if you're moving over 80% of it.

your best bet would be to add cured live rock, costly live skip cycle rock from a pet store, vs any dry rock.

 

[Caccamo]

we have a fifty page tank transfer work thread on file, would love to do that job above thats big money and time on the line. a top shelf system

recommend based on prior jobs: transfer it first as is, set in the new tank without changing out the scape

put the rocks to be cycled in the sump, not these, these stay in the display for a reason

then after the successful transfer which has it's own steps, we arrange the scape once the new rock cures in the sump.

Oh nice i miss it. I will search for it surely.

is there a sandbed in the tank, how deep is it

when you transfer, you don't run full power on the new lights in the new tank, those ramp up over 2 weeks time from a lower intensity setting than you'd normally run this is important bleach protection/prevention in sps lps tank transfer jobs. essentially you're moving over just the live rocks and corals there and setting into a new larger tank matching temp and salinity, already running, and the lights re ramp up over two weeks

no old sand goes from the old system to the new without a detailed pre rinse. cloudless transfer is what makes it safe.

No sandbed now, but I'm considering adding a thin decorative layer to the new tank.

 

[brandon429]

Official Sand Rinse and Tank Transfer thread

If you are reading this thread to cure a tank invasion from a link I sent you, we do not need to identify your type of invasion here we do not need you to test anything at anytime regarding nitrate, phosphate etc Above all, we do not need to see a microscope slide picture of your invasion at...

www.reef2reef.com

thats the transfer thread

sometimes we do the same steps as a transfer, clean up the surfaces outside the tank to remove all clouding, and instead of moving they just put the tank right back where it sat...but laser clean this time...that can beat certain invasions

others logged above were full house moves, tank transfers, but the hidden trick is the light re ramping and the clean moves each time. if there is sand, we pre rinse it, so that there's no clouding in the new tank. you'll just move over rocks and corals and animals into the new tank matching temp and salinity to the old + a light ramp up and all that coral will move just fine. no bottle bac needed, no testing for cycle parameters required. no testing was used before or after in any job above. some of those were thirty thousand dollar sps reefs, we handled them the exact same was as a nano reef. all the jobs above are the same steps but they used the clean tank for different reasons.