Tank Transfer

[TaZ976]

I'm very close to preparing a tank transfer. One of the tanks is a 50g uniquarium that has been running fine as a FOWLR for almost 2 years. The new tank is a 50g with a corner overflow and a sump. I have 40lbs of new dry sand and 45lbs of new dry rocks.

My plan is layout my rockwork in the new tank and then pour in the sand. Then I want to move my livestock to a temporary container and just siphon the water from my old tank to the new tank. Then I'll transfer the livestock into the new tank.

I'm a little worried about the rock since it's dry. Will this trigger a new cycle? I plan on using some biospira also just in case but I'm hoping since the water in my current setup is already established, there shouldn't be a problem.

Am I flirting with disaster? Is there a better way?

[TaZ976]

Anybody?

[thegrun]

You need to cycle the new rock first. While transfering water from your old system to the new system will help reduce the shock of placing your livestock into water with a different chemistry, it will do next to nothing to prevent a cycle. The bacteria that convert fish waste to nitrates live on your live rock, not in the water. If you use all new dry rock your tank will not have any of these necessary bacteria and you will soon have an ammonia spike that will cause your tank to crash.

[TaZ976]

What if I also transferred 1 really large piece of rock (10lbs) from my current established system to the new system. Would that be enough?

[Mhay]

Transferring only 1 piece will only help to seed the new dry rock but a cycle will still occur. I'd recommending doing that to help give it a jump start but I wouldn't put fish in until you see your levels stabilize

[thegrun]

If you don't pre-cycle the new rock you would need to transfer at least 3/4 of your existing rock.

[joshua.jebe]

even transfering just 1 full cup of your existing substrate will help jumpstart/boost your cycle time if you dont want to move any established rock

[davocean]

Having some established LR is key to having a transfer go smoothly w/ lack of cycle issues.

[Sk8r]

I've done this, and while a really live tank linked for weeks to run WITH the new tank can hurry it into life without an appreciable cycle, it leaves you with a raft of problems. I was able to let a 30 gallon sump fuge handle a very raw uncycled limestone rock tank with brand new sand (I had no choice) and it worked: it came live and gave me no ammonia spike because the large very, very mature sump/fuge was serving as the active sandbed and live rock---BUT! that raw rock left me with a very large phosphate load! Phosphates fuel algae, particularly hair algae, and it comes in with raw rock and sand and with old conditioned rock, too, but not nearly as much. Mine was epic. I'd really advise, if you have ANY choice, don't go that route. If you do, your next best choice is the largest GFO reactor they make, charged up as much as instructions allow. If you're facing a tank change with limited choices, it can be done, but it is NOT trouble-free.