Changing saltwater tank from 45g to 55g

Before i start moving things around, I would like to know if switching tanks would affect my livestock? Also, would switching to the bigger tank affect my pH, nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, and calcium levels too? I have a 45gallon saltwater tank that has been up for over two years. But now i want to switch to a 55 gallon tank because my tank seems a little over crowded. I saw the 55gallon tank at the store and its a little longer which would be perfect. It would make things look neat and not have rocks piled ontop of each other.I plan on adding all the water and sand bed from the 45 gallon tank plus another inch of sand to the new tank.
i have over 40lbs of live rock, a couple of corals, a feather duster, 2 bubble tip anemomes, 4 small fish, and some invertebrates... The pH, nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, calcium, and salinity levels are fine for now.

Thanks in advance for any help ;^)

 

how deep is the current sand bed?

when moving or upgrading reef tanks, issues, if there are any, often come from disturbing a sand bed.
a sand bed that has been in situ for 2 years could be the cause of ammonia, nitrite spikes, if it is disturbed

if it where me
I would discard all but 1 cup of the old sand
purchase new dry sand for the new tank, and then add the cup of old sand in order to seed it with bacteria, and other life forms to establish the new sand bed

if the new tank is going into same location as existing tank
you will need some holding containers to house your water, rock, livestock etc whilst you strip down the old tank

basically
on the day before you do the transfer make a fresh 20 gallons of saltwater

on the day
empty the water into holding containers, being carefull not to disturb sand bed
as the water level lowers in the tank, start transfering livestock into the holding containers
more than one container is ideal, as you can then transfer rock into other holding containers
when you have all the rock out and are down to the last couple of inches of water
net the fish and add them to holding containers
discard the water and all but a cup of sand

move the old tank out and the new one in
pump the new water in
start pumping the old water back in and as water level increases start adding your base rock layer
once you are about half way up and have your base layer of rock in, add the new (rinsed) dry sand
as water level in holding containers lower, start transfering your live stock across
as water level gets low in holding containers and water fills up in new tank, add the fish

the extra 20 gallons of salt water should compensate for the water lost by leaving the cloudy water last couple of inches in the old tank and also make up the difference between the 2 tank volumes

if you need to add new rock - use dry rock rather than live rock

if you follow above procedure you should IME avoid any ammonia or nitrite spikes

Steve

 

Ok, thanks for all the help. I think that is what i am going to do. I appreciate the help and will let you know how it goes. Thanks man you are always helpful

 

I'm going to bring up this thread again....I'm planning on making a new stand for my current 55g tank. Along with the new stand I want to undo a mistake I made when I first got the tank and that was not drilling it. Can I leave the sand that's in the tank now when I empty the water and all and drill it, then fill everything back up and basically reuse the sand? Another option I was thinking was to set up a nano using the sand, water and rock from the current one to house my 2 clowns and corals just incase the tank shatters when drilling. I wonder if any of you guys with more experience did a change like this and to avoid aclimating all the livestock again.

 

When I moved from my 90g. to my 120g. the only issue I had was with the sand. Definitely use the advice above, use new sand and seed it with some of the old. Very messy when you start stirring up the substrate after it's been used. If it's relatively new then you might be okay using it again because it hasn't gotten a chance to house a large amount of broken down materials.

 

Since im doubting its a Fairly new tank you already have setup. It's cheap to buy new sand. And I wouldn't use it in another tank either. Your gonna have to move a portion of your sand in order to drill. And when you put water back in it that will also disturb the sand. Plus you don't wanna chance getting glass shards in your sand.

 

It's actually fairly new about 8 months. And I saw people bleaching sand. would that be good enough to count as new?

when you swapped over and put new sand. did that cause any ammonia spikes or anything? basically did the tank re-cycle or the live rock supported it?

 

Live sand is cheap. Its not worth the risk to bleach or reuse it with the cost being so low. Buy new sand.

 

My biggest concern is to basically not have the tank cycle again lol. I'll buy new sand if that's the best way to do it. I just wouldn't want to lose any livestock when moving it over.

 

I would find a used 75G so it would take you a little longer to upgrade again.......you know we are addicts after we start salt!! lol