Help

I don't know if I should post this here but I didn't know where else to post.

I have a 30 gl saltwater tank and I want to upgrade to a 75 gl tank. What is the safest way to implement my fishes, shrimp, snails, starfish, and soft corals? Do I have to recycle the new tank like I did when I got my first tank? Thanks for any advice.

 

It really depends on alot I just upgraded from a 65 to a 150 and here is what I did

1. Put all corals and fish in a larger clear tub with a small light , powerhead and heater.
2. Put live rock in a 2nd container with the same.
3. I got all the water I could into 5 gallon buckets

I then pulled all the sand and directly put it in the new tank and added 2 more large bags. I put the water from the buckets into the tank and the rocks and all that water.

I called a local coral farm (this might be hard) and had them deliver 100 gallons of water. I let the tank settle for 24 hours and allowed the water to get to the proper tempature. I then did a on and off 5 hour drip acculamation. I started with corals and sat for about 3 hours and watched and made sure the corals were not looking stressed. Once the lights went out I added the fish. Its been almost 3 weeks and I have not had one loss and everything is doing great. Patience will help but it only took 48 hours total to do the switch.

Good luck in this adventure

 

The safest way to ensure the best chances for your fish and corals is to cycle the new tank as you did your existing tank.

You can accelerate the cycle by using live cured rock in the new the tank.

I would not move the entire sand bed from the existing tank but rather a small portion as seeding material for the new sand in the new tank.

" The safest way" is to cycle the new tank.

Good luck

 

+1 to corailline, thats what I did. patience is they key to victory.

 

Yeah, are you putting it in the same spot, or elsewhere? If it's in a different location, I would cycle it, but add rock up front, from the existing tank and maybe add scoups of sand now and again, to make sure the bacterial population stays consistent as the tank matures. Really, you could probably get away with moving everything all at once, but if there is no rush to do so, I wouldn't take the chance. Letting a tank mature a bit, is always going to have a higher rate of success.

 

The plan was to keep the new tank in the same spot. Could I just transfer all the water and sand/crushed coral to the new tank. Then add fresh sand and new water/salt mixture? My tank level at all at 0 except nitrates at 30ppm. if that matters. Also this new tank need a real god cleaning and it runs a magnaflow sump filtration system. This talk has a major algae problem. Everything needs to be cleaned...algae is everywhere in this tank. Great price though I couldn't refuse.

 

my opinion is

if you are going to keep the bioload the same, in the 75 that was in the 30 , then you should be OK to transfer
the unknown factor is how much of your bacteria is on your rock and how much is on your existing crushed coral (hence moving some of that to new set up is a good idea IMO)

what you need to avoid is adding the contents of the 30 along with several new purchases to stock the tank on the day you upgrade - subsequent additions should be done in stages , to allow the bacteria time to increase in order to cope with additional bioload

if it was my tank I would

leave the Crushed coral alone - and purchase new dry sand (add a scoop or 2 of the old CC to help seed the new sand

set the tank up with 40 gallons of new water, dry sand and base rock ( as these 2 should not give any die off, cycle issues)

then transfer the existing live rock / water / live stock to the new tank

I would do it in this manner
make up new 50 gallons of aquarium water in advance of transfer day
purchase base rock and dry sand in advance of transfer day

transfer day
1) remove as much water as possible without disturbing the CC or making the water cloudy ( plastic totes etc to hold this water are ideal)
2) as the water level lowers, remove the live corals to holding containers
3) move the live rock you have at same time
4) leave the last inch or 2 of water in old tank along with C coral
5) move the old tank with the CC and balance of water out of the way
6) put new tank in location
7) aquascape with the new dry rock
8) add 50 gallons of new water
9) add water you saved
10) as water level lowers in holding tubs, move old live rock into new tank
11) start locating lower level and sand dwelling corals
12) continue to top up with old water, adding livestock as you go along

leave that for at least a week or 2 and then consider subsequent additions

Steve

 

when you say "base rock" do you mean new live rock?

 

No wackyzman

I mean new dry rock, or base rock
as if you get live rock, you could experience some die off from life forms on the rock, resulting in the bacteria that is present, not being adequate in terms of quantity to deal with these additional nutrients - hence ammonia and nitrite spike - or mini cycle as it is often called

you could get live rock, and then cycle, cure that in a plastic container with power head / heater etc for a few weeks prior to doing the upgrade , that should also be a relatively safe option
test for ammonia, nitrite in that holding tub, and when it has peaked and then dropped to zero, the rock would then be safe to add to the 75 at the same time as you add the contents of the 30 IMO

Steve

 

no base rock is just dry rock! Much cheaper, no cycle issues!

lol! umm what he said! his answer is better