Transfer from 55g to a 120g advice needed

[Racenrich]

hello all.....i have a simple question. well kind of
im upgrading my current reef, a 55g, to a nice 120g and would like to know others advice on what would be the best way to accomplish this? i do have room for both tanks in the same room, i dont need to rush, i can do it all in one day, etc.....any opinions would great appreciated!


my current setup:
55g with 900 overflow box and sump located under tank.
Tank has 4in DSB, 85#'s of rock, lots of corals, mainly SPS, LPS, etc.
Sump has 10#'s live rock for filtration and a 150g rated skimmer.


the new setup is completely new everything....i wont be using anything from the 55g setup, (except 1/2 the sand, H20 and livestock of course).....i will be adding addtional argonite sand to the new tank.

the 120g will have the sump located in the basement. capticity of 40g in use, 56g total volume, Aqua-C in sump skimmer, 14g refuge with sand bed and i have a BB 30g prop tank plumbed in as well.

All and all i think im good to go with everything....but im actually going from, say a 65g setup to almost a 180g setup.
that is a major water volume addition.

okay the one question(s)?
time frame? do it quickly in one day? or over a period of time.
Should i use all the water from the original tank?
how about the sand bed? all, a little or none? Should i wait for the tank to do its mini cycle? of course i will be using at least half of the sand bed that is in the 55g now.....so cycle time should be shortened.

Livestock add slowly or all at once?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Rich k.

 

[BryanJ]

I am doing the exact same thing right now. My plan is to get the 120 up and running make sure there are no leaks test the water make sure their are no traces of pvc plumbing stuff in the water then I will drain 50 gallons from the new tank and move everything from the 55 to the new tank including 50 gallons of water and then the 55 will become my FOWLR tank using the new tanks water. HTH

 

[Reefer Wannabe]

I'm tagging along...

I'm also changing over soon, but from a 55 to a 90. My issue is I want to put the 90 in the same spot as the 55, so I need a quick change over.

Racenrich, I wasn't going to use my current sand because I thought that would cause an ammonia spike with all the gunk underneath. Anyone have experience with this?

 

[Douglas LEHMAN]

Hello Rick
Heres what I'd do...
Fill up and run the new system for a week or so with fresh water to make sure it is water tight and working OK, set the heater?
Do you have a Diatom filter? I'd use as much of the original water and sand as possible after it been rinsed in salt water. I'd leave the regium and prop tank empty for now. If you need any help give me a call?

Sea Ya Doug

 

[moses13]

I migrated from a 55 to 135, and I would recommend going slowly with everything up to the point of moving the livestock. Get everything up and cycled on your new setup, then move the stock all at once and it should not have too much impact.
Setup tank and fill, get all plumbing, lighting etc complete, then I would put new sand in the new setup, then sprinkle some of the old on top, same in the refuge. Be careful about stirring up deep layers of an old sand bed. Let that establish for a few weeks. Once parameters are good, add new cured live rock (cured separately, I cured mine in tank but would not do that again, too much dead stuff falls into the sand bed). Wait a couple more days and check that params don't spike, then add your 55 livestock at once. Impact should be neglibible.

 

[Racenrich]

thanks for the info thurs far.....kinda what ive been thinking.

Doug....no Diatom filter? you think that is neccesary?
Should i rinse my sand with fresh SW prior to putting into tank?
What about all the life and such?

Moses,
Good advice, i was thinking that way on the sand, new stuff in, wait a day or two and then about one inch worth of the original, wait two more days and then restock....as for the rock, its all curend and loaded with corals, 2.6yrs worth....so if i move the rock, i will have to move the corals and livestock as well.

comments?

 

[socalreefer73]

Is it not a good idea to stir up small portions of the sand bed with your water changes? Or not standard practice, I guess?

 

[moses13]

If you stir up the deep portions, you will lose the anaerobic zone that processes nitrates to nitrogen gas, which can take several weeks to rebuild. The main concern when moving the older dsb is that there may be a lot of phosphate or other toxins locked in the deepest layers. When moving some of the old into new tank, just scoop a few cups from the upper layer only. What you have left over, I would wash thoroughly in freshwater and re-use after that.

 

[Racenrich]

i was thinking of removing about one inch of the top layer from the entire tank and using that for the "seed" on the 120g.

If i just siphon is out and dont stir it, you think i'll be okay?

i guess that is my major concern....messing up the chemistry that is going on now....ive been succesful for 2.5yrs now and hate to lose that....i know some will be changed due to a 90-120g increase in H20 volume.

thanks for the replies.
RK

 

[frosstman]

I switched from a 33 gallon to a 79 gallon all at once. I used all the sand and water and rock etc. from the 33 so there was no cycle. The only thing different in the new tank was the glass and additional water. I only had a shallow sand bed in the 33 and the tank was only a year old so not much problem with bad things in sand.

 

[tryffin]

Just before christmas I combined my 38g + 12g eclipse into a 108g. I put in some new sand, filled up halfway with water and put a heater and couple powerheads in.... seeded with a couple cups of sand from the nano tank. After a few days I moved the rock and livestock and most of the water over from the nano.

A few days later I moved on to the 38g reef. I had matched the salinity, but decided I wanted to equalize the water conditions, so I put a small powerhead in each tank with a hose to the other, which mixed the water (though if you do this be careful you keep an eye on it so you don't flood, one pump is bound to be a bit faster than the other ) After a couple hours I moved the rock, corals, livestock and most of the water from my 38. At this point it was Boxing Day (after Christmas sale) and I picked up a Coralife 220 skimmer and pump for the sump.

For the next couple of weeks I'd add a cup of sand 2-3x times a day from one of the other tanks (I didn't have a DSB in either, but there was so much life I wanted to move over as much as I could without stirring up too much muck.)

Nobody seemed to suffer at all (though new territories had to be established) ... I still need to add more rock, I only have 60lbs in there for now. I actually didn't get my 15g refugium hooked up until this week ... I'm wishing I'd built the stand larger, I'm out of space under there already. I envy you having a house where you can have a room downstairs dedicated to sump/fuge/etc ... I can't do that since I live in a condo, but I'm glad that we at least have concrete floors so I don't have to worry about the weight.

If you have corals you're worried about acclimating and don't want to do the trick with the powerheads, you could swap like a gallon or two of water between the two tanks every day for a while so you end up with the "same" water in both tanks.

 

[Racenrich]

Thanks for all the info...lots to absorb! Should help quite abit!

Here is a link to my progress thus far....


http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=6511493#post6511493

 

[Airman]

I agree with Doug.