Upgrading tank

[Rjohnson2545]

I have a very established 55 gal reef/fish tank. I have over 100lbs of live rock, 60+ lbs of live sand, with a 30 gal sump with 30+ lbs of sand and 40+ lbs of live rock. I have an 8 bulb t-5 light several fish and lots of shrooms, softies, and some hard corals.
My question is I want to upgrade to a larger tank, but I don't have room to setup another tank and start over with the whole cycle thing over.
Can I tear down my tank, save my water, rinse my sand, and put all my stuff into my new tank? Will my fish and corals survive? What can I do?

 

[Mpfaff77]

It can be done. As long as you keep all your rock under water you shouldn't see any die off or a cycle. It isn't recommended that you use lower layers of sandbed. Think can pollute tank. I have always read only take top few inches of sand only.

Your best bet is to keep fish and coral out of tank for a day and keep them in aerated 5 gallon buckets Test the water before putting livestock back in to assure no ammonia. Might not be bad idea to acclimate again too since ph and salinity and temp will most Likley change. Keep us updated.

 

[BallinCrew10]

Agreed. Re-using your LS can cause a mini cycle in the new tank. I would get all new sand and save some from your tank to seed it. The LR will be fine as long as you keep it wet. The water itself doesn't matter as the BB is on the LR.

 

[Rjohnson2545]

My sand is only 9 months old can't just rinse it and reuse?

 

[Mpfaff77]

You could rinse and re use. Put in a bucket and run fresh water through it till water runs clear. This will kill all critters in sand tho. Take a bunch of sand before you do this and save it in some tank water. Then you can put that in tank to re seed sand bed.

 

[BallinCrew10]

You could rinse and re use. Put in a bucket and run fresh water through it till water runs clear. This will kill all critters in sand tho. Take a bunch of sand before you do this and save it in some tank water. Then you can put that in tank to re seed sand bed.

Just rinse it in saltwater, won't kill anything.

 

[Mpfaff77]

Just rinse it in saltwater, won't kill anything.

You could do this although harder to get good flowing water to rinse really good. I was thinking all sand in a 5 gallon bucket and stick garden hose in bucket and rinse for while. Would get all the nasties out.

But rinsing in saltwater is better if can find efficient way.