Will upgradeing your tank make you restart the cycling process

[ILikeFish!]

I have a 30 gallon that ive had running for 7 months now and people say your tank doesn’t fully stabilize and cycle until about 6 months so dont get corals until then, so since im upgrading do i have to wait another 6 months again.

 

[ZoWhat]

Your tank is constantly cycling thru the nitrifying process. Constantly establishing and reestablishing the many strain of good bacteria

To get to that point of "many strains of good bacteria" it good to wait thru several cycles of about 6-9mos before buying expensive coral frags

You don't cross-a-finishline saying your tank is "done cycling"... you should mean to say "it's completed it very first cycle unto many many more"

I've talked to experts that "many strains of good bacteria" could be as many as 70+ strains. Unfortunately there is no test to see how many of the strains you have to be considered an "established tank"

I believe when some ppl say they can't keep, let say, zoas or acros bc they die even in a 2yr old system... I believe its bc they are missing several "strains of good bacteria " never introduced in their system

I think its exxxxxxxtremely important to get a single piece of LR from a great established tank and grow as many strains out of the LR as possible

Chew on that....

.

 

[Dee tre]

I have a 30 gallon that ive had for 7 months now and people say your tank doesn’t fully stabilize and cycle until about 6 months so dont get corals until then, so since im upgrading do i have to wait another 6 months again.

I don't tons of experience as far as longevity but i just upgraded in October from a 55 to a 90 and ibdid it after 10 months they say get new sand if yiu have a sand bed but with a tank that new i wouldn't if you use all the old water you have with the rock you have the bacteria on that rock and sand should suffice in my opinion but every tank is different as far bacteria production so hopefully 6 months in you should be alright keep everything you got do not wash it. I added another 35 gallons it was like a huge water change and all survived i added corals 3 months in. Let me know gow it turns out.

 

[Nburg's Reef]

I have a 30 gallon that ive had running for 7 months now and people say your tank doesn’t fully stabilize and cycle until about 6 months so dont get corals until then, so since im upgrading do i have to wait another 6 months again.

No, not necessarily. Waiting 6 months is also a stretch depending on how you’re cycling it. Some corals are probably fine soon after adding fish. Acros for sure you want to wait it out but easy corals not so much.

back to your question - the rock will still be populated with denitrifying bacteria. If you add more unicycled rock that’ll go thru uglies that could disrupt stuff a little but not badly if you have a good amount of rock. If you’re going from a 30 to a 75, that’s not a huge deal and you’ll be fine with adding a little fish load. If you’re going from 30 to 300, I’d call that a new cycle with seeded live rock. ‘Virgin Rock’ added to a system can cause some chemistry disruption.

If you’re planning on upgrading, you can get rock started cycling in a tub or trash can so it’s ready to go when you need it.

 

[ILikeFish!]

Your tank is constantly cycling thru the nitrifying process. Constantly establishing and reestablishing the many strain of good bacteria

To get to that point of "many strains of good bacteria" it good to wait thru several cycles of about 6-9mos before buying expensive coral frags

You don't cross-a-finishline saying your tank is "done cycling"... you should mean to say "it's completed it very first cycle unto many many more"

I've talked to experts that "many strains of good bacteria" could be as many as 70+ strains. Unfortunately there is no test to see how many of the strains you have to be considered an "established tank"

I believe when some ppl say they can't keep, let say, zoas or acros bc they die even in a 2yr old system... I believe its bc they are missing several "strains of good bacteria " never introduced in their system

I think its exxxxxxxtremely important to get a single piece of LR from a great established tank and grow as many strains out of the LR as possible

Chew on that....

.

I added a bunch of Bactria in the beginning when cycling, in that enough?

 

[Gatorpa]

I have a 30 gallon that ive had running for 7 months now and people say your tank doesn’t fully stabilize and cycle until about 6 months so dont get corals until then, so since im upgrading do i have to wait another 6 months again.

How big is the upgrade?

