What's the best way to upgrade without causing a cycle

[ThePurple12]

Hello. I will be upgrading from a 30 to a 75 soon, and I have a few questions.

1. What is the best way to upgrade without causing a cycle that will harm my anemones and corals?

2. Should I add dry or live sand?

3. Should I add dry or live rock?

 

[mcgyvr]

Define upgrade?
Usually its best to get the new tank going with all new dry sand (well rinsed sand) and fill it part way up with new saltwater.. Part way because the rock,etc.. will displace water when you add it..

Then just transfer your existing rock/fish/corals,etc... over and if needed add some more new water to top it off..

Voila..


A cycle occurs when there is an abundance of decaying organic material that creates ammonia and an insufficient bacterial population to quickly process it..

A transfer like stated above will maintain a sufficient amount of the bacterial population and not generate excessive levels of ammonia..

 

[rffanat1c]

Define upgrade?
Usually its best to get the new tank going with all new dry sand (well rinsed sand) and fill it part way up with new saltwater.. Part way because the rock,etc.. will displace water when you add it..

Then just transfer your existing rock/fish/corals,etc... over and if needed add some more new water to top it off..

Voila..


A cycle occurs when there is an abundance of decaying organic material that creates ammonia and an insufficient bacterial population to quickly process it..

A transfer like stated above will maintain a sufficient amount of the bacterial population and not generate excessive levels of ammonia..

This. Done it myself with no issues. As long as the transfer occurs within an hour or two you'll have no issues.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ThePurple12]

Good advice. How should I add new rock?

 

[cody6766]

If it's dry or already cycled, toss it on in. If you expect a bunch of die off and a new cycle, I'd do that in buckets or a separate tank/tub.

 

[ThePurple12]

:thumbsup: thanks for the help

 

[candymancan]

I just uograded my 27g hexagon to a 60g wide hexagon. All i did was get about 7 blue 5g buckets from lowes.. fill em up with the old tsnk water.. move my coral snails. cmhermitd and so forth to one bucket.. And my rocks to the other bucket. I drained my tank till there was about an inch of water.. took it off the stand moved the stand away.. Thrn moved the new tank in its place. Thrn i put my bigger base rocks in the tank and then scooped the sand over to the nee tank... I then pouted 2 5gal buckets of thr old water in.. Then started mkxing a 5 gal bucket with salt and poured it in and kept dping that until it was 70% full.. I put thr pumps and stuff in and let them run to clear the water a bit for like 2 hrs.. Then i moved the rest of my rock and then fish and thrn coral back in.

Its veey time consuming but it works... No cycle as long as you keep your rock and sand wet