Upgrading from 36g to 75g with no opportunity to overlap

[HeadstrongRSS]

Hey all -

I've been thinking of upgrading my 36g bowfront that has been active for about 6 months to a 75g tank to provide a bit more room for 2 clowns and a midas blenny (along with 2 turbo snails and a few hermits). The blenny rules the roost and I rarely get to see my clowns, who are subservient to King Midas and hang below while the Midas patrols. Need more room. The issue I'm having is, I'll have little-to-no ability to overlap and have both tanks up at the same time.

I've read up on a number of the tank upgrade threads, still have a few questions:

1. I currently use both live rock and a HOB AquaClear 70 filter for filtration. If I continue to use this approach and I use as much of my existing water, get new sand (maybe bring a bit of it over to seed), plus do an immediate transfer of the live rock from the 36 to 75, I basically avoid the major cycle chance, correct? I'd still check parameters for about a week to make sure.

My thought is to not add to it...no new live rock in the 70g, as I'll cure additional dead rock with some seeded live rock over 2-3 months in a trash bin in the garage to get that ready. Nor will I add any livestock until I'm sure I get no cycle issues. Long-term, I know I'd need to upgrade the HOB or abandon it, but hoping I could do it slowly.

2. I currently do NOT use RODI, but am looking to in the 75g tank. If I used as much of my water right now in the new tank, but added @50g RODI at once, does that shock the livestock? Can I do it over time to ease that issue?

3. I currently do NOT use a sump. Wise to invest in one here? I'd have it running while continuing live rock and the HOB.

4. I currently use a Versatop for my 36g, but just get crazy amounts of salt buildup that ends up on top of the top...how do you all prevent this? Go cover-less? Netting? I need to make sure the blenny doesn't carpet surf.

Thanks everyone! Looking forward to any guidance you all have.

[bif24701]

First you really really should drill or get a drilled tank for a sump. DIY drilling and sump making is there in the DIY section. Set up the 75 on its own with sand and RO/DI water with salt. Once you have the system running and checked there are no problem you can add your LR and live stock with out much worry of a cycle. I would use the HOB filter for a month then ditch it. Also might want to add some dry rock in there after you have it cured. Either way get the 75 running for a few days. You could add all the LR from the 36 to the 75, wait one day and check the ammonia. If it's zero, add all your live stock and the HOB.

Most do not have glass tops, if anything use a screen top that's all.

[Silly clownfish]

About a year and a half ago I did a similar upgrade - 16 year old 30g to new 75g with sump.
- I definitely recommend a sump if your setup allows.
- I cured the new live rock in a tank in the basement while working out the setup, plumbing, etc of the new tank
- if you can it all swing it, overlap is very helpful. My husband and I were able to move to 30g, in my case to another room by removing about half of the water and using furniture sliders
- I put the cured dead rock, and the LR used to seed it into the 75 a week or so before I moved my livestock. That way I could check for water parameter stability before moving anything.
- I moved LR from the old tank right before moving critters. That made it easier to aquascape without the inhabitants in the way and freaking out. Plus getting the rock out of the old tank made it easier to catch the fish.

[HeadstrongRSS]

Thanks to both of you for the response. It's appreciated.

Originally Posted by bif24701

First you really really should drill or get a drilled tank for a sump. DIY drilling and sump making is there in the DIY section. Set up the 75 on its own with sand and RO/DI water with salt. Once you have the system running and checked there are no problem you can add your LR and live stock with out much worry of a cycle. I would use the HOB filter for a month then ditch it. Also might want to add some dry rock in there after you have it cured. Either way get the 75 running for a few days. You could add all the LR from the 36 to the 75, wait one day and check the ammonia. If it's zero, add all your live stock and the HOB. Most do not have glass tops, if anything use a screen top that's all.

