Upsizing my tank- Recycling?

[duberii]

I just got a new tank- a 40 breeder with a ~30 gallon sump. I plan on transferring all my old sand and rock, along with all my livestock into the larger system (and water if you guys think I should). However, I'll also be adding some new rock, new marine pure media, sand and, of course, water to account for the larger tank. I'm upgrading from my current 32-gallon biocube.

My question is, how should I go about transferring everything. My gut feeling is that I should add all the new media etc to the tank, cycle it, then transfer my current livestock etc. Am I just making this process too difficult? My main concern is that I'm losing all the beneficial bateria on the glass and in the built in sump, which could cause an ammonia spike once I put everything into the new tank... Tell me what you think.

 

[brandon429]

this thread is dedicated solely to that job:

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

we have been able to stop a cycle and a mini cycle in 100% of reefs there.

 

[duberii]

this thread is dedicated solely to that job:

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

we have been able to stop a cycle and a mini cycle in 100% of reefs there.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but from my understanding, this is saying that my biggest concern isn't bacteria, but stirring up all the detritus in my sandbed. So I guess the best method would be to remove the sand, wash it, then put it back in?

Kinda unrelated- but what sand do you recommend? I know I'll have to rinse any live sand, but is there any specific kind of sand you'd recommend? I have play sand in there now, which was a mistake I made back when I had no idea what i was doing. Now, I'm gonna try and upgrade.

 

[brandon429]

Caribsea ocean direct is my fav after pre rinsing

Fiji pink close second

All we're doing to avoid cycles is deep cleaning before the new setup, sand in tap water then ro, and rocks swished in saltwater only

 

[duberii]

Caribsea ocean direct is my fav after pre rinsing

Fiji pink close second

All we're doing to avoid cycles is deep cleaning before the new setup, sand in tap water then ro, and rocks swished in saltwater only

Would it be best to switch from the silicate sand bed to the aragonite sand (rinsed off using your method), then transfer it to the new tank (possibly with another rinsing step), or is that not necessary?

I guess I'm just having trouble with the idea that I can just pre-rinse some live sand, put it into the tank, then put my corals and fish in. Is that what you're suggesting, or have I misunderstood?

 

[brandon429]

Gotta check the work links to see, just the ones from post 1 will demo it and hit the nuanced details too

 

[duberii]

Gotta check the work links to see, just the ones from post 1 will demo it and hit the nuanced details too

I guess this isn't even a concern with your method haha I'm just very wary of using live sand to skip a cycle... I guess I'll never learn if I don't try though!

I'll follow all your advice regardless.... maybe I'll even use my old sand, wash it out etc and use it in my refugium. Would it do any harm to dose some ammonia to see how the system handles it before adding any livestock?

 

[brandon429]

no harm there, but dont add ammonia to live rocks in general practice, although they can tolerate it there's still animals adapted there that dont want it, and our whole 5 years is spent not dosing ammonia or testing for it. You can certainly do it/any skip cycler better be subject to passing a test other than the tanks preserved above so I interject this:

if you measure ammonia oxidation with anything other than a seneye, I can't accept that as proof one way or another. A number might be posted one way or another, but it will have zero validity in measuring our system


ten thousand dollars in corals and fish preserved on page 4 alone is how we measure~its not by nyos, red sea, salifert, or api ammonia.

Our thread was designed to address the problems of the .25 tank transfer claimed stalled cycle...so using a kit besides seneye would be a repeat of the very reason we built the thread. only seneye is trustworthy. only seneye shows that no reef cycle has stalled, the others show them stalling by the day. measuring low level ammonia with test kits stated at 0 on the label (there is no zero free ammonia in reefing) is a lot of the problem. they're better as high level indicators, dead fish rotting.

 

[brandon429]

if you wanted to use non seneye I think this technique gives you the best chance of catching ammonia truth with them:


make your final tank arrangement to be tested. have 100% new water in place before beginning, do an ammonia test and post pic of it (zero point calibration, its color = zero water is all new)

dose ammonia liquid AC for cycling into the clean system only until your free ammonia tester shows a BARE light change up, the smallest increment of change you can make and then stop. absolutely don't drive to 2 ppm. do the light bare change and then stop, post a pic of that bare change earned carefully.

retest in 24 hours it should be back down. if stuck, your test is wrong x all google searches for a stuck cycle not measured by seneye. I bet it will show a back-down move.

You need to be moving live rocks in this process, are you setting up a display tank with live rocks in the end

 

[duberii]

no harm there, but dont add ammonia to live rocks in general practice, although they can tolerate it there's still animals adapted there that dont want it, and our whole 5 years is spent not dosing ammonia or testing for it. You can certainly do it/any skip cycler better be subject to passing a test other than the tanks preserved above so I interject this:

if you measure ammonia oxidation with anything other than a seneye, I can't accept that as proof one way or another. A number might be posted one way or another, but it will have zero validity in measuring our system


ten thousand dollars in corals and fish preserved on page 4 alone is how we measure~its not by nyos, red sea, salifert, or api ammonia.

Our thread was designed to address the problems of the .25 tank transfer claimed stalled cycle...so using a kit besides seneye would be a repeat of the very reason we built the thread. only seneye is trustworthy. only seneye shows that no reef cycle has stalled, the others show them stalling by the day. measuring low level ammonia with test kits stated at 0 on the label (there is no zero free ammonia in reefing) is a lot of the problem. they're better as high level indicators, dead fish rotting.

Ok- I'm in. Last questions- how long after adding the sand and water should I transfer live rock?
Should I use as much of the current tank water as possible?

 

[brandon429]

what was your take from seeing how Jon did his rip clean, why alter his approach it was perfect- 1st place reference above 300 or so jobs. Id just order it as he did for simplicity. regarding tank water, Id choose all new for the reasons he shows. with the order of operations Jon's tank shows on our opening example, that gives you the choice to add your rocks anytime after the sand is rinsed clear. you can choose how long to wait.