I want to switch tanks

[eric.battani]

Ok I am new to this website and I hope my question is not to dumb. But I am about a year and a half into this hobby with a successful reef tank and like most I got an itch for a larger tank. Well I want to move most of my coral and LR to the new tank but not all. I have all new equipment for the new tank and enough dead rock. But I want the rock in my old tank to be in my new tank. Mostly the larger pieces.
So if I pull all the rock out of my old tank (about 40 lbs) and corals and place it in my new 75 gal tank, will the system crash? Also I will be starting with new live sand. What do I do or dont do. Also my livestock consists of 2 clowns, a sand goby, and 30 plus frags. Thanks for any advice.

 

[RalphsReef]

I would not pull all the rock from your old tank, assuming you are going to keep it running. If you have room, you could add some of your dry rock to the old tank to get it seeded in preparation of adding it to the new tank. In the meantime, you could start setting up the new tank. I would place a good amount of your dry rock in there. If anything is left on them (dead sponge, etc), it will help the cycle of the new tank. Also, you can use several cups of sand from your old tank to further seed the new one.

 

[eric.battani]

Well I am planning on starting new with the old tank b/c I used play sand and I want it out before I put any more rock in that tank.
So would the new tank crash if I moved the 40 lbs of lr, fish and corals to the new 75 along with 40 lbs of dead rock? Or will it need to cycle first?

 

[RalphsReef]

Is the "dead" rock cleaned up? If it has simply been removed from another tank and then dried up, it will have stuff on it (sponges, etc) that will decay when added to any tank. That could kick off a cycle or "mini-cycle." You might look into cleaning the rock with muriatic acid or vinegar before adding it (assuming it is not already cleaned). Of course, adding cured live rock, live sand, etc to the new tank will transfer a good amount of your biological filter. I have done basically the same thing before (actually went from a 120 to an 80 when I moved), and had very little side effects of taking the live rock from one tank to another.

 

[eric.battani]

The dead rock is diy rock that I made and it has already reach a ph of 8.0. But has not yet been in a reef tank to be cured. I am thinking about loading up my refugium with as much dead rock as I can to seed the bacteria for about a month and wait on switching tanks till all the rock is cured. I was just hoping to be able to switch over in maybe this weekend but like every thing else in this hobby I guess I will wait and do it slowly. I would hate to lose all my corals because I have basically grown them from tiny frags over the last year. Thanks for the advice.

 

[RalphsReef]

I did the same thing to get some rock colonized with bacteria. Put it in the sump, or anywhere else I could find room. You will be better off taking your time.