Upgrading Tank Size

[merelymiche]

I have a 55g tank and am upgrading to 110g very soon; I will be buying locally from a former saltwater enthusiast who is looking to get out of the hobby. His live rock for the tank was sold before I offered to buy his setup, and I have questions about cycling that big thing! Also as a side note, a while back I purchased a fish from Petco that died of Ich; I am wondering if I should risk using my water and live rock in the new tank, or if I should start fresh (currently my damsels and gobys are doing great. I dropped salinity of tank to 1.09 and raised the temp above 80 degrees for about four weeks to try an get rid of any Ich parasites remaining in the tank).

The seller has a different setup running with a 40g tank and 40g sump, of which he would be willing to send me 25g of his cycled water. Should I put some of my water along with his 25g of water in with his in the 110g tank to help it cycle quicker? Do I dare?

I would also like to know if I should be reusing live rock after Ich has been in the tank ...

If I am going to upgrade, I want to do it right! I have only been in the hobby for about 5 months, so I don't want to make any major mistakes that end up ruining my enthusiasm!

If you have any additional suggestions, send them my way!! (such where to get live rock at a CHEAP price for the new tank))

Thanks
Michelle B

 

[carey]

Hi.

I also did an upgrade not too long ago. i didn't use very much of the water, it's not where the bacteria reside so it's really not necessary.

I did however get all new sand. I wouldnt recommend moving sand since ypu will be disturbing alot of nasties that live there and your water quality will go to pot.

I would check out reefcleaners for some base rock. It will become live soon enough if mixed in with your current LR and it doesnt have anything on it so it won't cause a cycle.

Hope that was helpful.

 

[dlwn88]

Yeah like carey mentioned, bringing over the water really won't do you any good. The good bacteria lives mainly on surfaces

 

[merelymiche]

Step-by-step Advice

Could someone offer me step-by-step advice for switching my current live rock/livestock into the new tank?

Once the 110 is set up, I would like to add 50 pounds of live rock and 25 pounds of base rock (both that I will purchase), plus 25 pounds of my current live rock to the tank.
-----2 questions: will this be enough to get a cycle going on the new tank, and can my livestock survive in my current 55 tank if I remove half of my live rock?

I would like to know approximately how long it will take to cycle the new tank if I use 200lbs of previously live sand (former owner is including with the 110g), 75lbs fresh live rock, 25lbs base rock, and use 50g of water that is currently in a cycled tank (not sure if this matters, but it seems like it would get the tank to be up-to-par quicker).

Thanks for your help!

 

[Henry405]

Well, it depends on what you have in the tank, listing your fishes would help a more experience member to determine if half of your LR is enough.

For transferring old LR, I heard people say all you have to do is fill up a 5gallon bucket with SW, take out a LR from DT, dunk it into the 5gallon bucket a few times to clean it off and then into the new DT.

People don't recommend using old sand because stirring it up will release a lot of stuff into the water.

The new 50lbs of LR will be enough to start the cycle since there is die off on it. The base rock may take a little time to seed, but adding half of your old LR will definitely speed up the cycle. I think carey almost skipped cycling completely when she moved her old LR over to her new 55g tank.

Bacteria isnt really in the water so 50g of the old water wouldn't help much.

 

[merelymiche]

Thanks for your input.

My tank has two blue dasmels and two firefish, and also a 40 piece cleaning crew.

My reasoning behind using the old water is that I thought maybe if I move my old water plus some of my live rock into the new tank, adding another 50g of water would be the similar to doing a 50% change in my current tank. I am still quite new at this, so please forgive me if this reasoning is foolish! I know a 50% water change threatens to shock the system, but the ppl at my LFS said it could work for me.

Are there any current members who have gone through an upgrade from 55g to 110g/75g dump? Walk me through how you proceeded! Maybe I will post as a new thread to get more attention. Thanks for everyone's help!

 

[carey]

Are you literally moving them in the same day? I had a few days between getting and moving. Again, the water isn't really a vital issue. The rock is though. I feel that you plan on moving enough rock over to avoid any lenghtly cycle. Are you using base rock for the rest?

 

[merelymiche]

Are you literally moving them in the same day? I had a few days between getting and moving. Again, the water isn't really a vital issue. The rock is though. I feel that you plan on moving enough rock over to avoid any lenghtly cycle. Are you using base rock for the rest?

Even if I planned to move ALL my live rock into the new tank, it still wouldn't be enough for the 110g tank, it wouldn't be enough to prevent a cycle would it?

Can I move all my rock, add 25 lbs of live rock and 25 lbs of base rock without having a lengthy cycle in the new tank?

 

[carey]

if you add new live rock to your current live rock yeah, i would def expect some kinda of cycle. Since you already have LR you can get all base rock if you want. You already have the lr cycled right in its current tank? In that case you wouldnt have really any cycle. I just added 30lbs of base rock to my 55g and it hasnt hurt a thing.

Are you moving sand too? That I would for sure recommend replacing. Moving that will stir up the nitrates to obscene levels. i had that issue when i moved my 29 to my 55. Took ALOT of water changes to get them down