Hey everyone, I'm wanting to upgrade my 55 reef to a 125 that I've had running as a planted tank for a while. I plan on drilling it soon. Does anyone have experience upgrading to a bigger tank? If so how do I successfully transfer everything without having to cycle the tank or going through a mini cycle. If the only option is to completely cycle it as a new tank I have no problem with it. I just want to transfer it and use the 55 for the sump. Also I do not want to damage my corals! I have large SPS colony's and LPS corals that I love!
55 gallon reef transfer
- Thread starter Subinay70
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brandolphjr
Active Member
Well, I would save all the goodies from the 55, as in water, rock, sand, ect.. Which are cycled already transfer to the 125.. Make sure you have your fresh mix of salt water ready...Very important to make sure you match ALK,Cal, pH and temperature of new water to the old water..I would avoid adding a bunch of new uncycled live rock or sand..Which will cause unwanted spikes.. Once put altogether, testing the water often... hope everything goes good on transfer...
Lynn52
Active Member
When I did this a couple years ago, I transferred all the rocks into Rubbermaid totes with water then used them to start the aquascaping. I didn't add any new rocks at this point. Most of my water was new. I added mostly new sand. I wish I had added all new sand. The old sand caused all kinds of problems. Then I transferred the fish. It took a few hours but went smoothly. I watched the water parameters for a couple weeks but no ammonia spikes just had issues with nitrates from the old sand. Over a couple months I added more rock.
In a month or so I will be doing it again but this time from the used 125 to a new reef ready 120. I will be buying all new sand this time.
In a month or so I will be doing it again but this time from the used 125 to a new reef ready 120. I will be buying all new sand this time.
Okay, what I was thing was to use all new sand and some cups of old to seed them. I plan on buying completely new live rock too and just add mine in when I do the transfer. The only thing that's worrying me is my corals I don't want any types of spikes in my tank because I plan on adding my coral in. Also I was going to add 2 new marine pure blocks, worried that this will cause some type of diotom bloom
brandolphjr
Active Member
I stir my Sand quite often to free up debris right before water changes,,your old sand must of had a lot of debris in it.
Lynn52
Active Member
Not really I clean the very top layer of my sand bed weekly. The lower part I do not touch. I washed the old sand several times in clean salt water before transferring but it still caused problems. For all the trouble it caused me another 2 bags of new sand would have been worth the money not to deal with all the problems the old sand caused in the following weeks.
Lynn52
Active Member
In that case I wouldn't worry too much about it. Feed the new tank as if you had fish in it and see how the bacteria handles the waste. If ammonia doesn't go up after a few days you should be good. You might get an ammonia badge so you can monitor it easily and have prime on hand just in case.
brandolphjr
Active Member
I use API Stress zyme and Quick start..The stress zyme help desolve sludge and nasties in sand bed.It loads the aquarium with plenty of good bacteria..Also controls ammonia and nitrite spikes..And it eases the stress on critters..
