Tank transfer

[reefbroao]

I need to move my 55g livestock to a brand new 80g w/ 20g sump. I have 80lbs of live sand (carib sea). How can I get everything into this new tank without causing a cycle. I have lots of live rock i've had in my display and in a brut can. I am moving tomorrow so this is the best time to do this.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Since you're moving and the 55 will have to be broken down anyway I'd setup the new 80 and sump then let it cycle normally. Then just resetup your 55 as it is now. Bring about 50-75% of your current water and mix new to top off. I wouldn't rush the 80 even though you're tearing down the 55 and moving it. The reason is because you are going to have a cycle in that 80 UNLESS your rock is fully cycled. Having "live" sand makes no difference and I don't believe in their claims it's live anyway. I always save half the cost by getting Aragonite dry sand. The sand will be live withing a few weeks anyway.

If you do decide to switch everything over to the 80 make sure you get an ammonia badge so you don't have to actually test for it. If you see ammonia readings then dose Prime or Amquel for the ammonia.

 

[reefbroao]

Yeah I didn't assume I could swap it all over. I think most of this rock has cycled but I'm not sure. It's just because this 55s skimmer broke and the water quality is garbage now

 

[Dkuhlmann]

To check if the rock is cycled dose pure ammonia that doesn't have any additives in it to 2 ppm. If it goes to 0 in 24 hrs and you don't have any nitrites after 24 hrs then your rock is cycled. With finding pure ammonia first make sure there're no scents in it and then shake the bottle, if it foams up there are additives and if it doesn't, there aren't any. You can get pure ammonia at any Walmart or even grocery stores that sell cleaning products will have it.

 

[Yellow Eyes]

I just moved and increased my tank size, from a 20g to a 40g. I set up the 40 and added a bunch of the rock from the 20g to the 40, and put my livestock in a quarantine tank with a rock from the 20g to cease any cycle. I let the 40 run for about a week, checking my parameters everyday for die off from the 20g rock, there wasn't any, and so I added my livestock and everything was fine.

Basically the way I think about it now is I had a bioload that my 20g rock and sand could handle, and then I increased the water volume but put the same 20g rocks in there, and allowed the bacteria to spread for a week before putting back that same bioload in a larger water volume.