Tank switchout- is it feasible?

[tadrielobrien]

I have had a 32g biocube up and running for a few months now, and I have come to the conclusion that I don't particularly love the look of it. I'm now looking at upgrading to a 60g rimless cube aquarium, however, if I were to do so, would it be reasonable to pull everything (including water, sand, and rocks) from the biocube and put it right into a new tank? My biggest logic concern with that would be the size difference between the two tanks and the fact that I would need to add an additional 30g of new water to the system. I know the safest thing would be to have the new tank do a full cycle, but I would prefer to not wait 3 months before moving all of the fish and corals in...

 

[Reffetsevla]

Unfortunately regardless of what you do you're going to experience another cycle to some degree. You can absolutely move your existing LR and sand, but once you disturb the sand that much it'll expel a lot of what it had absorbed back into the water. (drain tank of as much water first before moving sand) If you are going to reuse the sand, I may consider gently rinsing it before putting it in the new tank to try and remove any detritus or trapped gunk. Use existing tank water, you dont want to kill the bacteria, just "clean" it some. You'll also likely want to add more sand to the 60g cube, unless you are fine with it being a little thinner. Actually I'm not positive on the footprint of the 32g, you may be alright with amount.

The new water will help with some of the cycling since you'll need more for the 60g, but do expect to see some form of cycle during any move. If your tank is only 3 months old chances are you're barely past the "uglies" really anyway, so you won't have too much to disturb or break down. Honestly better to do it now than in 6 months or a year.

 

[Cell]

I would transfer the rocks and reuse the water but toss the old sand and replace. Done correctly and you won't skip a beat.

 

[RichReef]

Move the small tank aside. Set up the 60. Let 60 sit for a week or so flowing.

Plumb them together and trickle the water to mix them over a week or so.

Disconnect them.

Use old tank to swish rock. Put in new tank. Put sand in a strainer. Swish it in old tank. Put in new tank.

All done. No cycle. Only drawback is having the small tank in the way until it is complete.

 

[Koh23]

You can do that.....

Simply, have 60-70% newly mixed water ready, take your rock into some container, fill it with water of course...

Vacuum your sand into bucket, when bucked is filled with water, swirl sand around, throw all water and gunk, repeat, until you either run out of water in tank, or until you vacuum all of your sand. This will clean 98% of sand, while keeping bacteria and anything useful still in there...

Place new tank, pour water, add rock, add sand, add more sand (if old amount is not enough), fill with new water to the top.... voila....

You didnt mention do you have fish, corals, etc?

 

[tadrielobrien]

You can do that.....

Simply, have 60-70% newly mixed water ready, take your rock into some container, fill it with water of course...

Vacuum your sand into bucket, when bucked is filled with water, swirl sand around, throw all water and gunk, repeat, until you either run out of water in tank, or until you vacuum all of your sand. This will clean 98% of sand, while keeping bacteria and anything useful still in there...

Place new tank, pour water, add rock, add sand, add more sand (if old amount is not enough), fill with new water to the top.... voila....

You didnt mention do you have fish, corals, etc?

I have some LPS and a Valentini Puffer in the tank at the moment!

 

[snickers104]

I just did a switch from a 32 gallon Biocube to a Reefer 350...added new rock and dry sand, then filled with water and salt, brought to temperature and let it run for a few days. Then moved live rock from Biocube and all livestock. Threw the old sand out. Everything is doing great.

 

[dthom]

You will probably get a variety of answers to this question.

Last year I upgraded from a 32 gallon to a 50 gallon. Made the switch all in one day. This was a well established tank with lots of corals, BTA's, Fish and SPS corals. I did not have any problems. I used the same sand, rock, water. Just got lot's of new saltwater to fill up the tank after the move. I did vacuum the sand a extra before the switch.

I personally would keep your existing sand. If you have the time, vacuum 1/2 the sand in the current tank a week before you plan to make the move.

 

[Timfish]

Yup. Done it a few times moving tanks and upgrading at the same time. Get enough containers to age at least half the amount of new water (>50%) age it a few fays or longer. Move everything to your new tank, add the new aged water, mix up however much needed to top off the system but don't add more than 25% brand new water.