Upgrading to a larger aquarium

Phish2coralreef

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So here in a few days my newly drilled 75 gallon tank will be here. I have already built a custom cabinet/stand for it. The problem I am facing is that it is going in the exact same spot as my current 1 year old 40 breeder (medium stocked) Tank. Hopefully all I will be doing is switching everything over and adding maybe one bag of new "cycled" sand and a couple of live rocks. Then moving in the livestock and coral. I think I already have a good idea on how I'm going to do it but would appreciate and tips or suggestions. Both on keeping everything alive and also to make it go as quickly and as smoothly as possible. I will be using the same sump, the only thing that will change is plumbing and electrical configuration in the stand now that they will be separated in their own cabinets.

Then as a side note, I have two new ai prime HD'S lighting my 40, do you think I will have to get a third ordered sooner than later? Seeing as how it's roughly a foot longer. Or my LFS is currently upgrading to the new gen radions and selling about 25 of the old gen, and I could just add one of those in between the primes. Lots to think about
 

Nick Steele

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I would use a decent size storage tote to house your livestock and liverock while you set up the new tank. I believe I have a 20G one that I use to use as a bait well when fishing just toss everything in there and move the tank. Even place powerheads/heaters In it to keep temp and flow going and you’ll be fine.
 

W1ngz

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It's a big job, but easy enough.
First, since you're almost doubling the volume I'm assuming you are also upgrading the return pump.

Set up the new tank with a tub, 10 gal or whatever you can in place of the sump (as long as it's big enough to hold the backflow when the pump is off). Don't rush into replacing the tank with untested plumbing, and take the time to learn the behaviour and tune the overflow. You can do all of that with tap water.

Have enough buckets or sterilite totes on hand to hold the existing water, corals, rocks and fish. Try and keep the fish separate from the rocks. A lot of people will suggest brute trash cans and just put everything in there, but with two tanks moving around, consider how hard it will be to safely move a brute full of water and rock out of the way. Smaller is better in this situation.

Have almost as many old towels around as you have buckets, just in case.

Plan in advance where the pile of buckets, as well as the old tank is going while you're in the middle of moving things around to avoid moving even more things around.
 

piranhaman00

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Use brand new sand and I always like using biospira, when doing tank transfers to replenish any bb loss.
 
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Phish2coralreef

Phish2coralreef

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It's a big job, but easy enough.
First, since you're almost doubling the volume I'm assuming you are also upgrading the return pump.

Set up the new tank with a tub, 10 gal or whatever you can in place of the sump (as long as it's big enough to hold the backflow when the pump is off). Don't rush into replacing the tank with untested plumbing, and take the time to learn the behaviour and tune the overflow. You can do all of that with tap water.

Have enough buckets or sterilite totes on hand to hold the existing water, corals, rocks and fish. Try and keep the fish separate from the rocks. A lot of people will suggest brute trash cans and just put everything in there, but with two tanks moving around, consider how hard it will be to safely move a brute full of water and rock out of the way. Smaller is better in this situation.

Have almost as many old towels around as you have buckets, just in case.

Plan in advance where the pile of buckets, as well as the old tank is going while you're in the middle of moving things around to avoid moving even more things around.
Yeah I'm glad we are on pretty much the same page although for once in my building history I actually bought a return pump, skimmer etc. With this tank in mind so hopefully everything should be sized just right. Thanks!
 
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Phish2coralreef

Phish2coralreef

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Use brand new sand and I always like using biospira, when doing tank transfers to replenish any bb loss.
So what exactly is the reasoning behind not using any of the sand from the old tank? It makes sense just from not wanting to transfer detritus and stuff that may be in it, but is there any other reasoning? I will plan on replacing it all though now.
 

New&no clue

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I upgraded from a 55 to a 75(90 total gallons with sump). My advise would be to have way more water than you think you’ll need. Also I would second using something besides brutes. I used several when I did mine and they were a pain to deal with once full of water.
 

W1ngz

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So what exactly is the reasoning behind not using any of the sand from the old tank?
Detritus is one, and it clouds the water but once it's all stirred up it will likely have some areas of high nitrate or phosphate that ends up in the water too.

You could always rinse it, but that takes a lot of time you may not have with all your livestock sitting in buckets.
 

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