I got a bigger tank

Hello everyone..Well lastnight my friend gave me his old 55 gallon tank with a stand. So iam now going from a 30 gal to a 55 gal. I wanted to know if i can just take the sand from my old tank and put it in the bigger one? And I was just going to transfer the water over to. Is this ok to do? Any help would be great.Thanks

 

dont see anything wrong with doing that i mean same elements different tank doesnt seem to bad. you have pics of the new tank

 

I would try to add everything lil' by lil' as stirring the sand will probably raise nitrates and what not and you wouldn't want to stress your livestock. I've never actually transferred stuff before so maybe someone else can elaborate better.

 

I don't have a lot of experience with this, but I would stay away from moving the sand. There can be pocket of very "toxic" stuff (aneorobic areas, etc.) in the sand that is released when it is disturbed. This can do anything from causing a cycle to killing off the tank. Not trying to scare you, but maybe someone with a little more experience can add their two cents. Personally I would try and start with new sand and use some of the old sand to seed the tank.

Jake

 

okay let me give you my 2 cents although there may be a lot of agrees or disagrees. I restructured my rock work yesterday because I was not very happy with it, so I removed all the rocks and took out all my corals and livestock in a 10G tank while I was building up the new rockwork. Also, there was a lot of detrius that I had in the tank and I decided to run a aquaclear 110 and let it stir up the sand bed and get rid of most of the detrius. While doing all this, I was also making sure I had my new water that was going into the aquarium.. While I was doing the restructuring and removal of detrius, I did a water change as well.. Today I tested my water and it turns out:
ammonia 0.25
nitrite 0
nitrate 0
ph is a whooping 8.8, mine is usually kept at 8.6 so it went up a bit
but everything is still going strong

upgrading from a 30 to a 55 is a pretty big difference there, if i were you? I would definitely get some new sand because you will be needing more and mix new water and wait to cycle that tank maybe with a few pieces of live rock that you will purchase since you are upgrading, i'm assuming you will need more rocks anyways. Wait for the cycle to finish and then you can start moving things over, that is the safest way to go about it..

a more risky option if you are an impatient person.. mix new salt water and RO/DI it or conditioner it and put it into your new tank(this is the amount of water you probably need assuming you move about 25 out of 30 gallons of water from your 30G aquarium). Then you get a seperate tank with water from the 30G and put all your livestock and corals in there. Take a tub and put all your liverock in there(liverock can be exposed to air for a while) and then start adding all the water you can from the 30G into the 55 gallon, then eventually move the sand in.. after the sand goes in and the rock goes in, let the tank sit for a while and let all the sand settle and fog settle.. time being, make sure your 10G or whatever size it is you are using to keep your livestock and corals are being kept in the tank with heater and perhaps an air pump to maintain temperature while you wait for all the sand and fog to settle.. after perhaps an hour or 2, it'll look a lot better and you can do a water test and put your livestock in! have fun reading this essay

 

If your just transfering your livestock and such to another tank, you shouldnt go through a cycle, if you do it the right way. It took me all day when I transfered a 45g to a 90g yrs ago, but I lost nothing. Some lose some animals in the process, but that all depends on how you do it. The most important things to keep in mind are;
1. Try not to stirr up the sand too much.
2. Need to keep the LR, LS, corals and fish in circulating water with a heater and air pump if needed.
3. Keep your cool and dont freak out, its a pita when one does a transfer, but it can be done successfully. Keep us posted. Luna

 

Thank you for all your input. I dont know if this matters. The 30g tank has been up a running for almost a month now. And should I clean my filter? People at my LFS told me that with a new tank I should let the fiter run for about 4 months before I clean it. Today iam going to clean the new tank and start getting it ready. I want to paint the back of it first. Its alot easier with out water.

 

If its been only a month, then you havent finished with the cycle on the 30g. Nows the perfect time to do the transfer b/c you dont have any livestock(hopefully) to worry about. You could finish the cycling process in your new tank. IMO, it doesnt matter if you clean the filters or not, you still have to finish your cycle. Hope I made sense. luna

 

Ok cool so I can just move everything over. And for the water I can just make some water to make up the difference in the tank? So today I will be going to get some more sand cause I wont have enough.

 

Did you finish your cycle? How many (if any) tank inhabitants do you currently have?