Upgrade Advice

[Techie_]

I'm upgrading from my 55 soon and I wanted to know what I should do to prepare.

Is there anything specific I should do with my algae ridden rock before it goes into the new tank, if so, how do I do it?
I'm thinking of throwing some of my fish in a small 20g (what will essentially be a QT in the future) while the transfer happens, is this a smart idea? Can my corals go in too?
Would a 20g sump work well with a 75g DT?
What compartments should I have in the sump? What thickness of glass should the baffles be made of?

 

[Jisko]

I recently doubled my tank size however I was also looking for feedback on what to do or not to do and got very little advice. I ended up using all of the water from my old tank except enough to give my rocks a bit of a scrubbing before moving them over to the new tank. I replaced my entire sand bed with dry sand as the sand is around a year old and was not taken very good care of. I figured replacing it would help me stable the tank a bit easier instead of having all them nutrients being released. I was mixing salt water while I was moving everything and ended up just moving my fish once the tank was around half full (pretty much after I moved the water from the old tank to the new one). I have plenty of heaters and what not so i kept the water at the same temp. So far so good I did a feeding today and the fish seem to be doing fine. Still a bit skittish if I go near the tank but I think its just them trying to adjust to the new surroundings.

 

[Run4Fun]

I upgraded recently as well. Depending on how old your LR is you may want to research "cooking" it. That said I replaced all my LR with the upgrade. I really wanted to start brand new and with the cost and time to properly cook the LR it made more sense for me to start over. But be aware that starting woth new LR would result in a cycle so you'd have to go without fish if you do new LR. Also I agree with Jisco on replacimg the live sand. I used brute containers from Walmart for the new saltwater to get it mixing while waiting for the tank to arrive.

If you use most of the old water and mix it with new and use your old LR, you should only have a mini cycle even if you use new sand and your fish should be fine. Just keep an eye on the water parameters to make sure they stay close to current.

Just my opinion, I would fill the new tank with water, sand, rock and get everything running for a week to make sure all looks good. I'd keep the fish in a QT type setup than once all parameter looked good in the new tank add the fish.

 

[Jisko]

Yes I agree with the QT. Personally I only have 2 clownfish, a crab and some snails so I wasnt worried about the fish that much as they can take a pretty good beating haha gotta love a good hardy fish

 

[RedoubtReef]

I used a 29 tank for a sump on my 80 for years...until yesterday when i plumbed my tank through the wall into a 75 gallon sump in my garage . you can have a glass shop or acrylic supplier cut baffles to fit it and then silicone them in. I used 3/8 thick acrylic for baffles in my latest sump. works well for a budget sump.

 

[Techie_]

Yes I agree with the QT. Personally I only have 2 clownfish, a crab and some snails so I wasnt worried about the fish that much as they can take a pretty good beating haha gotta love a good hardy fish

I have 20g for a QT, the problem is, I don't think my YT will fare well with the rest of my fish in there, any ideas on what to do with him?

 

[jenjen]

I upgraded from 90 to 180 several years ago. I set up the 180 with new sand, 100% new water, and 50lbs dry base rock. I matched parameters and temp between the old and new systems.

On transfer day I moved all the existing rock and aquascaped and placed coral, then netted and transferred all the livestock. Moved everything in one day and did not experience a cycle or lose any livestock.

Is there a specific reason you're wanting to move your fish to qt for a period of time?

 

[Jisko]

could try to create a divider with the crate or something or one of them mesh dividers petco sells... id just DIY something tho

 

[Jisko]

I upgraded from 90 to 180 several years ago. I set up the 180 with new sand, 100% new water, and 50lbs dry base rock. I matched parameters and temp between the old and new systems.

On transfer day I moved all the existing rock and aquascaped and placed coral, then netted and transferred all the livestock. Moved everything in one day and did not experience a cycle or lose any livestock.

Is there a specific reason you're wanting to move your fish to qt for a period of time?

I believe he is worried that it might cause a problem if the tank cycles a bit. I've heard of people not having this problem but who knows I guess it depends on the tank 0_o

 

[jenjen]

My understanding is the majority of the 'good' bacteria are in the rock, so as long as you don't reduce the amount of rock or increase the livestock, and the rock doesn't sit out of water for any length of time it shouldn't cycle.

If there's disease concern, or if you plan to clean or cook some of the rock that would change things.

How many and what type/size fish?

As for the sump, what equipment is going in there? A 20gal should work well. If there will be a skimmer, I'm not sure I personally would bother trying to add a refugium section. I'd go with a skimmer section, bubble trap baffles (3 about an inch apart with the middle one raised an inch or so off the bottom) and a second chamber for your return pump. But if space permits you could add a small fuge section in the middle for some chaeto etc.

