Upgrade from 55 to 220!

[chbix]

Ok so I found a great deal on a 220 with stand and a few extras.

My 55 gallon has been running for just under a year.

I will be moving the new tank to a new area so it will be easy for me to set up the new one prior to tearing down the old.

My concern is how to do this right so that I dont have a big cycle and put my fish and one coral (new with in the last month) at risk.

I have a 20L sump so total water volume is probably 65-70 gallons.

I want to get more live sand right away, but will add more liverock as time goes on.

Now obviously I will need to make a lot of water from my RO/DI system.

But as far as the transfer...

my thought is to make the roughly 150 gallons in the new tank and then drain my current tank. I will put the fish and live rock in buckets with some of the old tank water. Transfer the majority of the old water into the new tank, and let it mix for a good period. Then move the sand and rock into the new tank. Then aclimate the fish.

Is this the best way to do this? Any other ideas or suggestions on how to approach this?

 

[ivan_dalmatia]

Sounds good, but I would probably use all the water (55-70 gallons) if the water has good parameters.
compared to a 220g, it's like doing a 30% water change

 

[mr_X]

You are going to have to add more live rock, correct? Whether it's dry, or live rock, I would add that to the new tank. Also, whatever sand you wanted (I would choose dry sand instead of paying all that money for the "live" in bags on the shelf stuff).
I would cycle this tank and when the cycle is over add the rock and livestock from the 55 all at once. I would not re-use the year old sand. This is where your spike will happen.

 

[ivan_dalmatia]

Couldn't he rinse the sand in clean sw?

 

[mr_X]

You would have to rinse the crap out of it. It would take you many gallons of salt water to do so. It's not cost effective. You could put it in a bucket and wash it out with a garden hose, but then you would kill everything in it anyway.

 

[chbix]

Ok what kind of dry sand? Never seen any available. It's all live sand.

I'm confused on why using the old sand is different from using the old rock. Doesn't it contain all the good bacteria?

 

[ivan_dalmatia]

Ok what kind of dry sand? Never seen any available. It's all live sand.

I'm confused on why using the old sand is different from using the old rock. Doesn't it contain all the good bacteria?

That's what I thought too?

 

[mr_X]

Ok what kind of dry sand? Never seen any available. It's all live sand.

I'm confused on why using the old sand is different from using the old rock. Doesn't it contain all the good bacteria?

Established sand beds have captured a lot of detritus over time. They also have low oxygen zones and toxic gas pockets. Stirring one up can cause a spike.
Google "dry sand aquarium" or something like that. You will see it for sale much cheaper than the live stuff, and it will become live in a short time anyway.