45gl to 90gl gallon reef change

[captain639]

Hello all. I have an established 45 gallon reef tank. It has been up and running for about 2 years with no problems. The tank is an older acrylic one with a small overflow/sump built into the back 1/4 of the tank, so I really don't have 45 gallons of room to work with. because of this I have been wanting to upsize for a long time.

I bought a 90 gallon Acrylic tank. I built a sump below the tank, and have everything pretty much ready to go. My question is what is the best way to make the move. I bought a 40lb bag of aragonite, and have plenty of RO water to make the change. My concern is that adding this 40lbs to my existing crushed coral might make the tank cycle again. I really don't want to harm any of my corals (mostly soft corals & mushrooms), or fish. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[fishfreek]

Adding additonal substrate should not cause the old to recycle. Put the old substrate on top of the new. IMO you might want to look at a DSB before you do this move. If you ever had thought about doing on in the past now is the time to do it on the move.

Do you have live rock?

This is how I would do it. (assuming you continue with the aragonite).

Mix up plenty of new saltwater and let age 1 day at tank temp.

Put the new substrate on the bottom of the new tank. Put corals and fish in 5 gal buckets for temporary storage. Fill buckets 3/4 full with tank water from old tank.

drain out most of the old water into a 30 gal trashcan off to the side.

Scoop and trasnfer old substrate to new tank.

Put bowl in new tank and pump in old tank water from trashcan.

Pump in new freshly mixed and aged saltwater till 3/4 full.

Put in fish and corals from buckets.

top off tank with new water and start up your pumps.

CLean old tank and put away.

 

[captain639]

Thank you for your help. I made the switch last night and everything seems to be going well this morning. Here is a pic I took this morning. I am going to get more live rock very soon.