Upgrading to a 300 gallon from a 150!

[JEREMY HELMINIAK]

Hey everyone,
So me and my wife decided it’s time to go bigger, now my biggest question to anyone who has done this before how would you do it?
I plan on using my current filtration system and sump from my 150 only because it’s over kill for what I have now and will be perfect for the 300 gallon. I also will be adding new sand and about 100 pounds of dry rock to make up some difference, I know the tank will for sure do somewhat of a cycle again if not a full cycle.
Do any of you have any suggestions on howor what would be the best way to do this so that my current fish and coral will be stressed as little as possible in this transition.
Thanks in advance
Jeremy

 

[reef lover]

If you can id set up the other tank and get it cycling. Then when your ready you can move your sump over and your livestock.

 

[JEREMY HELMINIAK]

If you can id set up the other tank and get it cycling. Then when your ready you can move your sump over and your livestock.

Right but I was just worried about not being able to have filtration on the new setup

 

[reef lover]

Some powerheads and maybe a hob skimmer should suffice. Just to get it through the cycle.

 

[JEREMY HELMINIAK]

Some powerheads and maybe a hob skimmer should suffice. Just to get it through the cycle.

The only hob I have is up to 90 gallons

 

[reef lover]

Really just to keep aeration and circulation while it does its thing...should suffice...and i would add a couple lr from your dt without corals on them if you can to kickstart the good stuff. Keep lights off or very minimal for cycle.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I did similar this past June and set the new tank up with water then adding sufficient amount of salt, then I once SG was achieved, I added bags of Live aragonite sand, let tank clear , then utilized filter socks and heater up front. Then came transfer day having a team of persons to assist in pulling from and placing into new tank.

 

[reef lover]

Those are some weird looking fish!! ;Hilarious;Hilarious

 

[JEREMY HELMINIAK]

I did similar this past June and set the new tank up with water then adding sufficient amount of salt, then I once SG was achieved, I added bags of Live aragonite sand, let tank clear , then utilized filter socks and heater up front. Then came transfer day having a team of persons to assist in pulling from and placing into new tank.

Dude sweet set up, see I wouldn’t be so worried if I was just swapping everything what has me worried is adding the new sand and dry rock, because the rock was in a system once before, I am gonna use all the sand from my current tank plus new though and it’s about 75 to 100 pounds dry rock

 

[vetteguy53081]

Dude sweet set up, see I wouldn’t be so worried if I was just swapping everything what has me worried is adding the new sand and dry rock, because the rock was in a system once before, I am gonna use all the sand from my current tank plus new though and it’s about 75 to 100 pounds dry rock

If using old sand. be sure to have socks, etc to capture the sediment and clean socks daily , oh and ADD Carbon right away ( I prefer ChemiPure Blue) for rock- place them overnite or two in a tub to observe for any hitchhikers you do not want in your new tank

 

[JEREMY HELMINIAK]

Really just to keep aeration and circulation while it does its thing...should suffice...and i would add a couple lr from your dt without corals on them if you can to kickstart the good stuff. Keep lights off or very minimal for cycle.

That’s what I was starting to think about doing and yes I wouldn’t have lights on it until I moved the whole tank over, I hope five hydra 26 hds would be enough. Lol

 

[brandon429]

we have a thirty page thread of this being done, its about moving tanks home to home without recycling. not any degree of recycle, it has pertinence to your thread.

you would rinse your current sand to cloudless perfection before its installed (this retains bac, it doesnt wash away) and you'd rinse the new sand equally well, for 100% cloudless sand. mix it in, ready.

if you use all new water, that rinsed sand (not any degree of detritus left) and some degree of your current live rocks, it will skip cycle.

the thread with the example work is called the sand rinse thread. it distills down to this: transfer some clouding, get some risk of recycle. Transfer all the clouding, get a guaranteed cycle or partial cycle. Transfer zero clouding (we rinse the old sand in TAP water ) get zero cycle, for fours years straight. Dont break the cycle if you run the method
B

additional stand out details from the thread: we do not use bottle bac. Using bottle bac means we aren't sure what bac do, or if they're strong etc. Its a form of guessing, we dont.

we dont use ammonia testing, that way we quell revolts from .25 ahead of time...the reason everyone's tank skips a cycle in the official sand rinse thread is because thats sound transfer science.

 

[JEREMY HELMINIAK]

we have a thirty page thread of this being done, its about moving tanks home to home without recycling. not any degree of recycle, it has pertinence to your thread.

you would rinse your current sand to cloudless perfection before its installed (this retains bac, it doesnt wash away) and you'd rinse the new sand equally well, for 100% cloudless sand. mix it in, ready.

if you use all new water, that rinsed sand (not any degree of detritus left) and some degree of your current live rocks, it will skip cycle.

the thread with the example work is called the sand rinse thread. it distills down to this: transfer some clouding, get some risk of recycle. Transfer all the clouding, get a guaranteed cycle or partial cycle. Transfer zero clouding (we rinse the old sand in TAP water ) get zero cycle, for fours years straight. Dont break the cycle if you run the method
B

The only thing that had me worried was the fact of the rock I will be adding was in an old system and has been in buckets for about a year now.

 

[brandon429]

has that rock been wet/roughly consistent saltwater levels

(asking because we already have on file if you can believe it a 3 year fallow rock/from garage buckets/ and they hold their cycle when wet, even if you don't feed)


**if you are moving any degree of the old rocks, that's your transfer filtration and also the old sand, its good to reuse to keep its bacteria. the tap rinsing will not sterilize it, no doctor agrees tap water is a sterilizer they agree its a contaminant. we are using tap so we can rinse until clear, if you use RO or SW it runs out too soon and you partially rinse, then get a mini cycle


only the sand gets tap rinsing, the rocks are rinsed/prepped in saltwater since we're preserving them as much as possible. the sand doesnt matter all that much, it only matters not to move detritus into the new tank, or clouding from the brand new sand. rinse both to perfection, before use.
The old rocks are only a risk if they smell bad/have rotting factors within. if they stayed wet at all they kept bac, its either selected for freshwater or saltwater environments.

their risk isn't lack of bacteria, its potential rotting things that may overcome or feed algae in the new system
how were they stored

 

[JEREMY HELMINIAK]

has that rock been wet/roughly consistent saltwater levels

(asking because we already have on file if you can believe it a 3 year fallow rock/from garage buckets/ and they hold their cycle when wet, even if you don't feed)


**if you are moving any degree of the old rocks, that's your transfer filtration and also the old sand, its good to reuse to keep its bacteria. the tap rinsing will not sterilize it, no doctor agrees tap water is a sterilizer they agree its a contaminant. we are using tap so we can rinse until clear, if you use RO or SW it runs out too soon and you partially rinse, then get a mini cycle


only the sand gets tap rinsing, the rocks are rinsed/prepped in saltwater since we're preserving them as much as possible. the sand doesnt matter all that much, it only matters not to move detritus into the new tank, or clouding from the brand new sand. rinse both to perfection, before use.
The old rocks are only a risk if they smell bad/have rotting factors within. if they stayed wet at all they kept bac, its either selected for freshwater or saltwater environments.

their risk isn't lack of bacteria, its potential rotting things that may overcome or feed algae in the new system
how were they stored

They were removed from the old tank air dried and put in buckets that’s about it a year ago the thought of going even bigger wasn’t even on the table, but the fact that she is encouraging this to happen has me wanting to get it done before she changes her mind. Lol If your married you know what I mean