Upgrading tanks

[Grkgod36]

So I'm thinking of upgrading tanks from a 90 to a 150. I have a good bit of sps and some lps , about 100 lbs of live rock and stocked with fish .

But the thought of swapping gives me anxiety lol, how much of a pita is it, how does one go about it, and how stressful is it to the fish .as silly as it may sound I love my fish and would be pretty bummed if I would loose any during the swap.

I'm thinking , use small part of my sand bed , rinse it out very good , add new sand , my buddy has a 500 gallon ( he originally set my tank up)I was thinking of having him bring me water from his water change , dump it big bins to put the live rock and rock and coral in ,transfer most my water over from my tank and sump, then add rock and then fish , and pray ...lol

Does that sound about right ? Will I cause a small cycle ?

 

[reef_aholic]

Use all the water from your existing tank as you can, toss all your sand. Make up the difference with nsw. While you are making the move, ensure to keep the rock submerged in tank water. I upgraded tanks once, and moved the whole setup (120G) 2X, did not lose one thing. The first move was 2 hours drive away, in a snowstorm. Worked out fine.

 

[Grkgod36]

Yea I plan to use all my existing water . The rocks will be submerged for sure. Thankfully mine is a direct in house swap no driving or anything .

A lot of my rock had corals on them. Some encrusted with Zoas, palys , acros etc

 

[flooddc]

Sound like a nice upgrade.
I done several tank upgrades and reused everything including the sand with success.
If your new tank is going to the same spot as the old one, then it a bit more work.
I'd put the rocks with encrusted corals into buckets/bins. Transfer rocks, then 75% water and sand. If sand is more than 2 years old, then recommend new live sand. If not, rinse it in your old tank water before transfer. I Used Large fish net to rinse the sand. Add new mixed water, ran the tank a few minutes and then restock. Remove excess water. Goodluck

 

[kmbyrnes]

Congrats!
I would go with new sand.
I had a bad experience moving tanks and re-using sand without rinsing.
The built up junk caused a huge ammonia spike that I didn't catch in time.
Keep some Prime around and check frequently the first 24 hours.