Moving to a new tank questions

[Vadafallon]

I have an established 60 gallon i will be moving to a 75 gallon. I have a nitrate issue in the old tank and i think it could be old rock. Not all of it, but some of it contributing to the problem. With that being said, here are my questions.

1) when i setup the new tank should i use any of the old water since i am fighting nitrates? Last test was 50ppm nitrates
2) I wanted to start over with rock for the most part. I bought dry rock from reefcleaners and i am going to aquascape before adding water. I will be using a few pieces of rock from my old tank though to seed. So should i get it all setup, add new sand and then filling the whole tank up with new saltwater? .
3) Start testing for ammonia and nitrates to make sure nothing is going nuts and if it does cycle at all make sure that is done.
4) Give it a week or two and test again and then if all is well add my fish from the old tank and leathers.

I want to make sure the new tank starts right with no issues. This is a new build and i will be adding pics etc.

 

[CarrieB]

Don't use the old water. There is no reason to do that.


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[Vadafallon]

Thanks. That is what i was wondering.

 

[CarrieB]

Because you are only using some of your rock from your old tank, you are going to want to give the new rock time to seed before putting a significant bioload in the tank.

Try not to let the established rock get dry during the move so you don't lose your bacteria. ( you can carry it from one tank to the other, but I wouldn't recommend letting it sit in an empty tank long enough to dry.)

On the other hand, if you are impatient and going to gradually move your corals over, you could move one at a time and monitor to make sure the old rock is providing sufficient filtration and you don't get any ammonia.


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[Sk8r]

Nothing wrong with OLD rock---what you get from the ocean may be, oh, 10,000 years old. If you have that level of nitrate I have a fix: I just battled down from far worse than 50 after a powerout---NoPoX for starters, and I'm very glad to say, I now have a far better skimmer. Knocked it down bigtime.

 

[Vadafallon]

Yeah i tried NoPox and it blew up my tank with red slime. I stopped, changed all the subtrate and got a bigger skimmer. Now things seem to be doing better but my Nitrates are still 50. I am only going to be using some of the rock i have in the new tank, but the rock and detritus is the only thing i can think of for the way the nitrates are.

The new tank will have mostly dry rock and thats ok. I really want to aquascape it the way i want from the get go. It will drive me nuts if i don't like the rock work lol. Artsy side of me i guess.