Same spot tank upgrade

[MatteoDunno]

Hello, my name is Matt. Long time forum stalker first time poster.

I have a few questions about an upcoming tank transfer to the same spot. I have a 65g mixed reef aquarium that has been up for almost a year which I will be upgrading to a 180g. The fish are getting fat and a bunch of the corals are starting to take off with growth. I would like to prevent/minimize any casualties.

1) I bought my live rock for the 65g from a lfs that probably doesn’t have the best stuff. There’s occasional aptasia popping up and some pyramid snails on some of my snails. I also recently had some bryopsis Growing on some smaller rocks that I removed. Anyways, I was wondering if I should start fresh ? I bought some reef saver that I have already aquascaped and glued which I’m doing a fishless cycle on now. Should I transfer some of my old LR to the new tank with it? Would that be better for the fish/corals or would the risk of bringing over some pests outweigh the benefits? Here’s what I aquascaped (the cardboard is the footprint of the 180g and the top of the table is about the height)

2) Should I transfer the tank all at once or should I drain it move it and refill it then transfer everything over a week or two or will that just drag out everything and make it more stressful to the animals.

This is my 65g

I have a:
Tomini tang
Midas blenny
Royal Gramma
Possum wrasse
Clown fish
Fire fish
2 cleaner shrimp
Red brittle star
Mix of zoas
Montipora cap. And dig.
A few acros
Green and pink birds nest
Acan
Candy coral

I’m getting back into the hobby after being fishless for 15 years or so... and my have things changed, especially when your not a poor high schooler. Any advice is welcomed.

Thank you,
Matt

 

[cvrle1]

Not that I know much, so take my advice with boulder of salt, but this is what i would do in regard to your rock. Since you already have new rock ready to go, use it as is, but plan out how to add few more pieces if you would like to have more. Then take all the old problematic rock that you have and go through full curing/cycling dry rock steps. This will pretty much kill everything on the rock, and turn it into a clean slate of sort. Once old rock is good to go, add back into the tank.

I am sure other more knowledgeable folks will chime in and let you know if this is a bad plan haha.

And PS: Welcome to R2R

 

[MatteoDunno]

Not that I know much, so take my advice with boulder of salt, but this is what i would do in regard to your rock. Since you already have new rock ready to go, use it as is, but plan out how to add few more pieces if you would like to have more. Then take all the old problematic rock that you have and go through full curing/cycling dry rock steps. This will pretty much kill everything on the rock, and turn it into a clean slate of sort. Once old rock is good to go, add back into the tank.

I am sure other more knowledgeable folks will chime in and let you know if this is a bad plan haha.

And PS: Welcome to R2R

Thanks cvrle1, that’s what I was thinking. Setting it up and seeing if I need more rock and going from there.