Need guidance with tank upgrade

[Biglurr54]

The time has come to upgrade my tank. I have had my 60 gallon cube running for approximately 2 years now. Everything in the tank is thriving but quickly out growing the tank. (SPS, LPS, Anemones, and fish) I am upgrading to a 150g 36x36x27 cube. In order to save money, I have been slowly replacing things on the 60g to transfer to the 150g. (Skimmer, fuge light, doser, circulation pumps, and actinic lighting) In the past I have started aquariums new and cycled and slowly built them up. I don’t have the luxury of doing that this time as 2 large tanks in the living room might get me called into the divorce lawyers office.

I am looking for ideas on how to make the switch in a reasonable amount of time.

Couple ideas:

1. Set up the 150g and cycle with shrimp for a month then dump everything in, switch the shared equipment over, and pray.

2. Cycle the marinepure for a month in the 60 then put it in the 150 and cycle for a month then change over.

3. Cycle marinepure for a month, then cycle the 150g with the marine pure for a month, then add half the fish wait a month then add the remaining fish and coral. (The 150g would have a month of no skimmer, fuge light, or wave action with fish in it)

Any other ideas? What is the best practice for switching to a larger tank without stressing out the sps and fish?

 

[Biglurr54]

Fts.

 

[mjt82]

I've recently done a switch over, and it has been the most successful switch I've done thus far. I found that going VERY slow and making sure the new system was up and running fully (or as close to fully as possible) produced the best results. I did something similar, as I took my Marinepure balls from my old tank and put them into the new tank to begin the process of bacterial seeding. I also used Prodibio on the new system to bolster the bacterial population, which I think helped a lot. I haven't lost any livestock, and all of my corals look great. Parameters have all been stable as well. I am going through the growing pains of diatoms and some other mild algae outbreaks, but all-in-all I would say it has been a success. One thing I did do that you may not be doing is I went with essentially all new live rock, and allowed it to become established before moving stuff from my old tank to my new one. The majority of the live rock from my previous tank wasn't used in the new build. However, I think that if you do plan to use your old live rock in your new tank it will probably ease the transition, because you will be bringing a healthy bacterial population into the new system when you move it all over, which will lessen the impact.

All of that said, I think your best option would be the last - You don't necessarily need any form of reef-type lighting over the 150 while its becoming established, and until you add livestock a skimmer isn't necessary. I assume there will be a pump circulating water through the sump? It may not hurt to add a couple of cheap powerheads in the 150 during the cycling period to avoid any stagnation.

That's just my $0.02!! Good luck!!