water question.

[kimoy]

how long does a mature water last. i mean if you take water out of a mature tank how long does it last to get the same water quality. i am seting up my new 120 and will be using water from my old 55, i will be doing water changes and plan to use the old water i am taking from the existing tank into the new tank so i won't be using as much as fresh water as possible. my plan is to move everything in the same day. here are the steps i will be doing.

1. fill a spare tank with water from existing tank.
2. move corals to the spare tank with water then run a small power head.
3. drain water from the old tank into a container.
4. move LR to the new tank.
5. move LS to the new tank.
6. fill new tank with old water from old tank(considering the size of my new tank(120) and old(55) the new tank will be filled with water close to half)
7. add 10-20 gal of water from the water change done probably a week old or less. that's where my question came in)
8. add more fresh water about 10 - 20 gal
9. run a powerhead (since the tank is not filled to the top yet at this point)
10. add 10 gal of fresh water daily till the tank and sump is filled.
11. when the tank and sump is filled, time to run the equipment (skimmer and return pump)

any and all suggestions are welcome.

 

[whiirly]

what I did when I upgraded was to fill the new tank with sand and RODI then added salt to get the salinity I wanted1.025.Then I let it run for some time Threw some food in there to start a cycle added some LR did a few water changes on both tanks then when I was ready to switch the old to the new I removed enough water to add all the water from my old tank switched the LR/corals/fish to the new tank pumped in the remaining water and made sure I had water ready for another water change just in case
swithced every thing without any loss

 

[jcm1229]

When upgrading to a new tank - using some old sand and LR, how do you guys attempt to avoid the inherent "new tank algae" cycle. I've always experience this with new tanks, but the most recent one I setup has been the worst.

 

[whiirly]

I did not get an algae bloom at all when I did the switch
I did replace my sand and reseaded it with th LR and a scoop of sand from My not so LFS

 

[kimoy]

keep in mind that i am trying to do this all in one day...