Tank upgrade!! Not sure how to go about doing this

[Natescorals]

Hey I’m currently using a cheap glass 20 gallon long and I want to upgrade to acrylic possibly 29 or 40 gallons. Any ideas on how I can go about doing this without killing anything? How do others do this and what exactly is the process of this? Is this even possible?

 

[Arricefe]

Well it’s not hard but I don’t think an aquarium is cheap because it’s glass and not acrylic. But do you have room to have both tanks up at the same time? Or is the new tank going in the same spot as the old? Is the tank the only thing you’re swapping out? Is it the same stand?

 

[Quietman]

Least impact to anything if you have the ability is to run the new one in parallel while it cycles and you slowly transfer livestock over. If you want to move rock/sand over, it becomes a planning thing (still doable) but you'll need containers, air stones (optional but they fall under the 'if anything can go wrong it will category), etc..

 

[Natescorals]

Well it’s not hard but I don’t think an aquarium is cheap because it’s glass and not acrylic. But do you have room to have both tanks up at the same time? Or is the new tank going in the same spot as the old? Is the tank the only thing you’re swapping out? Is it the same stand?

It’s going into the same spot as the old tank. Yes the tank is the only thing I’ll be swapping. Do you really think I need to add more live rock? It’s pretty much gonna be the same length and width only the height will change

 

[Natescorals]

It’s a cheap $40 aqueon tank I got from petco

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

Here is what I did in a nut shell:
Cycle additional rock in a plastic bucket
Get a brute or plastic tote and drain 1/2 of the water
Remove rock/coral/fish and inverts. Avoid stirring up sandbed if possible
Pull out sand and toss it. Keep 1 cup to seed if you desire
Setup the new tank with new sand and let it settle for a day or two
Test, top off and change water in the holding brute/tote
Move everything over

Tank shouldn't cycle as the established rock should keep you going. Cycle any additional live rock for atleast 2 weeks in the bucket.

 

[Eleni18]

If you are using the same live rock, you don't even need cycling. Most people here would say you should use new sand. Just transfer the rocks, add new sand, add some water from the old tank and top off with new salt water, plug everything in, check parameters and transfer livestock

 

[35ppt]

If you are using the same live rock, you don't even need cycling. Most people here would say you should use new sand. Just transfer the rocks, add new sand, add some water from the old tank and top off with new salt water, plug everything in, check parameters and transfer livestock

I would go with this but I would add you can absolutely just rinse your old sand.

 

[Quietman]

Also when planning make sure you think about everything you're counting on working when you move and take steps to make sure it does. Example: if you're moving the return pump and it hasn't been cleaned in months (ever), clean it now and reinstall in old tank for a few days. Clean off your heaters now, minimize what you have to do that day as much as you can.

And have extra water on hand. Fill some buckets.

 

[Natescorals]

If you are using the same live rock, you don't even need cycling. Most people here would say you should use new sand. Just transfer the rocks, add new sand, add some water from the old tank and top off with new salt water, plug everything in, check parameters and transfer livestock

What if corals are attached to the rocks?

 

[Eleni18]

What if corals are attached to the rocks?

same...transfer the rock with the coral

 

[Natescorals]

What do you guys think about Caribsea live “black sand”

 

[35ppt]

What do you guys think about Caribsea live “black sand”

I'm not a fan, I prefer the look of white sand. I always like to have critters that live in the sand so I tend to get smaller grain size sand for sand sifters or wrasses etc. I would recommend Fiji Pink or Special Grade. I have also heard of people having issues with some of the grains of black sand having enough iron that it sticks to your cleaning magnet.

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

I would go for special grade... the fiji pink ended up flying around my tank fairly easily

 

[Backreefing]

I recently did a upgrade 37gallon to a 90gallon it when great . It is a sps tank to . https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/i-finally-got-the-upgrade-done.687084/

 

[Natescorals]

I would go for special grade... the fiji pink ended up flying around my tank fairly easily

What is special grade?

 

[OrionN]

You should use new sand. I would use natural color sand rather than any exotic color sand. Better for the fish. Ditch the old sand other an seed sand. You can soak new sand in a bucket using old aquarium water for several days to weeks. This will put your sand bed light year ahead with setting a new sand. 40 gal is so easy to set up. You can set it up using a new sand bed and old rock and put the fish right in, no cycle needed. Just keep the rock suberged in water all the time so it wonk die out. I would get a 30 gal plastic tubmove everything in it. Take the old tank out once it is empty. Put the new tank up, set up the pre soaked sand. Add water, then bring the rock, corals, fish over and you are done.Mixed water ahead of time, warm it up with heater so you don't temperature shock the animals.

 

[Natescorals]

You should use new sand. I would use natural color sand rather than any exotic color sand. Better for the fish. Ditch the old sand other an seed sand. You can soak new sand in a bucket using old aquarium water for several days to weeks. This will put your sand bed light year ahead with setting a new sand. 40 gal is so easy to set up. You can set it up using a new sand bed and old rock and put the fish right in, no cycle needed. Just keep the rock suberged in water all the time so it wonk die out. I would get a 30 gal plastic tubmove everything in it. Take the old tank out once it is empty. Put the new tank up, set up the pre soaked sand. Add water, then bring the rock, corals, fish over and you are done.Mixed water ahead of time, warm it up with heater so you don't temperature shock the animals.

You make it sound easy haha

 

[scubasteve020]

Hey I’m currently using a cheap glass 20 gallon long and I want to upgrade to acrylic possibly 29 or 40 gallons. Any ideas on how I can go about doing this without killing anything? How do others do this and what exactly is the process of this? Is this even possible?

Stay away from acrylic. has a bad inability to withstand uv light and will yellow over time along with the fact that it scratches easier. Blacksand is a bad idea. Especially takes away from the nice colors of fish. My LFS and one friend that's been in the hobby since the start of reefing farming (40 years) said that to never use black sand because of bad experiences with it.

 

[OrionN]

Drill that tank and put in an over flow box. Turn it into a real reef.