preparing to move to a bigger tank. 1 important question

hotelbravo

Active member
Hello im about to move my 30 gallon to a 72 gallon aquarium. I have been told by my LFS that I don't have to cycle the new tank aslong as I put new live sand in the tank, ALL of my cycled live rock from my old tank, fill it with 25-30 gallons of new premixed saltwater, and then put all of my cycled water from my old tank into the new tank. also use the old filters and whatnot.. their explanation was that I have in my old tank 30 gallons of cycled water and cycled rock supporting the system so if I put it all in the 72 gallon I still have enough cycled environment to support the fish..
I'm always wanting second opinions as this seemed a little strange I figured I should ask everyone what they thought..
 
I would let your new tank cycle just so you don’t end up with any bad algae in the long run.
Never listen to LFS, listen to Reef Central. LFS = headaches, Reef Central = Beautiful Tanks.
 
When I upgraded from a 60 to a 120 I used some well cycled rocks in the refugium section along with as much sand from the old system. In the DT it was all new dry rock and sand other than a cup of the old sand. No cycle at all.

I'M MO using old water is pointless as long as the overall parameters are similar.
 
I would let it sit a week or so just in case. Keep all the livestock in a holding tank, transfer over as much as you can including all the sand, rock, and as much water as possible. Transferring over the sand is going to stir a lot of detritus and nastiness and it could cause a small cycle. Also, a bottle of Bio-Spira could be a descent preventative measure.

Most people think that the WATER is cycled and holds the bacteria. While it does hold some much much more of it lives on surfaces such as rock, bio balls, sand, etc. That's why we use live rock and bio balls, etc. The water is pretty marginal in terms of holding bacteria IMO.
 
I would let your new tank cycle just so you don't end up with any bad algae in the long run.
Never listen to LFS, listen to Reef Central. LFS = headaches, Reef Central = Beautiful Tanks.

They aren't always wrong. In this case, I fully agree with them. If you move over all the rock, and keep it wet, there shouldn't be any die-off to speak of. Many reefs in the wild are exposed to air every day at low tide. Same bioload, same amount of bacteria processing the load, only difference is a larger amount of water in which the undesirable stuff can dilute into.

I've done this several times without issues. Just don't go straight out and buy a ton of fish.
 
I moved from a 55 to a 125 with no cycle and no losses. Used the old rock. Used new sand. New water. Did not skip a beat.
 
I think you'll be fine if you don't add any new livestock until the bacteria from your "old" sand/rock begins to colonize your new sand rock. Assuming you have no ammonia in your tank right now, the bacteria you are transferring over should be enough to support the livestock you currently have.
 
They aren't always wrong. In this case, I fully agree with them. If you move over all the rock, and keep it wet, there shouldn't be any die-off to speak of. Many reefs in the wild are exposed to air every day at low tide. Same bioload, same amount of bacteria processing the load, only difference is a larger amount of water in which the undesirable stuff can dilute into.

I've done this several times without issues. Just don't go straight out and buy a ton of fish.
I think you'll be fine if you don't add any new livestock until the bacteria from your "old" sand/rock begins to colonize your new sand rock. Assuming you have no ammonia in your tank right now, the bacteria you are transferring over should be enough to support the livestock you currently have.

I dont plan on adding anything else to the tank for atleast a month or two. with the exception of a sand sifting star and lots and lots of copepods. i will have 1 maroon clown, 1 mandarin, and 1 RBTA moved over along with the CUC.
 
I dont plan on adding anything else to the tank for atleast a month or two. with the exception of a sand sifting star and lots and lots of copepods. i will have 1 maroon clown, 1 mandarin, and 1 RBTA moved over along with the CUC.

Super light bioload. You'll be fine.
 
You will have a small cycle no matter what, although you most likely won't even see it with the best of test kits out there. But it will be so small it won't affect your critters that'll be moved over unless you allow the rock quite a significant out-of-water time. Keep the bioload light as mentioned above for a while and your move will be painless. I've done this numerous times as well. Using old water isn't absolutely necessary as the majority of your bacteria is colonized in the rock, although if you want to, it won't do any damage.
 
You will have a small cycle no matter what, although you most likely won't even see it with the best of test kits out there. But it will be so small it won't affect your critters that'll be moved over unless you allow the rock quite a significant out-of-water time. Keep the bioload light as mentioned above for a while and your move will be painless. I've done this numerous times as well. Using old water isn't absolutely necessary as the majority of your bacteria is colonized in the rock, although if you want to, it won't do any damage.

thanks! You have been very helpful (along with the others of course)
 
i combined a 29g and a 14g biocubes into a 75g tank. moved all of the live rock, a little of the sand, added new sand, transferred all fish, cuc, inverts and corals and didn't lose a single thing. all of this was done over a period of a couple of days.
 
You may have a 5 day cycle, what we fondly call a minicycle. I did what you're proposing to do---but I had a several-year-old 30 gallon fuge-sump connecting in to a 102 gallon, with some new rock, mostly old, and I still got a little squeaky for the no-cycle theory.
 
When I moved from my 93 cube into my 350 display, I started taking my water changes and adding them to the new tank, I used new live sand and slowly moved the live rocks over a couple of months while adding new base Rock inbetween each batch of love rock, I moved the fish 1 large fish every 4 days and small fish every other day.
Took some time but didn't lose anything
 
Back
Top