Best method to upgrade tank size

®eefer

®eefer

New member
I currently have a 60g tank with 30g fuge/sump. Today, I will be buying a 150g w/40g fuge/sump. I account for a 90-100g difference in water capacity. How hard will this affect my current livestock? I mostly have corals and just a couple of fish. Am I stupid to just transfer all water & livestock + the difference in capacity to the new tank right away? Obviously, I would get the ph, temp and salinity of the new tank pretty close before I added livestock.
 
That will work fine. If your new water is not well aged and matched, you may have a problem, but otherwise go for it. If in doubt, just siphon the water in using a 1/2" hose, which will go pretty fast and will prevent kicking up too much sand, etc., but won't be as much of a shock.
 
I dont have room for both tanks. Nicole, are you saying to do the transfer, but then start to add the new water (not aged) kind of slowly? I would prefer to add RO water I would be mixing with salt (save money), but do you think that premixed salt ro from a LFS is a much better idea?
 
will the new tank sit where the old tank is now? i so you can mix up your new water and a few days before the move start mixing it with your old tank water. kind of siphon some back and forth so it all becomes one water volume over a few days and then no worries.
 
Cant do it bro...no room close enough to house both tanks...plus I have the GF factor that would not like that. :-)
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7838130#post7838130 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by carloskoi
too bad, if the GF is not happy now...i predict a new GF in your future.
Click to expand...

Not likely. I'm just saying I dont have room for a 60g and a 150g in my condo living room unless I block either the main sliding glass door, or the couch & tv, not convienient for anyone. This is OC beachfront property...no extra room buddy.

I have a couple of 27g rubbermaid containers. Do you think it would help at all if I did a 25g water change now and kept the removed water under circulation until the afternoon? (25g less shock??)
 
Have you bought the 150 yet? the 180 is abouth the same size just deeper and well worth it if you can swing it. I changed my tank in oct. from a 65 to a 180. I did not use the same sandbed but used some of the water from my old tank and some new. I also seeded the new tank with sponge I kept in my sump. My additional live rock was from floridaliverock.com and the entire tank took 4 days to cycle. I actually placed the 180 in the same room but on an opposite wall. If you are using the same place then you may need to place your live stock in buckets for a few days. You can make the change if necessary but if you have the luxury of time and space then be conservative
 
just kidding about the GF you know. my point was to get as much water mixed from the old system to the new before moving any livestock. using whatever containers you have would be great, then just go for it.

feed lightly for a few days and check your water chemistry tests evey day for a while.

let us know how it goes.

when?

Carl
 
Cooltank, as you know i just switch tank from 150g to 240g. It is not that hard bro and please do not upset the GF. What you need to do now is mix approx 100-120g of salt water, let it mix for at least 3-4 days. I prefer tropic marin, cuz that is what i am using and it work really good for me. Get a bin or any large container which can hold all your Corals. Whenever you are ready to switch, drain water from your old tank into the container, transfer all your corals over along with fish and any other live stock, throw a small powerhead in there to circulate the water while you are working on the new tank. I can only use 3/4 of your old water and use the rest to clean your LR and another other stuff. I don't recommend to use the old sand bed. I would start with BB till everything stable than add sand later. Good luck and enjoy your new tank
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7838181#post7838181 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by pja
Have you bought the 150 yet? the 180 is abouth the same size just deeper and well worth it if you can swing it. I changed my tank in oct. from a 65 to a 180. I did not use the same sandbed but used some of the water from my old tank and some new. I also seeded the new tank with sponge I kept in my sump. My additional live rock was from floridaliverock.com and the entire tank took 4 days to cycle. I actually placed the 180 in the same room but on an opposite wall. If you are using the same place then you may need to place your live stock in buckets for a few days. You can make the change if necessary but if you have the luxury of time and space then be conservative
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info...I plan on using the same sandbed. I'm getting the tank, stand & canopy for $300, ya cant beat that. I cant imagine anything staying alive in a bucket for a few days...I wont be adding any nwe rock initially...but I will be curing some soon. I hope that the new tank will not have to re-cycle since rock from my current tank is at least 4 years old.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7838334#post7838334 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by REEFER714
Cooltank, as you know i just switch tank from 150g to 240g. It is not that hard bro and please do not upset the GF. What you need to do now is mix approx 100-120g of salt water, let it mix for at least 3-4 days. I prefer tropic marin, cuz that is what i am using and it work really good for me. Get a bin or any large container which can hold all your Corals. Whenever you are ready to switch, drain water from your old tank into the container, transfer all your corals over along with fish and any other live stock, throw a small powerhead in there to circulate the water while you are working on the new tank. I can only use 3/4 of your old water and use the rest to clean your LR and another other stuff. I don't recommend to use the old sand bed. I would start with BB till everything stable than add sand later. Good luck and enjoy your new tank
Click to expand...

So did you transfer the livestock that same day into the new tank? I was thinking that BB might be the way to go, but I was also thinking that the sand might help to keep nitrates under control...240 cube is awesome!!
 
This is exactly what i did with my tank, take 8 guys to bring the tank inside the house. When the tank is inside the house where i want it to be, i realized i don't have enough water to fill up my new tank so i filled the tank up with RODI and mix approx 100g of fresh mix water. I let it mix for 24 hours and transfer the corals and live stock back into the new tank. By the way, your corals will stress out regardless.
 
I would agree with everything Reefer714 said, except that I would keep the top layer of sand from your existing bed -- about 1/2", gently transfered to the top of the new sand bed.
 
If you do the sandbed last, stirring up is not a big deal. The sand bed has to be pretty old and deep to have anything dangerous lurking in the bottem layers -- and then much deeper than 1/2"

I only say to keep the top layer because unless someone has been meticulous about keeping a living DSB -- and very few people are -- the sand is holding a lot to nutrients that are not worth transporting to the new tank for the sake of saving a few bucks on sand. Meanwhile, all the good stuff is in the top layer.

And I don't like BB :) To each their own...
 
WOW...all I can say is that yesterday was a lot of hard work!! Something else to consider...even if I took ALL the sand from my old tank, there wouldnt barely be enough to make a 1/2" bottom on my new tank. I think I really like the look of sand, but I dont really like the crap it seems to collect under the rocks. I had a ton of flow in my 60, sand always stayed very stirred up and clean. Still, when I removed the rock, lots of detrius remained beneath it. So far, that was too much work to try to transfer as of yet.
 
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