Upgrading to a larger tank!

[jonny_raff]

So I curently have a 55g reef with 2 clowns, 1 firefish, 1 watchman gobbie, and 1 lyretail anthias! So my question is if I put the water from my current tsnk into the 150g upgraded tank will that be ok for the fish or do I need to put them in my quarentine tank till it cycles again? The current tank has been up for abput 1/2 a year! Thanks.

 

[Bectan01]

I would cycle the 150g first if you can - you will need plenty more live rock anyway (or dry, up to you) then you can transfer the stock and any remaining rock. You don't need to keep any old water. How much rock is in the 55? Is it a reef?

 

[navaljonf]

You can transfer it right over using the old water. I've done this with no ill effect.

 

[Macscale]

You can transfer it right over using the old water. I've done this with no ill effect.

Just the water? The majority of your BB is on rock, not your water column.

 

[jonny_raff]

I have a colony of GSP, frogspawn, birds nest, montipora(plate), kenya tree, and a few mushrooms!

 

[jeffaquarius]

I would cycle the 150g first if you can - you will need plenty more live rock anyway (or dry, up to you) then you can transfer the stock and any remaining rock. You don't need to keep any old water. How much rock is in the 55? Is it a reef?

+1 No need to use the old saltwater. You can seed the new tank with some live rocks and sand from old tank. When cycling is complete, you can move all the remaining LR and acclimate live stock to new tank.

 

[54seaweed]

when I transferred my 37 and 40 to my 90
I filled tank 1/2 way added rock than sand ,I pre soaked the sand to keep sediment down and not cloud tank ,
during this transformation the live stock remained in there tanks as rock was removed
after I filled the tank the rest of the way turned on pumps heater ect and let run about a hour ,than I put all my stock into the tank
even though everything came from mature tanks I added a bottled bacteria
Nutracycle was the name to the tank never seen a spike or swing

 

[navaljonf]

Just the water? The majority of your BB is on rock, not your water column.

The rocks are implied, OPs question was on the water.

To the OP: Using the old water will save you a few bucks.

 

[Macscale]

The rocks are implied, OPs question was on the water.

To the OP: Using the old water will save you a few bucks.

Yeah, but you suggested to use the old water. No reason to do that. You could be introducing excess nitrates and phosphates that the new system doesn't already contain by using the water.

 

[mr_X]

I wouldn't worry about using the old water. Accounting for rock and substrate displacement, 30 or so gallons of water isn't going to make much of a difference in a tank 3 times the size. I would do as Bectan01 said, and cycle the bigger tank with all the new rock first though. You are going to want to add another 100 pounds of rock or so. This can make one heck of a spike.

 

[jonny_raff]

My reasoning would be to help cycle the tank a little faster then if I were to start fron scratch again!

 

[jeffaquarius]

Old tank is only 1/3 the size of new tank. With the addition of dry rocks, the old water would not make any difference when cycling as MrX had pointed out. It may even take much longer to cycle if you move your live stock too soon and you take the risk of ammonia spike. You can't use the old substrate either. If you can afford to have the additional 100 lb LR then yes you can shorten the cycling.