Upgrading my tank

Hello,

I currently have a 55 gallon long aquarium and wanting to add a sump / overflow box etc etc. I've worked out how much it would cost to do this but I'm not happy with the tank or cabinet it comes with.

My dad wants to buy my current tank for freshwater. The tank and stand cost me 500 euros which my dad is happy to give me what i paid for it.

I can buy a brand new tank around double the size ( with overflow built in ) and a sump for around 150 euros more. I want to go with this option however I'm holding back due to cycling again / killing my fish and corals etc :/

I don't want to use the same crushed coral substrate i currently have in my setup ( i want some gobys and i like the soft sand look ) and i'm wanting to add new sand.

So my question is.

Will the new tank cycle again with the same live rock and large amount of my original tank water?

Thanks

 

You might get a small cycle but everything should turn out OK. No real need to worry about the old water for bacteria, just make certain any water you add has the same parameters as your old water.

 

you dont need to keep a large ammount of your old tank water, what you do it get a big rubbermaid container from your hardware store, siphen out enough water to fill 2/3rds of the rubbermaid, then take all your live rock out and put that into the rubbermaid. add a powerhead to teh rubbermaid and a heater. then siphen out the rest of the water till theres only about an inch or 2 left (this makes it much easier IME to catch the fish) and put them in the rubbermaid with the rocks if theres room, if not then add them to a differnt rubbermaid with tank water in it. Then take out all the sand bed and what not and disgard anything that you dont want.

then when your new tank comes, fill it up about 2/3rds of the way, add a power head and a heater to it, let it come up to temp and SG that you want it at, and add the contents of the rubber maid containers.

then throughly rinse out/wipe down the rubbermaid, and return it, telling the store clerk that you didnt end up needing it afterall.

As long as your Liverock stays wet, in saltwater, at the right temp and SG, then you wont have any die off, and the die off is what causes your tank to cycle. i dont recomend you keep it in the rubbermaid for longer than a day or 2, maybe 3 days tops, so your timming between selling the ol tank to your pops, and gettin your new one set up should be in the same day, if not the same day then the next.

hope this helps out. ive broken down and moved my tank a time or two, and havnt lost a fish or had a cycle yet. so if you have any other questions please feel free to ask me.

 

your plan sounds fine to me

you can help to avoid any cycle issues as follows

1) use dry rock to make up the difference in amount of rock needed to aquascape the new set up
2) use dry sand for the sand bed

if the tank is going to be set up in same location as existing tank it's a bit more of a complicated process, involving holding vessels for water, rock and inhabitants Ill leave that to later

if the new tank is going into a different location than existing tank and you are in no hurry to do the changeover then you can avoid any chance of cycle issues as follows

this assumes you have set the tank up already and run it with freshwater to make sure everything functions as it should ( you dont want to find out you have a problem after you moved your stock into it)

1) set new tank up with new dry rock and new dry sand bed plus water ( the amount being the difference between the water you have now and the amount needed to fill the new tank

2) remove enough water from tank into holding tubs in order to house your corals etc


3) start syphoning water carefully making sure not to pick up sand, or dirt (basically completely different from a water change type syphon process) transfer this water to new tank

4) transfer the existing rock from your set up into the new set up ( if you place the new dry rock as the new base layer and your existing live rock above that it makes it easy to aquascape as you go along)]

5) once the water and rock are filled up in the new tank, start transferring the water from the livestock holding tubs into the new tank and at same time start placing your livestock into your chosen locations in new reef ( you may have to mess with these later, it's harder to get great placement for corals that have shrunk due to the proceduce)

6) turn everything on

throw away the last couple of inches of water and the sand bed in the old tank

if the tank is going in same location, then the above process is still similar
but you need to increase the amount of holding tubs/ buckets etc to accomodate your water/ livestock and rockwork whilst you move the tank out of the way


it is not 100% certain to prevent any cycling issues, but having done it this way a couple of times myself over last 2 years, I have found that by using base rock, dry sand, and keeping the disturbance to a minimum on the established sand bed
has thus far worked for me

Steve

 

Wow great info.

I was thinking along them lines ( from other peoples experiences )

I wont start anything until the new tank is here and the sump is all plumbed in.

Just another note, i'm currently battling ICH outbreak in my current tank , its slowly going anyway by feeding garlic to my fishes. Would this transfer to the new tank even tho the substrate is different?

Thanks

 

Unfortunately yes since it is on the fish.

 

If you are battling ich, if you can get a temp QT (cheap used tank) you could QT the fish and treat for Ich. This would give you a few weeks to set up the new system and test for any small cycles, and rid the fish of ich and hopefully avoid an outbreak in the new system.

Edit: If your dad is going to use your tank for fresh water maybe you can convince him to let you use it to QT and treat the fish before he takes it.

 

Haha i asked him that and the answer was no.

I do have a 15 gallon spare however I'm worried about putting my yellow tang in there as its very small and stress + ich could have a bad effect.

Bad excuse = I dont have the time to replace water 3-4 times a day as i live 30 minutes from my workplace (traffic). Can i add a skimmer to the QT tank to help?

Thanks

 

The skimmer would pull out any medicines in the qt. So I wouldn't add one. How big is the tang? I don't think a 15g with only simple lights and a small ph/HOB filter would evaporate too bad. You could forget about the QT if you are worried and just deal with the ich in the new tank. I would just be worried about causing the ich to flare up again as you said it seems to be on the way out.

 

The tang is medium sized. The tang is actually doing very well against the Ich however my clowns are now worst compared to before. I will take a picture later to show you what i mean.

I need to do a a large water change tonight as i haven't done it in 2 weeks as the water is starting to smell alittle. Levels are correct however, I shall see what they look like afterwards.