Moving from a 44 to a 90

noles426 · May 5, 2014

Hello All,

I am going to be upgrading my 44 corner to my 90 and have just completed the plumbing the past weekend. I had originally planned to let the 90 cycle the whole month of may at my new residence as I will be moving out of my current place the end of the month. Some thing came up and I don't know if i'll be able to have the tank fully cycled by the end of the month so I was wondering what would be the best bet to move everything smoothly. I have read I can move everything at once, the LR, Fish, and as much water a possible, along with a small amount of my current sand bed. I do have about 120 lbs of new live sand that I will be using in the new tank and want to know if I run the risk of having a huge cycle start up or a diatom outbreak. The new place is only a few miles down the road so it wont be a long drive, just a few trips with buckets for all the live stuff and water. Thanks for the input everyone, and any suggestions on how to make a smooth transition would be appreciated.

rdevoe11 · May 5, 2014

you'll still see a cycle occur, but using your current live rock, some sand, and as much of the old water as you can will certainly aid in cycling the new tank much faster. if possible, I would consider keeping your fish in the 44, or some alternative, until youve been able to monitor nutrient levels in the 90 (for a week) once the sand, LR and water have been added. just a suggestion to protect the investment youve made in the fish.

Im sure someone with more experience can elaborate, I only speak from experience helping others move

oh, go noles! (c/o '12)

noles426 · May 5, 2014

Thanks rdeveo! I will have until the end of the month to set up the new tank and have to move everything out of the 44 so maybe a weeks time with the old water and some sand and current LR from the tank would help things settle than I can move everything else the end of the month. Go Noles!! (c/o 06')

Any other input from everyone else would much appreciated, i'm hoping to make this a smooth as possible without losing any fish or coral.

davocean · May 5, 2014

If you have a decent amount of established LR you can actually just swap all to new tank and not have much of a cycle if any at all.
I would actually use dry sand before live sand, the live will come w/ dieoff that could add to a possible cycle issue.
Best is dry sand, and a scoop of your established live sand to seed the new.
It's pretty common for us to swap up to a new tank doubling size w/out issues, think of it as kind of a large water change, and most of your beneficial bacteria/life is in your LR, not the water column so much.

noles426 · May 5, 2014

Thanks davocean. I am going to be using "CaribSea Ocean Direct Caribbean Live Sand"[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif], [/FONT]it does seem to almost completely dry as there is no liquid in that I can see. Would it be ok to use that and just a couple scoops of my old sand into the 90 for about a week until the sand and everything gets settle then add the fish and coral. Unfortunately the majority of the LR i have right now has coral on it except for some big pieces i have on the bottom. Should i just use those pieces of LR and pick up some bigger pieces from my LF or would adding new live rock basically start the cycle all over?

davocean · May 5, 2014

If it is labeled as live sand I'm sure there must be some water in there.
At the very least I would rinse it well in clean SW.
Transfering rock w/ coral is no big deal usually.
As far as adding new rock that is fine, just make sure it is fully cured and keep it wet so there is little or no dieoff on that.

noles426 · May 5, 2014

Ok, thanks davocean. I appreciate the advice from you both. Hopefully I don't have any problems and can make the move smoothly after letting the 90 run for a week with the old/new sand and some LR.

davocean · May 5, 2014

I have dealt w/ quite a few swaps/upgrades over the years, and for a period I had a company giving me gear to play with/check out, so I was constantly upgrading, and seemed like almost always doubling up in size.
I was always on the heavier side of the 1-2lbs of rock per gallon, so w/ each upgrade I was starting off at the minimum and adding a little more rock, always established rock.
I know it's always a bit nerve racking no matter what, but as long as you are not disturbing and reusing a long running DSB it usually comes w/ little to no issues.
Stay on top of weekly WC's after the swap for best results, and good luck.

noles426 · May 5, 2014

The sand bed i have now is about 2 inches deep and has been up and running about a year and a few months, so hopefully i'll be ok with just using a little of the old sand and then using the rest of the 120 lbs of new sand that i will be adding.