Moving up in tank - how much to transfer?

[gone postal]

Upgrading from 55 to 75. I've read several threads about crashes after a move and obviously want to avoid that. (good thing I read those too b/c it appears you can't transfer sandbed - I had every intention of doing that!!)

I want this to go as quick as possible, so I'm thinking I'll speed up my 5g water changes to every 2-3 days and use the "old" water to put into the 75. I will probably start w/ 40g of fresh saltwater (planning on 20g or so in fuge/sump), so it'll take about 3 weeks to get all 90g - which 50+ of will be from my current tank. I will also transfer some of my rock earlier in the game in hopes of getting the tank established as soon as possible. My plan is to have it up and running and then just transferring over the rest of the rock, coral and after all of that is setup, aquascaped, etc, I'l move the fish in. I figure as long as it has cycled, the rock, coral & fish can all be done in one day. Does this sound okay? I was also considering the 40g of new water and doing a large change on my tank (25g) so that I can jumpstart the new tank faster, but am worried about a 50% change in my established tank. I know, I know, slow and steady.....

So, any ideas or tips? How did you successfully upgrade?? Can I do 70g of fresh and only use 20g to seed? I'm just not sure how fast that process is.

PS - both tanks in the same house

 

[mempho reefer]

You can transfer 50% of your established tank water to your new tank and the majority of the rock. This will help speed the process in your new tank. There will still likely be a cycle, hopefully not a hard one. The sandbed in your 55 will keep your water there stable when you add new water so you should have no problems with your 55 set up as you wait for the total change over. A couple of cap fulls of Seachem Stability in the 55 will help as well. The sandbed in your new tank will take 3 to 4 months to establish so you can expect high nitrate readings during that time. 20% water changes every 3 to 5 days will help keep the levels tolerable for fish and most soft corals. If you have SPS or LPS corals you'll probably want to keep them in your 55 until your nitrate levels drop below 10 ppm. This process worked for me.

 

[jnohs]

Upgrading from 55 to 75. I've read several threads about crashes after a move and obviously want to avoid that.

I want this to go as quick as possible

I will also transfer some of my rock earlier in the game in hopes of getting the tank established as soon as possible.

My plan is to have it up and running and then just transferring over the rest of the rock, coral and after all of that is setup, aquas caped, etc, I'll move the fish in. I figure as long as it has cycled, the rock, coral & fish can all be done in one day. Does this sound okay?

I know, I know, slow and steady.....

So, any ideas or tips? How did you successfully upgrade?? Can I do 70g of fresh and only use 20g to seed? I'm just not sure how fast that process is.

PS - both tanks in the same house

A couple of tips I would like to offer...

I went from a 55 to a 75 gallon in 1 week from start up and only lost one coral.I do consider myself lucky. But i did do it with care and slowly over the seven days.
Do not transfer the sand!!!!!!!!
Do not try to clean and reuse it. buy new. or do what i did and x the sand totally.
I would immediate get some rock in th new tank. Get it to temp and salinity.
Once or twice a day exchange some water between the tanks. keep doing so until the waters match. I would figure on switching 4 gallons twice a day for 5 day. effectively switching at least 40-50 gallons and as a result the water quality's will match for less stress on your corals.

I would get as much rock in the new tank as possible from the old tank. Evben if this means putting the current tank in disarray. This way the new tank can has more rock to help it cycle and the old tank has less in it for an easier move.

Also have 40 gallons of ro water after everything is said and done so you can perform a water change if it cycles hard on you.

Right before the last day of the move. take 20 gallons of old tank water and put it in the new tank. What i tried to do was jump start the system as much as possible, by using old water, getting as much rock as possible. Some people will say you should put a fish in there to start the cycling. but if you use old tank water you will not need to stress a fish like that. I have found that corals are stronger than fish and i think you should move your fish last.

Also if you have dsb I would vacuum as much out as possible before moving the base rock. these bed kick up some serious nasties that if disturbed while performing the move they WILL make it in to your new tank. and being that the tank is new it wont be able to handle such strong nasties, So I would remove 30 gallons of water from the old tank. then replace with new but hold on to the old. then vacuum the sand. Usually This will be very very nasty and will tox out you water almost defiantly. This is where the old water comes in handy. Do a water change using the old water witch is still very biologically and will help protect your animals with out the shock of doing a new water 30 gallon water change on you 50 gallon system.

I think a reason people have problems moving tanks is because while they try to cover most bases with extrema prejudice. but leave some other bases wide open for a problem to occur. such as not removing the sand in the old tank prior to help with the last day off the move. or just trying to move it all at one time. I think that rarely works.

YES YES slow and steady........ but that doesn't have to mean 1 month

maybe a complementary term is...patient and methodical

I am a big user of old water in these situations. I even went and bought some old water from my fish store for the first water change. This way it was still relatively clean and very biologically active. again to help control cycling

 

[jnohs]

I would not do the rock fish and coral in one day. ythat sounds not very patient at all.