90 Gallon SCA upgrade questions

[Milkmanskid]

Okay guys,
I plan on upgrading to this tank soon from a 30 Gallon nano. I have everything figured out except for one thing....cycling.

I will be moving everything over to the new system that was in the old except for the sand. 30 lbs of live rock and the water will be going in. However, I plan on buying BRS dry pukani for the DT (30 lbs) and maybe dump the old rock in the sump.

As I will need to move quickly on this build and have limited space my question really is do you think I will have a cycle with how I plan on doing this? I don't have a QT to put my livestock in and the old aquarium is sitting right where the new one will go. What to do?

 

[Bdog4u2]

I just switched to a 150 gallon aquarium week ago with no cycling so far. My 75 gallon was 15 years old with 280 lbs of tonga and fuji live rock so I didn't skip a beat

 

[Jimbo662]

I moved from a 50g cube to a 175g. I got the new tank set up, moved about half the rock from the cube and used a large bottle of Dr Tims. The next day I moved a pair of clowns. Waited a couple of days to insure everything was stable then moved everything else except the sand.

 

[Milkmanskid]

Awesome. Thanks guys! My other questions would be on tank lighting and wavemakers.

1.) Would one Kessil 350w (maybe wrong model but wide lens is what I was thinking basically) work for sps on this tank?

2.) I was thinking of going with two Jebao WP-25's for flow. What would you recommend and why?

 

[Highgrade]

Awesome. Thanks guys! My other questions would be on tank lighting and wavemakers.

1.) Would one Kessil 350w (maybe wrong model but wide lens is what I was thinking basically) work for sps on this tank?

2.) I was thinking of going with two Jebao WP-25's for flow. What would you recommend and why?

I would cook the pukani for a couple of months. Mine took almost 4 months to get all the crap off/out of all the nooks and crannies. That's with several vinegar/RO/DI baths and pressure washed several times. Plus I added bacteria and ran with SW for about a month. The Pukani is in my new SCA 120 running for over a month and still I see remnants of debris such as algae/sponges. I just added a pair of blacker Ice Clowns and parameters are all in check for now. I'm sure the Pukani can vary due to size/shape/porous or not.

As for the Kessil 350W it may be enough to sustain lower light SPS in the center of the tank higher up. I have a A360WE on a JBJ 28gal and it wasn't enough for SPS long term. Too much shadowing. I had to add 4x24w ATI bulbs to increase growth and help with the shadowing.

For flow either a Maxspect Gyre, Ecotech MP40 or Neptune WAV should work for enough flow for SPS.

 

[Smite]

I've used Dr.Tim's One and Only bacteria on all my tank transfers so far. I played it safe and went with the dry Marco rocks so there wasn't any die off and I didn't lose anything.

I'd be a little nervous to do the same with dry pukani with all the dead stuff in it. At the very least I'd get a large HD Rubbermaid tub and soak the rock in salt water with a powerhead, heater and some Dr.Tim's for a week or so to see if there is a major nitrate spike. Dr.Tim's will most likely be able to handle the Ammonia and Nitrite, but you'll still get a large Nitrate spike for sure so I'd have plenty of water on hand for water changes if you decide to do it all at once.

Highgrade went the best route curing his rock the way he did. Rushed cycles have always ended up with 12 months of nuisance algae battles for me in the past with rocks leaching phosphates ect.

 

[Milkmanskid]

Not trying to be hard headed but concerned for my livestock and wrapping my head around the moves I need to make. But, what if I used my 30lbs of live rock and went with Walt Smith or the marco? Would you still be worried about a cycle? Maybe still use some Dr. Tims?

 

[Highgrade]

Not trying to be hard headed but concerned for my livestock and wrapping my head around the moves I need to make. But, what if I used my 30lbs of live rock and went with Walt Smith or the marco? Would you still be worried about a cycle? Maybe still use some Dr. Tims?

If possible maybe leave your livestock in your 30gal and you should be pretty safe with this set up after a week or two of close monitoring. Key thing would be watching ammonia/nitrite spikes in that 1-2weeks.

 

[Stickgal]

I recently went from a 46 bf to a 90g. Got a 30g Rubbermaid clear tub and put water from my tank in it, put heater and powerhead in and placed all my livestock in it. I then broke down the old tank, put live rock and live sand in buckets of saltwater, and moved the old tank out of the way. While I was doing that, we placed the new tank beside the old one and hubby did all the plumbing. We then put the live rock and sand from the old tank into the new. I also reused the water and put the filter sponge from the old tank in the sump on top of the new sponge. Quicky filled the tank up the rest of the way with reef crystals water, turned everything on and moved everybody in. A few days later I added some more lr from my lfs. Everybody did great. I think I lost one snail because I accidently sucked him up when pumping the water from the tub into the tank. Couple months later, all is well. Never had a nitrate or ammonia spike. I will add that my "old" tank was only about 4 months old.