Upgrading to a 90??

[RG81]

I will be going from a 55 to a 90 gallon in the near future, I want to change my entire sand bed out, also i will be going from a wet dry bio wheel to a refugium. And will be transfering everything into the 90 on the day i move.. tank cosists for lps and softies,, My questions are as follows:

1)should I buy live sand or dry sand and how much for the 90 gallon??

2)when starting the new refugium should i put my dirty filter pads in the filter sock to keep some bacteria going since i wont have my bio wheel??

3)should i use chaeto in the refugium and what kind of light does it need?

I want this to be the safest and easiest way to move all my corals and fish without having much of a loss.. any input would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Bignasty1]

When I went from a 55 to a 90 I used dry sand since I already had live sand and rock established. I also kept most of the water I took from the 55. I did buy a small bag of live sand for the ref though.

When I added chaeto to my ref. I went out and bought one of the cool white 23 (100) watt cfl lights and a cheap reflector with a clamp, it probably cost $12 for both. Works well for me.

 

[kfisc]

1) Dry sand, with several cups of your old sand to seed it- 4-6" if you're going for a deep sand bed (many consider it beneficial)- here's a calculator

http://www.reefcentral.com/calc/SandBed.php

2)Toss your filter pads; the tank will likely have a cycle of some sort regardless; use as much of your old water as possible.

3)Chaeto is awesome, but make sure you have a 56k-10k light source; power compacts from Lowes/Home Depot work well so long as you can positively ID the color temp.

 

[RG81]

i will be transfering as much water from the 55 as i can, the reason i am changing sand is becuase i have the crushed coral and i want to switch to the fine sugar sized sand, i wouldnt want to mix the old sand with the new, so if i buy a bag of live and mix them together would that help??

 

[kfisc]

Yes, but it will be a long process either way before the bed is "alive" again.

 

[Dave & Monica]

It would help to mix some together and you could put more of the cushed coral in your fuge and the new sand in the tank. You could ask a hobbiest for a few cups of sand and that can seed you tank a little faster. Your rock will seed it too.