Upgrading advice?

[Vilas]

Hi!
I found an amazing deal on a tank - approx 320 gallons with two sumps. Total volume approx 380gal! Metal halides! Starfire glass! I'm in heaven. Lights and all for $690 USD.
I want to move everything from my 63 gallon tank. I have..
Two false perculas
Flame back angel
3 chromis who actually like each other (!)
Three tidepool gobies
Corals are a mix of softies and LPs, one montipora, then the usual cuc, mini starfish, a big old urchin.
30kg live rock (umm..66 lbs?)
Sand is aragonite, maybe an inch and a half. Water is directly from the warm clean Indian ocean.

OK now..
Do I move my old sand? Tank is 7 months old.
Use my old water?
How long do I give tank to settle in before moving fish? If I use old water, which is ideal, as it is a schlepp to haul from the beach, I'd keep them in a little 10g qt tank while I moved things. So, not a long term solution.
I need more rock. Would adding fully cured rock be OK? I need to add some dead rock, as I need a lot more than I can afford. So I can't add new stock and increase the bioload until I can have enough live rock to compensate, I figure. I'd prefer to add, say, 100 lbs of fully cured lr and 100 of dead. Tank came with 40lbs of well established lr. Total 300 lbs, give or take.

Finally, the fun part - what on earth shall I stock it with?!? I've never had anything over 63g before. Never had a tang in all of these years. Tank is 7', big enough finally. Tangs? Some of the more reef friendly angels? A foxface? Anthias? Any favourite big tank fish you can name? I've never even looked at tangs and so on, I am a total novice there.

Thanks for any help! So excited!

 

[thegrun]

I would use new sand, but if you are willing to take the time flushing the old sand with saltwater to get out the detritus you can reuse it.
Before you move your livestock I would make a series of 5 gallon water transfers each day for 4 days between the two tanks so there is little water chemistry difference between the two tanks. I would cycle all the new rock live or dry before you transfer any of your livestock.

 

[Teenreefer15]

great deal, love to see where this is going!

 

[Vilas]

Thanks for the advice, thegrun! I'm happy to rinse it - my logic is that it will hold some good bacteria to help the new tank along at first.
I've never used dry rock. It needs cycling? The dry rock I have access to is mined from coral based islands, so it is basically dead coral skeletons - how long does it need cycling for? And what am I looking for?
If I use well cured live rock (I can get some that's been curing for 3 months now) how long should it cycle for? The drive is just 15 minutes, so minimal exposure.
Sorry for the endless questions. I'd rather do it right than lose any of my stock!

 

[Vilas]

Husband wants to move established rock and stock over, then buy new rock, and use old tank to get it cycled and stable before adding. Would this work?

 

[lllesley]

The one thing you have to be very aware of is that your running cost are going to probably at least double, we were shocked at the difference. Larger water changes, extra lights, extra power heads and dosing. Then of course the fun cost of extra livestock. Looks like a good deal though, good luck with the move.

 

[Vilas]

Yes, running cost will go way up! Mostly lights and pumps. Metal halides aren't cheap. Water changes remain free, mercifully, but the work involved quadruples. We have to fill jerry cans at an incoming high tide, and our surf averages a good six feet. We wanted to fill today, but the surf is closer to ten. And there are big sharks.
Stocking is a bit cheaper, as we have permits to catch fish, and with a bigger size, more local fish are appropriate. I've seen a wild gem tang (!) - perfectly legal to go snorkel and catch if you can. I will buy a few specimens, however. Coral wise, I see a lot of locally abundant zoanthids in my future. Hard corals and live rock are illegal to collect. Cuc is not!
I'd never do it if we didn't live where we do.
Also, casual labor is cheap and abundant, I can spend $10 and get a strong guy to help with the lifting and water carrying. Huge bonus. Just to get the tank into the house took six guys.

 

[Vilas]

Tank filled. Should have been more careful and filtered it. Tank is full of krill type things and a few tiny jellyfish. So I'll likely cycle. I was toying with putting in a fish to simply eat the krill, but I'd never get it out, and if the tank cycles, I don't want to kill the fish. Let's hope the live rock in there and water volume keeps any cycle to a minimum.
Wish I'd caught those krill, my fish would be in heaven. Shame to let them just die.