Quickest way to cycle upgraded tank advice

[trembz]

Hi

I currently have a 250 gallon running with about 17 fish... I'll be moving in May.

I figured the easiest way to make the move, was to buy a new tank and have it set up in the new place before hand (lucky my wife agreed to this)
Never the less, luckily the house I'm moving is currently my father's home so having the tank set up prior is no problem .
Heres my question

I'll have a 220 gallon, with 75 gallon sump delivered middle or April, set up with water the following day to begin the cycle.
I dont want to buy any new rock and plan to just transfer all my existing rock over.
My question is, what is the best way to do this?
I will be transferring the fish over roughly a month later, so middle of May.
I will have to get all the fish in the new tank within the same week so ideally the tank needs to be established..
Some of my existing rock can transferred over at any point.

I was thinking, I currently have some Aquaforet Bio Fil in my tank, I was going to tank a handful of that and maybe a scoop of sand and place it in the new tank immediately after its filled with water. Then let that run for a about 3 weeks, then add about 50lbs of live rock from my current tank for about a week.
After that week is complete I planned on adding all fish in a 48hrs period.

Please let me know what you guys think, any recommendations are welcomed.


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[ycnibrc]

Save as much of the old water as you can then the new tank will act like a big water change. Bring all of the old rock over so need to cycling again


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[trembz]

Originally Posted by ycnibrc

Save as much of the old water as you can then the new tank will act like a big water change. Bring all of the old rock over so need to cycling again


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Would 20-30 gallons be enough old water to add to give the cycle a boost?
I don't have a huge vehicle, so transporting more than a couple buckets of water at a time isnt really convinient .
So say 25 gallons "old water" + 40-50lbs of live rock from my current tank, a handful of sand and a handful of porous filter media and let that run for about a month

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[ThRoewer]

Old water isn't really doing much good. Fill the system with fresh saltwater and let it run for a few days. Then just transfer the rocks and the fish. Feed lightly for the first one or two weeks.
If you have the space, add a ball of chaeto or caulerpa - algae are pretty good for absorbing ammona. But really, all you need should be in the rocks.
This is what I did when I set up my tank after moving.
Because I wasn't able to set up the tank for 3 months I kept the fish in a couple of small holding tank and most of the rocks in a 100 gallon container I borrowed from my LFS.

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[trembz]

Originally Posted by ThRoewer

Old water isn't really doing much good. Fill the system with fresh saltwater and let it run for a few days. Then just transfer the rocks and the fish. Feed lightly for the first one or two weeks.
If you have the space, add a ball of chaeto or caulerpa - algae are pretty good for absorbing ammona. But really, all you need should be in the rocks.
This is what I did when I set up my tank after moving.
Because I wasn't able to set up the tank for 3 months I kept the fish in a couple of small holding tank and most of the rocks in a 100 gallon container I borrowed from my LFS.

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The rocks and the fish transferred all in one shot?
Theres no need to let the live rock sit in the new tank for any amount of time before transferring the fish ?
Would any specific bacteria help speed it up before adding some live rock maybe ?

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[ThRoewer]

Originally Posted by trembz

The rocks and the fish transferred all in one shot?
Theres no need to let the live rock sit in the new tank for any amount of time before transferring the fish ?
Would any specific bacteria help speed it up before adding some live rock maybe ?

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I just didn't do it in one swoop because I had to move the livestock and rocks immediately but couldn't move or setup the tank until a couple of months later.
In your case, since the new tank is already in place and ready to take everything, you can just move rocks and fish at once. If you make sure the rocks stay wet or even submerged and don't get too cold you shouldn't even have any die-off. I actually did it that way with some of my smaller tanks.
One 30 gallon I actually just drained the water 90% and moved the entire tank without breaking it down or even taking out the fish. At the new place I just filled it with fresh saltwater and everyone was fine.

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[Dmorty217]

Originally Posted by ThRoewer

I just didn't do it in one swoop because I had to move the livestock and rocks immediately but couldn't move or setup the tank until a couple of months later.
In your case, since the new tank is already in place and ready to take everything, you can just move rocks and fish at once. If you make sure the rocks stay wet or even submerged and don't get too cold you shouldn't even have any die-off. I actually did it that way with some of my smaller tanks.
One 30 gallon I actually just drained the water 90% and moved the entire tank without breaking it down or even taking out the fish. At the new place I just filled it with fresh saltwater and everyone was fine.

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+1 the rock surface and sand is what has all the beneficial bacteria on it, there is virtually none in the water column itself.

[trembz]

Originally Posted by Dmorty217

+1 the rock surface and sand is what has all the beneficial bacteria on it, there is virtually none in the water column itself.

The established rocks and new water combined wont create a spike or any sort or die off due to the new water?

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[Dmorty217]

Originally Posted by trembz

The established rocks and new water combined wont create a spike or any sort or die off due to the new water?

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The new water won't cause a spike, if you add more livestock than what you currently have suddenly after moving the tanks you could see a spike due to the bacteria trying to catch up to the increased bioload. I upgraded tanks from a 125g to a 220g and did nothing but move the rock and most of the sand and added the fish with no issues at all.

[ThRoewer]

Just feed lightly for the first week or two and everything should be fine. Best would be if you have a refugium with a decent amount of chaeto. Then you can basically just feed as usual.

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[trembz]

Originally Posted by Dmorty217

The new water won't cause a spike, if you add more livestock than what you currently have suddenly after moving the tanks you could see a spike due to the bacteria trying to catch up to the increased bioload. I upgraded tanks from a 125g to a 220g and did nothing but move the rock and most of the sand and added the fish with no issues at all.

If anything I was planning on selling some fish off at the time of the move so my bio load would be significantly smaller than it currently is ..
Would the porous media such as Aquaforest Bio fil thats un my current tank be beneficial to throw some in at the beginning ? A scoop of sand from my current tank?

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[Dmorty217]

Porous media is very beneficial for surface are for the bacteria, some sand would help too.