120 upgrade questions

[JustinM]

Hey,

So we have a 40 breeder, about 2 years old and pretty much was just a tank with 2 clowns the whole time till about 2 months ago. My wife and I started adding some acans, then a bubble coral, then a torch and other lps, then some sps and so on. Well, she has an addiction to wrasses(so In qt we have a leopard wrasse, flame, rhomboid, a lineatus and my one fish, a kole tang) all dispersed over 2-20 longs and a 10 gallon.

This was all happening while we had an empty 120 just sitting in the basement. We set that up about 2 weeks ago, added about 40-50 lbs of rock from the 40, and I bought 50 more. We still have about 30-40lbs to bring over to the 120 for the sump when we move everything. I have also been adding frozen food to the tank to keep some bacteria going.

Anyways, I have been testing for ammonia and haven't seen any yet. I was just wondering when it would be ok to move everything over. 2 of the wrasses have 2 more weeks of qt, the tang 3, and the other wrasses have 4. They have all been treated for flukes and have just been being watched for any other symptoms which I have not seen. I won't say I'm in a rush but man, too many tanks for water changes.

Any help is greatly appreciated! Cheers!

 

[tjnorthdakota]

I would say it would be ok if the 120 has been up for a week or so with no ammonia present on a good test kit, since you are using half live rock already you are a step ahead. I would not reuse the sand from the 40 and put into the 120 though, nutrient spike would most likely happen. spread your fish introduction out though so the liverock has time to adjust to the new bioload and grow adequate bacteria to handle it

 

[JustinM]

I bought all new live rock as well and all new sand. I figured since the qt times are already spread out, introduction would be as well.

 

[thegrun]

I agree the tank is probably cycled, but the quickest way to be sure would be to dose the tank with pure ammonia to a 2ppm level, if the tank is fully cycled the ammonia will drop back to zero within 24 hours, if not simply wait for the ammonia and nitrites to drop to zero after the ammonia dose. There is no need to continue to add ammonia or food, the bacteria will live over a year without food. Use pure ammonia without surfactants (available at most hardware stores, I got mine at Ace Hardware) or perfumes. To be sure the ammonia does not contain surfactants shake the bottle and if it bubbles up like dish soap it has surfactants in it, pure ammonia will not have bubbles. To raise 100 gallons of water from 0 to 2 ppm ammonia you would need to add 0.8 grams (8 ml) of standard 10% pure ammonia.

 

[JustinM]

To ace I go tomorrow! Need to fill up the propane tanks anyways. I appreciate it! Thanks!

 

[Dragon1979]

Following

 

[Desert Sea]

If the hardware store doesn't have the pure ammonia and you can't find it else where, Dr. Tim's Aquatics has it in small bottles. You can find it at most of the online suppliers. Granted you'll probably pay as much for it as a quart bottle of unscented ammonia but it is meant for aquarium use and you don't have to worry about what other additives might be in it.

 

[CrayolaViolence]

I've re-used sand many times, but I've taken the time to WASH it. I just hate wasting stuff if I can help it.

 

[JustinM]

I think we are going to be keeping the 40 up so the sand will stay there for now till we figure out for sure. Still haven't picked up ammonia. Just got back from seeing the movie Get Out with my sons. By the way was not that good if anyone was curious lol.

 

[JustinM]

Never mind, ace is closed today. I guess I'll do that tomorrow.

 

[JustinM]

Well everything was cycled so we moved everything over on Thursday night. All looks well. What looked to be a decent size in the 40 now looks like frags haha. Colors get a little washed with the radions.

 

[JUNBUG361]

:thumbsup: Looks good