Tank Transfer to bigger tank (all new system)

[Lawrence0126]

I want to transfer my 47gal to my 80gal (I got it used on craigslist with nothing in it). This 80 gal tank has a built in over flow and wet/dry sump. In my 47 gal (2 years mature on craigslist) I ran it with a Emperor 400 and about 25 lbs of live rock, no sump or skimmer. A few days ago I got 25 more lbs of established live rock. I put into my 47 gal, and now have about 50 lbs total of established live rock (getting ready for the new tank). No spikes and everything looks good today in the 47. I still need about 25 more lbs of live rock to put into the 80 gal. I will get a skimmer very soon. I plan on changing this out Wednesday. I dont want to use the live sand from old tank and I will not be using the Emperor 400.

Here are a few question off the top of my head:
1. What kind of cycle can I expect?
2. Should I leave my old tank up with Fish and CUC in there till the cycle passes.
3. Should I use my old water?
4. DO I put in all 70-80 lbs of estalbished live rock in or save some in the old tank?
5. if I dont get the 25 lbs in time can I add it at another date?

Please chime in with other things I may have left out.
Thanks
Lawrence

[m-rass]

1. What kind of cycle can I expect? A full cycle
2. Should I leave my old tank up with Fish and CUC in there till the cycle passes. Yes, leave some of the rock in for the fish, put the rest in the new system.
3. Should I use my old water? maybe some, do a decent water change on the old, and use that water in the new.
4. DO I put in all 70-80 lbs of established live rock in or save some in the old tank? once you get through the cycle, put it all in.
5. if I dont get the 25 lbs in time can I add it at another date? Yes you can.

If you get new sand, take a couple cups of your established sand and put it in the new to seed it with some bacteria. Take your time on the new one, patience is key!

[mcoomer]

I have to disagree with m-rass on a few points. I recently moved from a 125 to a 180 and reused all my rock and water. I added several pieces of bone dry rock that had been in my garage for years and immediately dropped fish, LPS, and SPS in the new tank.

I'm assuming that you're going to be running that skimmer in a sump so I'd recommend setting up the tank in your garage (or wherever you can) and checking that all the plumbing fits and you don't have leaks. I ran mine for several days after plumbing it to ensure it was secure. Just use freshwater for this test. No need to mix up a bunch of saltwater.

Once I was ready to make the move, I transferred all the rock, corals, animals, and water into a 100 gallon rubbermaid container. The water that didn't fit in there was kept in 5 gallon buckets. Once the new tank was in place I added two bags of argomax sand to give the rocks something to settle into and added everything from the rubbermaid back into the tank. I had a new sump built for the tank so with the added tank and sump volume I didn't have enough water to fill it that day so I put my Vortechs in the tank to provide circulation until I could make enough water to finish filling the tank. Two days later that was done and the tank move was complete. I figure I added about 60 gallons of new saltwater to the tank to top everything off.

Assuming that you've got good live rock in place and good water parameter I'd reuse all of it. Reusing established live rock means that your bio filter is in place from day one. You might, might see a very brief spike in some parameters but I doubt it. Since you're adding new sand you'll probably see some algae growth on top of that like I did but that's the only negative event that happened in my tank after the move. Use some of your old sand in the new tank to get things started. Don't dust it over the top of the new sand. Put it in one area and add new sand all around and over it.

Good luck,
Mike