Upgrading to 180 worries

[Zplay]

I currently have a 100 gallon tank and will be upgrading to a standard 72x24x24 eurobraced 180 gallon tank with a 60 gallon sump. The new tank is set-up and ready to go. I'm planning to move on the weekend in the following manner:
1. Fill the new tank half way with new water.
2. Drain water from the old tank and put it in the sump.
Move all corals (sps/lps) to the sump as a holding place with lights and powerheads.
3. Remove all the live rock and sand from the old tank.
4. After cleaning the sand, re-use it and put into the new tank and wait till it clears up.
5. Once clear, put all the live rocks in and aquascape.
6. Drain the rest of the water from the old tank and put into the new tank. Fill with new water if needed. Use powerhead to clear up.
7. Once clear, remove all corals from sump and put into the new tank.
8. Turn on return pump from sump and everthing else and let the new tank run.
This can probably be done in one day.
What I'm afraid of is that after the new tank is running, it goes into a cycling process killing all my corals!!

What do you guys think? With a transfer with this amout of water cause the tank to re-cycle? Will there be a bacteria bloom since I mix the sand?

Any input/suggestions is greatly appreciated. I want to hear your experiences when you did your upgrade.

Tks

 

[savethereef]

i have done the upgrade 5 times and i have never lost a fish. but everytime i upgrade i always use new sand. i dont even seed it with the old sand i just do all new. my last upgrade it was from a 120 tall with 29g sump to a 180g with 72g sump. my next upgrade in the next couple months will be a 225 with my 72g sump. Also i put the fish and rock with in 4 hrs to the new tank.

 

[Zplay]

Tks pare....that's good to here. Did you use live sand or would dry substrate work? That's amazing how you did the transfer in 4 hours! It would probably be an all day event for me.

 

[theloud1]

i just went for a 80 to a 180 (last weekend) i did a water change the day before and used that in totes for my corals and put the live rock in a trash can with new water. i had about 30g of new water in the tank and transfer all my sand and about 80lbs of new sand. i then put the rock and new water in and pumped the water for the other tank over. it will clear faster if you have the system running or atleast put your skimmer in the top tank to help clear it up. took me all day aswell but i had to finish plumbin a few little things in the morning.

hope the move goes good for you and good luck

 

[Zplay]

Cool...so the corals/fish are ok after the transfer? Did the corals open up now?

 

[Phyxius]

I did pretty much the same but from a 90 to a 210 just 4 weeks ago

I did a pretty big water change a few days before and saved the water but kept it in a 55g drum with aeration so I would have more orig tank water for the move

I made up new water and also went to lfs and got a bunch of RO/DI water so I would have enough on hand

I had plenty of containers for the rock, corals, fish and the ability to separate them out so no warfare was going on in the containers between anything. I also had PHs in each so there was water movement.

Have plenty of towels and something to protect your floors as water will drip everywhere..

I used all new sand when I moved over to the 210 as my 90 was 3 yrs old and had the fine southdown in it. I wanted something just a little heavier and went with Fiji Pink this time. I took a few cups off the top before I broke it all down and seeded the new sand with it

It took longest to figure out all the rock work again and getting it the way I wanted it. I used as much of the water from the containers I could that came from the orig tank and the 55g drum and then new water for the rest.

I lost no fish and only 6 corals and they were all the same corals from 1 acro colony I had for awhile and had fragged into a bunch of smaller ones. Everything else was fine and it just effected that 1 colony. By next day everything was back out and enjoying its bigger home. Things are actually doing MUCH better now with more room and better reflectors for the lighting..

It took me most of the day with the help of my son to get it done and like I said it was the rock work for me that took the most time. I wanted the less is best look this time instead of the more is better approach I had in my others.

 

[Zplay]

Great, now I'm getting more comfortable that this can be done in one day without the effects of the tank re-cycling again.....

 

[Phyxius]

Its going to REALLY smell like the beach in the house so be prepared...LOL
I broke my 29g frag tank along with my 90g the same day and 2 sumps and they all went into my 210g and its new sump. My wife was less than thrilled with the new smell in the house when she came home that night. It goes away though once you get the old tanks out of the room or get them cleaned up

 

[savethereef]

yeah i used dry sand on my new set up. actually i only got a very small algae bloom only lasted about 4 days kinda like diatoms then went away. just look at it as a big water change

yeah i did the whole thing in 4 hrs because i had help to move my stand and tank. It would of been faster if my tank was not on the 3rd floor when i moved. just make sure you have all new water prepared at your new place. and your fish keep an airstone in there buckets or tubs where they will be.

 

[Zplay]

Thanks again for everybody's input. Looks like my plan is doable.