Upgrading from a 55 to a 150

I'm upgrading from a 55 to a 150. Just bought the tank and stand yesterday (used). The tank is 72 W x 20 D x 251/2 T. It comes with a custom 55 gallon refugium. My current tank (the 55) has been set up in my office for about 7 months. It has a 2" deep sand bed and about 100 lbs of live rock. It has a 15 gallon sump refugium. My goal is to set up the new tank in my office and move the live rock and corals (mainly acans, zoos and chalice) to the new tank. Some issues I'm trying to resolve are:

1. How to properly aquascape the 150. The 55 was set up with base rock sitting on the glass bottom and built up with lots of reef epoxy. This is not too cost effective or strong. The 55 is getting crowded with corals (only 3 small fish).

2. How to set up the 150 in my office and move the corals with minimal loss. I'd like to place the new tank in the same spot as the old one, reusing the live sand (I'd need a lot more sand as I'm considering a 4" sand bed) and live rock. The logistics of that move might me tricky.

Any advice? I'm all ears.

Thanks,
Mike

 

First, congrats on the upgrade . Make sure your floor can hold the weight of a fully loaded 150. That baby is going to be heavy. I moved into a 110 from a 55 about a year and a half ago and it's alot of work. I'd drain most of the water from the 55 into several large food safe rubbermaid containers and then move the rocks/corals into those tubs. It should be fine as long as nothing is allowed to dry out. Move the heaters and power heads into the tubs with the corals and then the sand into more food safe containers or buckets. Once the old tank is empty get it out of the way and replace it with the new one. A couple of buddy's to help at that point would be nice. I'd put the rocks back onto the bare bottom of the tank( tunneling fish can't knock things over that way)then add about 6 or inches of water, then replace the sand back in slowly so you don't cloud the water. Some people use plastic zip ties to keep thier rock together and some jsut stack it. I've also read of some using silicone. Once you've got the rock and sand back into the tank then slowly add the rest of the water back in, trying not to stir up the sand. You should already have the rest of the water ready to go, same temp, salinity, etc etc. Then place your corals and fish. Make a list of everything you are going to need and have it ready to go so there are no delays. Think the whole process through a few times before you start and you could even make out a schedule of what order things need to happen in. You should expect a cycle again also so be prepared to deal with that. I'm sure I've left something out and someone else will bring it up. Do a search on this site and you'll see how other people have done it. Good luck, post some before and after pics so the pic police don't arrest you and impound your tank.