1.5 year old tank needs to be replaced - stability question

[cleverbs]

Alright so I have a 1.5 year old 220g tank that the brace broke on and I will be replacing it thursday with a new 220g. When I do this using the same live rock and everything will I lose the stability that my older tank has gained?

 

[Tweaked]

Short answer is yes. You have a 1.5yr old sand bed I assume?

 

[USAFReefer]

Unfortunately yes, anytime you move rocks, even flipping them over, messes with stability. Do that for every rock and sand and you are looking at probably a good month of fluctuations from my experience. If you have SPS corals, I would recommend putting them in a frag tank or a fellow reefers tank that you trust for that time. Most LPS and softies can handle a move like that but won't be too happy, but most SPS corals will have major issues.

 

[cleverbs]

I have not had any sandbed so its just rock.

All my SPS are in a frag tank right now that will be kept off line from my main system.

What kind of stability will I lose? the stability of turning ammonia into nitrate? or the stability of PH/Alk/Mag/Cal?

 

[USAFReefer]

Most of the issues come from bacteria living in certain areas of the rocks and the die off and re-growth as they find new places to live on the rocks. With that comes stability issues with ammonia, nitrite, nitrates, and phosphates.

I have never used it for your purpose, but possibly a bottle of Dr. Tim's bacteria for starting tanks would be a benefit and greatly reduce the amount of time the tank has stability issues.

Sand would be the biggest issue for stability, so with you not having sand you are better off than most in your situation.

 

[cleverbs]

Ill look into doc tims

Edit: I LOL'd when I looked at the price...98$ to use it on my tank...I will let it cycle normally before I pay that much