New to the game and already upgrading 😳

[Saltwater newby]

Hello everyone!!
So I started with a 65g that I bought for my family this past Christmas without knowing much about saltwater set ups. After visiting local LFS decided to do a fish only with dry rock. So I got my live sand and dry rock and started my tank. After picking up new tips I decided to go for a refugium style filtration but because my tank wasn't reef ready or a predrilled tank I had to do it with a HOB set up. So after I got it all flowing and everything was sort of ok, me and my family didn't like the set up much because it was noisy and the HOB made is nervous. So we stumbled into a nice LFS that we'd heard about yesterday and we came across a nice Red Sea 350 75g and it was all reef ready and with its own auto top off "all pretty looking".So my wife liked it and next thing you know, we're buying it.

So now I have a brand new tank already to go we even got the protein skimmer and all.

But now I'm not sure what to do with my old one? As far as should I use the live sand and 40 pounds of dry rock. My cycle isn't even complete yet. A friend of mine who has a 150g bought me some damsels and said to use them to help the cycle. " trust me, not my idea" That being said , the fish are doing really good though, they've been there 3 weeks so far.

So that's where I'm at... Should I use what's in my old tank , saltwater and all? Or should I buy everything new again. The LFS owner said that because I'm still cycling and it's not an old tank
(Not even a month) he said to use it all and gave me a microbacter7

WHAT SHOULD I DO? And thank you!!!!!

 

[Bogue Chitto]

I think you are hooked....If I were you I would use what I have and since you have the fish, let them cycle your tank. That's what I always use to cycle mine. Others disagree but I have done it this way for years and my tanks always cycled good and the fish lived right on.

 

[Irishman360]

I would read these links first.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1031074

You could keep your small tank for a permanent QT, (will be in the link above), part it out and get more $ towards your newer tank. You will need more live rock in your tank though, rule of thumb is 1.5-2 lbs per gallon of your tank. If the rock is really pours than you can get away with less. I have 50 lbs of rock with I believe 40 lbs of sand.

Feel free to message me with questions. If I can't answer them I'll let you know

 

[garyinco]

The compulsion never stops. If, somehow it did, you would start losing interest. It is a fascinating hobby. If you're in some urban area Craigslist is a good way to peddle stuff, like you're old tank. 65g is pretty darn big for a quarantine tank.

If I were you I would I would source some really decent live rock*. Starting with only dry rock can be very frustrating. We're not gods, and most of us are not biologists, and when we build a reef we are trying to create a world from scratch. The rock in your tank fits the old adage of "buy cheap, buy twice".

* Tampa Bay Saltwater dot com looks promising for live rock.

 

[Ztous]

I know how you feel. I chose to do a smaller system since I live in an apartment but I have 120 gallon sitting in storage. It has stayed there do to it's angle iron frame and my unwillingness to carry it up four flights of stairs but I bet the next time my bank account looks fat I'm gonna get some energy.

 

[thelawnwrangler]

I am jealous - nice system

 

[sticky polyps]

You should definitely use your existing rock and sand, most ppl use dry rock nowadays on reef tanks, as long as it is intended for reef aquariums you are great. Glad to hear someone got a real tank! Save that money for fish and coral. Also I would trade in the damsels after the cycle before you put anything else in. You will probably have to remove the rock to do this.

 

[Saltwater newby]

Thanks to everyone I really appreciate your replies to my message. Thanks for the input. I'll reuse everything in my old tank.

Whats the best way to get the water and sand out?

 

[sticky polyps]

You could siphon the water out into containers and then scoop the sand out, i have used a plastic spakel, the wide one in the 3 pack that they sell at my local home Depot for like 2 dollers and put it in a bucket with tank water just over the top layer of sand. (Watch for evaporation if you will be storing it..a lid would be best.)
Or, you can siphon the sand directly with a hose with the tank full. I would discard this water however. You will probably need to siphon the last little bit out regardles of which way you do it.