Tank switch. How to keep from spiking.

[cgthebeast]

So I'll be setting up my 55g here soon but in order to do so, I have to completely take down my 10. I plan to move all live stock an rock into spare 5g buckets an tossing the sand.
When I have the 55 set up an ready to go, how would I prevent a major spike?

 

[Reefing Madness]

Use Fully Cured Live Rock

 

[cgthebeast]

So would cycling my rock on a trash can with. A raw shrimp an powerhead be a good idea?

 

[Sniperhank]

Yep. Good idea to do it before adding new rock too.

 

[Reefing Madness]

So would cycling my rock on a trash can with. A raw shrimp an powerhead be a good idea?

 

[PB_Smith]

So would cycling my rock on a trash can with. A raw shrimp an powerhead be a good idea?

yeah, and throw in a hunk of rock from your existing tank to speed up the process.

unless the sand is nasty, there is no reason to toss it.
If you rinse it in water from the tank, you can get most of all the debris out of it, yet still keep the BB alive and that will also help shorten any possible spikes.
Folks seem to ignore the fact of how much bacteria and other beneficial critters are in the substrate and if you toss it all, than you should expect spikes and other issues.

Just transferring it without a good rinsing is also a mistake.