Upgrading tank HELP!

[Mockmo]

hey, i have had my 55 gallon tank for a little over 6 months npw with no issues and its getting a little tight in there so i was thinking about upgrading to a 75 gal oceanic drilled tank that has a sump, i found on locally that was used for a freshwater chiclid tank, and hill let it go for 240 with tank 30 gallon sump and stand.

My question is if i was to do this and move all of my old coral and fish and rock to the new tank what would be the best way, and keep in mind id be needing about 40 - 50 gallons of new water.

Should i use some water from one of my friends tank when he does a water change? more sand? snail and crabs? can i use all my old water and add the fish and coral in the same night? Any information would help, im just a little worried that if i do the switch i might end up killing everything.

Thanks in advance.

[sporto0]

Use as much new water as possible, as long as your live rock & filters are full of beneficial bacteria colonies, you won't have an ammonia problem, put all live rock & livestock in rubbermade tubs with heaters & power heads untill your ready to fill the new tank, old water has almost zero benefits to reusing it. I would also use new sand for the substrate, make sure you rinse it thoroughly before you put it in the tank & don't pour the water directly on it when filling, use a rock or bowl to minimize the sand storm.

[Mockmo]

I cant afford a new sand bed, if i was to rinse out my old sand wouldnt i lose the fact of it being "live" sand?

[sporto0]

Originally Posted by Mockmo

I cant afford a new sand bed, if i was to rinse out my old sand wouldnt i lose the fact of it being "live" sand?

Yeah, don't sweat that, it will become live again very soon, just rinse the living crap out of your old sand, as long as you have a good amount of cured live rock & or a lot bio-media in your filters, your tank won't cycle again.

[Mockmo]

this may be a dumb question but whats the point of rinsing the old sand?

[Mockmo]

and i have 63 lbs of live rock, is that enough?

[greech]

Originally Posted by Mockmo

this may be a dumb question but whats the point of rinsing the old sand?

Originally Posted by Mockmo

and i have 63 lbs of live rock, is that enough?

Sand beds are nasty. Stirring up all that crud could cause a spike especially if you have any depth to your bed. At 6 months yours may not be too bad but I would still rinse it very well and let it dry before you do this. One way to get the sand out without breaking down the 55 is to siphon it out. I would siphon out about 80% of the sand, wash it and let it dry out in the sun for a couple of days and then do the transfer. The remaining 20% of the sand I would carefully add to the 75 to help seed the newly rinsed sand. I kept 2 ziploc bags of my sand when I did my transfer and quickly got some worms and microbrittle stars back into the system.

The amount of rock you have doesn't matter to transfer. You are moving the same bioload into a larger body of water (more buffer). Just don't go crazy and add livestock right away. You can cure some rock outside the tank and just add a piece at a time once its cured. Then you can add more fish.

I would save as much of your old water (except the nasty stuff at the bottom). You'll probably save 30-40 gallons by the time your done so you'll be doing a good size water change when you make up the difference.

[Mockmo]

do i need to wait to add my corals and fish? to the new system or can i add them once the water clears? I have 2 maroon clowns, 2 blue damsels, 2 chormis, 1 yellow watch man gobie, a yellow tang, and a sail-fin tang. all fish are small except for the chromis. And i have quite a bit of coral