Major tank size upgrade... do I cycle? Please give me some advice!

Hi everyone.

I've done some research, but haven't come to a full understanding of what steps I should take to upgrade my tank.

Here is my situation:

I have a 29 gallon FOWLR tank, 1.5 bed argonite. The tank has been up and running for about 16 months. Other than initial algae issues, I've had no problems. I picked up a 90G tank with an overflow on CL, and built myself a stand. I'm in the process of getting it setup. By next week, it should have some new salt water in it.

What I want to do, is move over the rock and sand from my current tank, and add the livestock. Provided the salinity and water chem + temp are the same, is this a safe move? I don't want anything to die.

If I wash my current sand thoroughly in salt water, and add rock and sand that have been nuked, will I experience a cycle?

Or do I set up the tank first, let it run for a few weeks, and then transfer my livestock?

I look forward to your thoughts

 

if you have the time and space, it would be best for the 90 to cycle. you never know what you can stir up when you start moving the sand around in the 29. you can cycle the 90 pretty quick by seeding it from the 29 so i think it would defiantly be worth the peace of mind.

 

I do have the time and space, I guess I'm just eager to see my fish in their new awesome home.

Check out my build thread : http://www.3reef.com/forums/show-off-your-fish-tanks/brews-90g-build-105491.html

So do I pick up new sand and just add a couple cups of the sand from my tank now, along with my current LR?

 

i just upgraded my 29 to a 40 three days ago..i got a huge food safe bucket, took as much water as i could and put it in the bucket, then started transfering stuff into bucket..once tank was light enought to move, moved it still with a few things in it..setup 40..used new sand, seeded from old sand..then started transfering the water from the bucket, and then had to mix up about 25% new water, then started transferring everything else..didnt lose a thing..had clams and anemone..went perfect, way easier than i ever expected..

 

after a 1 year old tank i wouldnt use transfer the sand bed..sand is cheap enough to start fresh than risking crashing the tank after its been moved...everyone i have talked to that had a bad experience transferring used the previous tanks sand..and everyone ive talked to that have had successful moves used new dry sand seeded from old tank...also i would advice you to do this super slow mainly so you dont kick up a bunch of sand in the old tank, for a few reasons, less cloudy, less stress on corals and fish, and also gets you clean water going into food grade bucket..

i also left my fish in the old tank and transferred them at the end, i kept all buckets and tanks with airline tubing and air pumps pumping bubbles..

took about 7 hours total start to finish took about 2 hours to man up and decide to do it..

 

Thanks for the reply man.

Sounds like a pretty big project.. Aren't you concerned that you'll start to see a cycle in the coming days though?

Did you order your sand online or get it from your LFS?