 

[Jisko]

My understanding is the majority of the 'good' bacteria are in the rock, so as long as you don't reduce the amount of rock or increase the livestock, and the rock doesn't sit out of water for any length of time it shouldn't cycle.

This is what I was thinking it's why I chose to do dry sand instead of live sand when I upgraded.

 

[Run4Fun]

If you're going all new LR, "cooking" your LR, or for some reason it will be out of the water for some extended period of time, or if you are significantly increasing the bioload, that's when you would have an issue with cycling.

It's also good if you can, to wait a bit putting dropping all your livestock in to make sure all equipment and electrical (especially if on a different outlet) is working properly there are no leaks, etc.

 

[cmcoker]

How algae ridden is your existing rock?
I would take the opportunity to scrub the rocks and peroxide the algae before moving it to the new tank. don't transfer your problem..
Agree on new sand
I would add an ammonia alert badge to the new tank and have prime and plenty of saltwater on hand and just put the livestock in the new setup, after you have it aqua scape and everything

 

[code4]

I also upgraded recently. I bought new cycled rock from a guy nearby. Currently we have no LFS here. While the rock was cycled I soon found that they were off the scale for phosphate and I soon had algae everywhere. And ich. I will never do business with him again. I did TTT to get rid of the ich. And to keep the rocks cycled I put them in a large plastic container, heater and circulating pump. Kept an eye on the salinity. Added some food to keep the bacteria alive. And got rid of the phosphate by using 1/4 cup of lanthium chloride mixed with water and dumped over the rocks. Sold by Sea Klear. It is called Phosphate Remover. It turns the water slightly cloudy for awhile. I started mixing small amounts of the LC when the phosphates dropped to a measurable amount. Mixed it in water and then added it to the rocks. Since I was concerned with ich I took a little over 73 days to do this. Plus I was not concerned with any living critters. I really just wanted clean, cycled and algae free rocks. I also rinsed the rocks off a couple of times. The LC combined with the phosphate and made a sludge at the bottom of the container at first. I rinsed in salt water that had the temp. And salinity matched. Rocks look great right now. No phosphate and they remained cycled. I have used small additions at a time of the LC on rocks with corals. In a quarantine tank! As long as I went slowly I was able to get rid of the phosphates and not kill my corals. As with anything in this hobby some corals appeared more sensitive than others to the LC. I have "cooked" rocks before. It is quicker than using the LC. But in my experience it made the rocks brittle. Using LC gives you back your rocks, cycled, and phosphate free. Using muratic acid kills the rocks and leaves them brittle. In my experience using LC was the better option. Sorry for the book. Old tank 65 gallon red sea. Look at my photo, I have had dealings with algae! Pain in the area. New tank 140. Algae free.

Shelley

 

[Techie_]

My understanding is the majority of the 'good' bacteria are in the rock, so as long as you don't reduce the amount of rock or increase the livestock, and the rock doesn't sit out of water for any length of time it shouldn't cycle.

If there's disease concern, or if you plan to clean or cook some of the rock that would change things.

How many and what type/size fish?

As for the sump, what equipment is going in there? A 20gal should work well. If there will be a skimmer, I'm not sure I personally would bother trying to add a refugium section. I'd go with a skimmer section, bubble trap baffles (3 about an inch apart with the middle one raised an inch or so off the bottom) and a second chamber for your return pump. But if space permits you could add a small fuge section in the middle for some chaeto etc.

Thanks for the sump idea, I will steal that FOR SURE. What is the best way for going about cleaning algae off of rocks, I have a large GHA issue, I already dose Phosphate Rx, so once I get the fish in their respective tanks (I found out I have 2 20g in addition to a 20g sump, so everyone will get along) I'll clean the rocks best I can before putting them in the new tank.

My current plan is to empty some tank water into 2 20g tanks along with some new freshly mixed water with a decent size chunk of LR in each. Get a brute trashcan and clean each rock off in a 5 gallon bucket and throw it in the trashcan filled with freshly mixed water. Once every piece is clean I'll dose some Phosphate RX and throw a powerhead/heater in and let it sit until the old tank is out and the new is set up. I'll then aquascape the whole tank and put the fish in the order I wish.

Should I put my corals in the tanks with the fish or put them elsewhere? (Like in another reefers system until mine is ready)

 

[code4]

Lanthium chloride is the ingredient in Phosphate RX. Just lots cheaper. I would use one of those badges in the the holding tanks to monitor for ammonia. And have some amquel plus on hand in case of spikes. Just my opinion. I have corals in quarantine tanks. Had to to keep the LHA from killing them while I battled the algae. I did not have to scrub the rocks when I used the LC, it just disappeared over the 73 days in the large container I used. Good luck

Shelley