Tank upgrade

[bubbymac]

i just purchased a 55gal setup to upgrade my 29 biocube. I'm really excited to get this going but i'm a little unsure of how i need to go about this. Can i remove old water from my set up tank put in new tank then move over my live rock. Can I add new live sand? or should i just rinse my old stuff. Am i going to have to let this new tank cycle as well. My established tank has been running for 3 years. I don't a huge amount of stock. only a pair of clowns, 1 firefish, 1 greed clown goby, serpent star, 2 pepermint ship. a couple of mushroom coral, condi anemone, pulsating xenia, and a pom xenia.
any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[carey]

I would move over everything bu the sand. Unless you want to rinse out the sand you have very well. But I always go with new sand when I move tanks.

You shouldnt have any spikes really but I;d still test the tank for a few days to make sure.

What are your plans as far as adding more rock? You can add all the base or dead rock you want without a cycle but I wouldn't add any live rock directly to the new tank.

 

[joy13]

I have upgraded 3 of my tanks I have always used the sand without a problem. I do keep my sand clean by fanning it a little when I do a water change just enough to bring up the dusty stuff on the surface. I also have nassarius snails that keep the sand stirred up.

As far as using the water there is a couple of thoughts on that some say it doesn't make a difference and others swear by it. The ones that say it doesn't matter says it doesn't have any bacteria in it, which they are right. Those that do says it makes a difference on the algae phases and the cyano bacteria. I did it both ways and I did find the tank that I used the water on there was no cycno battle. About 4 months in I find I get a little cyano for some reason.

 

[bubbymac]

i was just going to add the live rock i already have and maybe add base/dead rock as well. as for sand do i get live sand or just regular aquarium sand.

 

[carey]

Regular sand will be fine, the live ones are kinda shady if you ask me. lol

 

[bubbymac]

thanks. why do you have to cycle a tank when you 1st set it up but when you upgrade you dont have to?

 

[carey]

The majority of the beneficial bacteria reside on the live rock. I suggest testing anyways after an upgrade as you can never tell for sure if you won't hit a mini cycle.

 

[bubbymac]

thank you carey.