A huge belief I have is to get true live rock from an established tank both when starting and when upgrading.
A tank that fresh I would use your current sand bed and much of the old tank water.

As noted above the micro fauna can’t be bought IMHO.

 

[ILikeFish!]

How big is the upgrade?

A huge belief I have is to get true live rock from an established tank both when starting and when upgrading.
A tank that fresh I would use your current sand bed and much of the old tank water.

As noted above the micro fauna can’t be bought IMHO.

I’m going from a 30 to a 55 gallon

 

[Gatorpa]

I’m going from a 30 to a 55 gallon

I’d recommend putting the effort into finding some live rock to add from a mature system.

 

[ILikeFish!]

I’d recommend putting the effort into finding some live rock to add from a mature system.

How much do i need

 

[Gatorpa]

How much do i need

Tough question to answer without more info.

How much do you have currently?
How open do you want your new scape?
Current photo would help.

 

[LPS Bum]

I have a 30 gallon that ive had running for 7 months now and people say your tank doesn’t fully stabilize and cycle until about 6 months so dont get corals until then, so since im upgrading do i have to wait another 6 months again.

No. Not really.

I just upgraded my reef from a 75 gal to a Reefer 625 XXL (164 gal). I washed and re-used my sand, and kept my live rock in heated, clean, moving saltwater while I set up the new system. Fish went into my QT tank and corals went into a temporary holding bin (heated and with a HOB filter, light and ATO).

I filled the new tank and got the salinity and temp right, then used a bottle of Fluval cycle over the course of 3 days. The small amount of die off on the rock fed the bacteria during the mini cycle.

In 5 days my ammonia went from 1 ppm to 0. I was able to add my fish back in 7 days after setting it up and they’re doing great. Corals went back in after 3 weeks and they’re doing well too.

My trick was to keep the live rock wet in clean, moving saltwater and rinse the sand as best I could. The bacteria helped too. Then test daily until you have the parameters you need to support life. 3 weeks was all it took for me, but then again I mostly keep LPS and softies.

Good luck with the upgrade!

 

[Gatorpa]

No. Not really.

I just upgraded my reef from a 75 gal to a Reefer 625 XXL (164 gal). I washed and re-used my sand, and kept my live rock in heated, clean, moving saltwater while I set up the new system. Fish went into my QT tank and corals went into a temporary holding bin (heated and with a HOB filter, light and ATO).

I filled the new tank and got the salinity and temp right, then used a bottle of Fluval cycle over the course of 3 days. The small amount of die off on the rock fed the bacteria during the mini cycle.

In 5 days my ammonia went from 1 ppm to 0. I was able to add my fish back in 7 days after setting it up and they’re doing great. Corals went back in after 3 weeks and they’re doing well too.

My trick was to keep the live rock wet in clean, moving saltwater and rinse the sand as best I could. The bacteria helped too. Then test daily until you have the parameters you need to support life. 3 weeks was all it took for me, but then again I mostly keep LPS and softies.

Good luck with the upgrade!

One thing I always do is put the live rock into a large cooler filled with tank water for the move.

I also have about 30% NSW for the top off
Keeps it wet and easy to move..

 

[Dee tre]

No. Not really.

I just upgraded my reef from a 75 gal to a Reefer 625 XXL (164 gal). I washed and re-used my sand, and kept my live rock in heated, clean, moving saltwater while I set up the new system. Fish went into my QT tank and corals went into a temporary holding bin (heated and with a HOB filter, light and ATO).

I filled the new tank and got the salinity and temp right, then used a bottle of Fluval cycle over the course of 3 days. The small amount of die off on the rock fed the bacteria during the mini cycle.

In 5 days my ammonia went from 1 ppm to 0. I was able to add my fish back in 7 days after setting it up and they’re doing great. Corals went back in after 3 weeks and they’re doing well too.

My trick was to keep the live rock wet in clean, moving saltwater and rinse the sand as best I could. The bacteria helped too. Then test daily until you have the parameters you need to support life. 3 weeks was all it took for me, but then again I mostly keep LPS and softies.

