Upgrade to bigger tank? Do I need to cycle the new tank for 2-3 weeks first or just transfer?

[ggwp1111]

When I upgraded from my 20G to 40G, I just used the water from the 20G and added 20 more gallons of new water to it. Basically just a 50% water change. But now I plan to upgrade from 40G to 125G, would that method still work or should I just cycle the 125G on its own and start fresh???

How do you guys usually do it with a big jump in water volume?

 

[blaxsun]

When I went from 50 gallons (2x25 gallon tanks) to 200 gallons I pre-cycled all the new rock I was going to add (~80lbs) for 4-6 weeks, pre-stored about 150 gallons of RODI and then mixed up all the new saltwater.

When that was done I added the live sand, the new saltwater (you could use the saltwater from your existing tank here), the cycled rock and enough Bio-Spira (pre-purchased, stored refrigerated) for 200-gallons.

Then I simply moved across the remaining rock from my smaller tanks (de-wormed), corals, fish and finally inverts. And that was that. Took me an evening.