Going from 65 to 180

[sgarron]

I finally picked up the tank and built the stand. I took a vacation week next week so guess what I'll be doing?

I'm going to put all new araganite sand in the display tank and a few cups of my existing sand from my 65. The rest of the sand from the 65 will be going in the refugium for the new tank as well as the sand in my current refugium. I'm taking the 100lbs LR from my 65 and 150lbs LR from someone local that is breaking down their setup and putting it all in the 180. Since everything is already cycled and there is no shipping time for the rock to have any die off I shouldn't have a cycle right?

The way I see it, once everything is set up and running I should be able to transfer the fish and corals and not have any problems?

Am I forgetting something? Mainly, should I be able to do this without harming my fish?

 

[snulma1]

Unless im reading this wrong (which is quite possible) you are saying that you are gonna scoop out the old 65g's sand bed and put it in your fuge?

If you are doing that, then I would wait at least a day or 2 to make sure there is no spike from disturbing your sandbed. But once you are sure that your levels are good, then I'd say you should be fine to make the transfer!

 

[sgarron]

The sand is my one concern. Should I use new sand in the fuge as well and seed it with a couple cups of the old?

 

[mwwhite]

The old sand would be our concern also...... if your going to use the old sand in the fuge -- let it run for a week or so and check the chemicals daily for spikes.

If you don't have to use the old sand - then don't. I didn't notice how long your tank was set up but if it's been set up and running for any length of time then that sand is very questionable and could cause major problems with the new tank if you use it.

We moved from a 72 (had been set up about 6 months) to the 150 in one fail swoop with the existing 72's water and live rock but new sand all the way around.... (we didn't even use a cup of the old to seed it). Once we dismantled the 72 and saw how bad that sand was we didn't want to take a chance with even using a cup of it... Nasty to say the least.

Checking chemicals a couple of times a day for a week or so after the move worked well for us -- we saw no spikes and all animals survived and are thriving today.

hth

 

[sgarron]

Thanks, I'll just get new sand. My 65 has been up for 6 months also. Why does everyone say to use established sand to seed the new if it's no good?

 

[mwwhite]

Can't really answer that. Maybe it's okay but we didn't want to take a chance once we saw just how nasty it was.... omg it was shocking.... is it a deep sand bed? We had about a 2 inch deep one and it was gross -- even though we had all the sand cleaner type animals etc and the tank was doing very well -- no problems with chemicals etc....

It just grossed me out sooo bad - i decided there are some chances I wasn't willing to take. That was one of them.... and it worked out ok for us.

Wait until you see what it looks like once the water is out and you try and scoop it out of the old one..... omg.

 

[sgarron]

The bed in the DT is about 3 inches, the bed in the fuge is about 6 inces of sand and Garf's grunge.

 

[mwwhite]

Holy Cow -- make sure you post back when you get moved over. I'd be interested in what you think of the sandbed in the old.

If they are all like that - i think you'll be shocked. We were.

 

[Capt_Cully]

Listen, I moved from a 72 to a 180. I did a similar thing with the rock, BUT, I'd seriously consider ditching the rock. I think you could be asking for trouble. If you want to save a cup of it to seed new sand I think that'd be ok. But trust me, why take a risk where you don't need to. You are going to be stressing fish and corals enough.

My fish all did fine, but I did lose some corals with RTN. Most actually hung on and rebounded, but some are gone forever.

Just my 2cents

Good Luck

 

[Capt_Cully]

ditch the sand.....duh....not rock

sorry