advice

[tst400]

i recently asked about some new lighting and u guys were a great help, however had a change of plans.. instead of a lighting upgrade i am doing a whole tank upgrade (95g to a 180g). so my question is is it best to completely start over over or do i incorporate the well established water from my 95. will be using the sand and live rock of course and will be using sand and live rock from the 29g bio cube im taking down as well. also pondering doing a deep sand bed, have read there is some benefits of the deep sand??? the tank will 180g with a 60g sump with 2 250 watt aqua medic mh pendants ( building ada style light stand for them ). oh yea the reason i ask about the water is cuzz i have some tangs and hoping to reduce the risk of losing them during transfer. your input is appreciated.

 

[Saltgator]

IMO, I would use about 3/4 of your current tank's water and add the remainder of it with new water. Use the last 1/4 of the water left to gently rinse your sand and or rock of any thing that you may not want in the 180. A deep sand bed has proven for me to lower nitrates. Take the move slow but steady and the tangs should be ok. I moved houses with my 125 mixed reef with 3 tangs. I lost a good amount of water and slowly added new water over 2 weeks so not to shock my tangs. Just my 2 cents. Good luck

 

[bct15]

Just be careful with the sand, I usually leave my fish in sort of a quarantine when moving to ensure no mini-cycle ensues. I have seem when I move my sand, the tank almost always has a short two week to three week cycle ended with a diatom bloom. I try not to add the fish until after that, usually keeping them in heavy storage bins from lows with heaters, powerheads, and water from their old tank. That is if I am unable to keep them in their old tank.

 

[AZDesertRat]

Moving a shallow sand bed is no problem as long as you rinse the sand well before adding it to the newly set up system. Moving a deep sand bed (4-6" or more) is risky as the sand contains anaerobic and anoxic bacterias that can be toxic when released.

I have never seen any benefit to using used water, the bacteria are not free swimming, they reside in the rock and substrate. I do not like using used water since it may also have contaminants that I would be transferring to the new system. I always start out fresh with new salt water to give things a fighting chance of survival, only the best if I can provide it. Making up RO/DI costs about a nickel a gallon so its not worth messing with buckets or trash cans of old dirty water.