Yeah, I'm leaning that way now...doing a sump, though I'm not sure I want to do it the DIY way...might just buy one and get a pre-drilled tank. There is 35% off at my LFS...$235 for the 75g tank, pre-drilled with the plumbing. And I echo your thoughts on the HOB...I'll use it to seed bacteria, but that is it. I'm not sure I'll be able to have both running for a few days...I'll have to see there. Thanks for the advice!

It appears, from your post, that I shouldn't worry about the non-RODI to RODI environment change shocking my livestock?

Originally Posted by Silly clownfish

About a year and a half ago I did a similar upgrade - 16 year old 30g to new 75g with sump.
- I definitely recommend a sump if your setup allows.
- I cured the new live rock in a tank in the basement while working out the setup, plumbing, etc of the new tank
- if you can it all swing it, overlap is very helpful. My husband and I were able to move to 30g, in my case to another room by removing about half of the water and using furniture sliders
- I put the cured dead rock, and the LR used to seed it into the 75 a week or so before I moved my livestock. That way I could check for water parameter stability before moving anything.
- I moved LR from the old tank right before moving critters. That made it easier to aquascape without the inhabitants in the way and freaking out. Plus getting the rock out of the old tank made it easier to catch the fish.

Also good advice. I've had to catch this Blenny before...even in QT, he was a chore to catch. Thanks!

Any other feedback from RC-ers would be appreciated. Thanks all!

[Silly clownfish]

LOL. My clown was such a pain to catch that she got left in the old tank by herself until the next day until I siphoned 90% of the water out! She had been in there 16 years and I hope its another 16years before I have to move her again.

[BrettDS]

I went through something similar recently. I moved from one house to another and upgraded my 75G tank to a 220. I could have them both set up at once, because they were in different houses, but they were 20 minutes apart and going back and forth would be a pain, so I transferred everything at once.

I got the 220 set up ahead of time and filled with water, but it had no sand or rock. On moving day I went to the house with the 75 with about 20 five gallon buckets. I first grabbed all of the corals I could easily remove from the rocks and put them carefully in a bucket, then I removed all the Rock and put them in buckets. Any rocks that still had corals or anemones attached were carefully placed in a separate bucket. I quickly checked each rock for hitch hikers and put the crabs, shrimp, and snails I found in a separate invert bucket.

Once the rocks were out it was pretty easy to net the fish and the remaining inverts and they went into buckets as well.

I reused my sand because it was only 7 months old, so once everything else was out I scooped out the sand and it went into additional buckets. In the end I wound up using 16 five gallon buckets.



I drove it all back to the house with the 220 and put the sand in first, then the rocks, then the fish and inverts. I didn't reuse any of the water from the original 75. There is very little, if any, biological filtration bacteria in the water, so about the only benefit of reusing the water would be to try keep the water chemistry parameters as close as possible to the old tank, but in my case I figured that 75G of water wouldn't really make a significant difference in a 220G tank, plus I didn't want to bother carrying any additional (very heavy) buckets from the other house, and finally, the water that I did have in the buckets with the rocks and sand and such was pretty cloudy with detritus, so I didn't want to reuse it anyway.

Over the next few days I checked my ammonia levels frequently... Twice a day for the first couple of days, then once a day for a bit longer and I never saw any detectable levels of ammonia. It's been almost two weeks since the move and everything is doing well and I didn't lose any fish or inverts.

You can probably use a similar method for your transfer... Put everything in buckets, then take down the 36 and put up the 75, then transfer everything into the 75. Since you don't have RODI water in the 36, I would plan to start the 75 with all new water. I only have a 75 gallon per day RODI filter, so I started making water about a week before I was ready to put up the 220 and I just used 6 44G trash cans to hold the water I was making, then when the 220 was up I pumped it from the trash cans to the tank. Obviously you will want to make and mix your new water ahead of time so you don't have to wait when everything is sitting in buckets.

[bif24701]

Moving tanks is the single hardest thing when it comes to moving. I am military and usually I have to break down my whole system and rebuild. It sucks. But each time I learn a lot more and gives me chances to upgrade.