Good luck with the upgrade!

How long did you have the 75 before you upgraded. 164gal is a nice upgrade....

 

[ILikeFish!]

Tough question to answer without more info.

How much do you have currently?
How open do you want your new scape?
Current photo would help.

I have about 12 pounds of rock in my tank and i want a pretty open scape

 

[LPS Bum]

How long did you have the 75 before you upgraded. 164gal is a nice upgrade....

Yeah the G2 Reefer is great system. Very happy with it so far.

I had the 75 as a FOWLR for 13 years, then converted it to a reef 9 years ago. It’s survived 4 moves over that time and is now my son’s freshwater turtle tank.

That thing could survive a nuclear holocaust.

 

[Sink_or_Swim]

I upgraded from a 32 gallon to a 75 gallon a few months ago. Used all the old water I could siphon out of the old tank without getting too close to the sandbed and pulling out detritus with it. I DID NOT use the old sand - I bought new live sand (you don't have to but I like to), and threw in one big solo cup of old sand that I lightly rinsed in old tank water. Added all my existing live rock (which was dry rock originally - but was populated with bacteria over the 7.5 months the tank was running). Keep your rocks wet during the transfer. Added new saltwater to fill the rest of the way. Let the sand settle a bit before transferring my fish over. And threw in a bottle of Fritz turbo start just for kicks.
Did it all in one day but, you should plan for it to take twice as long as you think it will. Lol. You'll be fine!

 

[Sink_or_Swim]

I have about 12 pounds of rock in my tank and i want a pretty open scape

You can use less rock as long as you have a lot of additional surface area (I use MarinePure balls) in your sump, etc for enough bacteria to colonize to carry the bioload.

 

[ILikeFish!]

No. Not really.

I just upgraded my reef from a 75 gal to a Reefer 625 XXL (164 gal). I washed and re-used my sand, and kept my live rock in heated, clean, moving saltwater while I set up the new system. Fish went into my QT tank and corals went into a temporary holding bin (heated and with a HOB filter, light and ATO).

I filled the new tank and got the salinity and temp right, then used a bottle of Fluval cycle over the course of 3 days. The small amount of die off on the rock fed the bacteria during the mini cycle.

In 5 days my ammonia went from 1 ppm to 0. I was able to add my fish back in 7 days after setting it up and they’re doing great. Corals went back in after 3 weeks and they’re doing well too.

My trick was to keep the live rock wet in clean, moving saltwater and rinse the sand as best I could. The bacteria helped too. Then test daily until you have the parameters you need to support life. 3 weeks was all it took for me, but then again I mostly keep LPS and softies.

Good luck with the upgrade!

Why do you wish you re used you sand and why didn’t you just put all you rock and fish in immediately after putting in the water

 

[ILikeFish!]

I upgraded from a 32 gallon to a 75 gallon a few months ago. Used all the old water I could siphon out of the old tank without getting too close to the sandbed and pulling out detritus with it. I A DID NOT use the old sand - I bought new live sand (you don't have to but I like to), and threw in one big solo cup of old sand that I lightly rinsed in old tank water. Added all my existing live rock (which was dry rock originally - but was populated with bacteria over the 7.5 months the tank was running). Keep your rocks wet during the transfer. Added new saltwater to fill the rest of the way. Let the sand settle a bit before transferring my fish over. And threw in a bottle of Fritz turbo start just for kicks.
Did it all in one day but, you should plan for it to take twice as long as you think it will. Lol. You'll be fine!

When could you start adding more fish and corals

 

[vetteguy53081]

I have a 30 gallon that ive had running for 7 months now and people say your tank doesn’t fully stabilize and cycle until about 6 months so dont get corals until then, so since im upgrading do i have to wait another 6 months again.

No- I just did a transfer 3 weeks ago and added all my rock, added MicoBacter XLM and new sand and tank fully stocked with Zero hiccups, not even diatoms.