Upgrade

GinoGino · Mar 13, 2021

So I currently have a RSR250 of 2 years. I’m looking to upgrade to a tank that’s about 110 gallons (72x24x15). My question is this

If I was to plumb the new tank (new tank with a new sump) to my current system (with its current sump) - would the new tank be instantly cycled? If so, would I still go through the ugly stage? I’ll be adding about an additional 50 lbs of live rock and 50 lbs of dry rock

What I would like to do is keep the RSR up as a frag tank and transfer everything to the new display. Any thoughts? Thanks!

polyppal · Mar 13, 2021

Theres some advantages in keeping your tanks as separate systems if you plan on keeping them both.

The bacteria is primarily on the rock/sand surfaces in your DT, not necessarily floating around in the water column. If you add significant amounts of new rock it is still going to have to 'cure' (live rock with decomposing debris, unless its established clean rock from another system) or likely will get ugly (dry rock)

I have a similar situation to you, I know my current DT is disease/pest free so I am going to add some sand/rock from the existing tank, a new bottle of bacteria and run the sump with filter socks from the old tank during the cycle. Im sure it will speed things up but still expect it to take some time to cycle to the point of where i'd be comfortable adding coral.

Buffalou · Mar 13, 2021

I recently moved from an 80 gal to 150 gal. Mixed up plenty of additional water, made sure everything was same temp. and salt parameters, added some additional live rock, rinsed existing rock in separate smaller tub of fresh salt then moved everything and majority of existing tank water into new tank, disposed of the nasty few inches of old water. I added a bottle of Dr. Tims one and only bacteria and had no issues of ugly phases. It was a chore so plan for an extended time of pain ;Blackeye but well worth it in the end. Last piece of advice, make sure your happy with size and manufacture of your new tank, you don't want to repeat this in a couple years when you realize you wanted something else or have problems. Trust me I lived it, bought a new inexpensive tank set it all up just to have seam blow out and spill 220 gallons of water everywhere. My current tank is a custom built with special bracing and stand. Just saying do you research on tank makers before you jump into one.

Hersheyb · Mar 13, 2021

if ur adding cured dry rock you won't have a cycle, but it will take some time for new bacteria to establish in the new rock. So if you are planning to add more fish into your 2 newly tied system I would take it really slow. Let the new rock become "live"

You new rock will go through some sort of ugly stage, but it shouldn't be too bad.. just as long as you keep the lights off for a few weeks (3+weeks) once you have the system running.. Let the bacteria establish into the new rock and it should minimized the ugly stage. You can help by seeding the rock and dosing bacteria like microbacter7.

I went through the exact same thing a 3 years ago... had 90 gal and plumbed a 200 gal into the establish system. I let the system run for almost 2 months before I turned the lights on the newly plumb system. I started to add fish slowly after a few weeks of linking the 2 systems... to increase the bioload. I was able to avoid the ugly stage, except for the film algae that slowly changed the white color of the rocks.