Moving from 65g to 180g

I am moving my fish (only two a fox face and blue hippo tang) out of my 65g and into a new 180g. I want to use all of my live rock from my 65g (about 90lbs or so) and add another 90 of base rock. I have 200 lbs of new sand ready and want to just seed it with my old sand.

What is the best way to do this? If I move all my live rock and add it to the base rock with new sand will it take awhile to cycle(or with all that live rock, will it cycle)? I was thinking of just added a few old pieces at first and letting the new tank cycle while keeping most of my rock and fish in the other tank. But then it might be hard to scape the rocks the way I want when I add the rest.

I just don't want to cause too much stress to the fish.

Any suggestions? Help. :-/

 

I would suggest that you set up the 180 add the sand and base rock and a piece of shrimp and cycle it. Once that cycles I would wait 2-3 additional weeks and then move the live rock over – make sure the water is testing well for another week and then move the fish.

 

This is probably the safest way to do it. I was hoping someone on here had done something similar and could let me know what worked for them.

 

I upgraded using my own rock from a previous tank to my new tank and I had no cycle even with new sand. I went from white to black though. I personally dont think you will have a cycle and if you do it will be a small one from the die off of your live rock.

 

Hello cd, I also upgraded about a year ago now from a 75 to a 125, Its in the show off your fishtank " Upgrade compete" I have most of it in there step by step. Your gonna cycle pretty much no matter what but mine was minimum and lost no livestock.

 

It was a year ago this month I upgraded from a 55 to a 180. Did it all in a couple of days. I put the 180 up and added all new sand and all new water and let it run for day to clear up the "fog". Once the water cleared up I moved all my live rock to the 180 and added about 4 cups of old sand to seed the new sand. I used no water from my old tank as one of the reasons for the upgrade was a water parametr concern. As I removed the rock I separated snails, hermits, starfish and fish into their own containers

Once the rock from the 55 was in place and aquascaped I started acclimating everyone to the new tank. I would acclimate just like any new fish to the tank. I added a cup of the new water to the old water every 15 minutes. when the bowls were a little overfilled i would remove some when adding the new water. 3-4 hours later everyone was in their new home. Lost a few members of the clean up crew 9cleaner shrimp) but no fish.

I also needed more rock so I picked it up and "cooked" in the garage for a few weeks and then added to the main tank. I just cycled it in a rubbermaid container. Worked great. During the process of cooking the rock no new life was added to the main tank.

One thing i have learned is never use the old sand. It just isn't worth it. I hope this helps. I have a thread on sh0w your tanks. Tbelt's 180m gallon build. If you click on show your tanks it is on page 2 or 3 The tanks swap starts on page 14.

I hope this helps a little and good luck with your move.

Tony

 

Thanks you guys those replies were helpful. I think I will try to get away with moving my live rock after I have made sure everything is dead on the base rock. I will set them up all together and put the fish in a couple days later.

The fact that it is 180 gallons and only two fish should help me not have to big of a cycle. I will have a few hundred gallons on hand just in case.