upgrading 75 to 120 tall need advice

bigkai · Jan 22, 2013

I'm up grading my 75 to a 120 tall oceanic. Iv got the tank cleaned and ready iv rebuilt the stand and hood. Iv got 50 Gallons of salt water mixing right now. I'm going to put the new tank in the same place as my 75 and hopefully move all the coral and rock and fish in the new tank as fast as possible. Iv never done any thing like this any advice will be more than welcome. I will be posting photos as I get it to together.

ReeferBob · Jan 22, 2013

That is going to be very tough since it is going in the same place. You will almost certainly have a mini-cycle and possibly a total crash depending on your sand bed. My advice is to take as much water out of the 75 as you can so you can move it. If you have a sump, you can run without it for a few weeks while you do the swap. So remove some water, move the tank, carefully put the water back in so as not to disturb the sand bed, then set up the 125 and get it going at least with the sand bed. Once it is running for a week or 2 and water parameters are stable, do your swap. Leave the substrate in the old tank and take everything else. Take daily water params and be prepared for an ammonia spike. Maybe have a QT tank ready to put your livestock in as a last resort. With a little luck, you will have a very small or no cycle at all.

Budman's Corals · Jan 22, 2013

bigkai said:
I'm up grading my 75 to a 120 tall oceanic. Iv got the tank cleaned and ready iv rebuilt the stand and hood. Iv got 50 Gallons of salt water mixing right now. I'm going to put the new tank in the same place as my 75 and hopefully move all the coral and rock and fish in the new tank as fast as possible. Iv never done any thing like this any advice will be more than welcome. I will be posting photos as I get it to together.

just made the move 2 weeks ago same tank and situation..

get u buckets, 30-50g tubs, siphon out water first from 75 place fish in bucket(watch temp cause it will drop fast) then i siphoned more water out put in 30 gallon tubs with just enough water to cover rocks corals.gotta take smaller rocks out to get to bigger ones that are at the bottom.

i had my 120 almost completely full with new water cause once u start stirring up other its gonna be nasty, I was lucky enough that my 75 was on tile and i was able to slide it outta the way..

Are you using new sand?

Oh yeah You need plenty of towels....

bigkai · Jan 22, 2013

My plain was to suck as much of the water out of the 75 as I can. Taking coral and rock out as the water goes down. So Im not stirring up the water to bad leave about e inches of water in the tank for the sand and move the old tank and put the new one in its place than all the old and new water back in the new tank with coral and rock with out putting the sand in. I'm not sure if I should use the old sand or get newlive sand but I thought about rinsing the old sand with saltwater to try and clean it out some. You can look at some of my other post and see my 75 gallon tank its at the max plus some on bio load. It freaks me out to do this but I need to move up to a bigger tank so my coral have room to grow. Is it ok to put new sand in the tank or better to use the old??

Budman's Corals · Jan 22, 2013

bigkai said:
My plain was to suck as much of the water out of the 75 as I can. Taking coral and rock out as the water goes down. So Im not stirring up the water to bad leave about e inches of water in the tank for the sand and move the old tank and put the new one in its place than all the old and new water back in the new tank with coral and rock with out putting the sand in. I'm not sure if I should use the old sand or get newlive sand but I thought about rinsing the old sand with saltwater to try and clean it out some. You can look at some of my other post and see my 75 gallon tank its at the max plus some on bio load. It freaks me out to do this but I need to move up to a bigger tank so my coral have room to grow. Is it ok to put new sand in the tank or better to use the old??

I wouldn't use the old, but save some and place in a panty hose to seed the new..but thats my opinion

u will probably need more sand anyway so i would start fresh..

bigkai · Jan 22, 2013

How much sand would yall thank I will need and what's best to buy

Budman's Corals · Jan 22, 2013

bigkai said:
How much sand would yall thank I will need and what's best to buy

$0 79 lb Special Crystal Reef Pure White Aragonite Live Reef Sand Aquarium Sand | eBay

I used this and I love it

I only put down 90lbs in the same tank as you and it gave me a 1 inch sand bed..I dont like anything thicker(some people will argue)
this way my clean up crew stirs my sand and i never have to touch it and it stays white and clean..

bigkai · Jan 22, 2013

Has anyone had any luck moving sand and all to a bigger tank with out it crashing?

OurReef · Jan 22, 2013

I did. Went from a 75 to a 180. I only reused the white sand. I used a small cup and scooped it out, once I saw the grey sand ild stop. No crash no spikes, smooth transition. I could have just been lucky though.

bigkai · Jan 22, 2013

Well I'm pore lol can't aford to by that much sand and than again I don't want to loss any thing iv worked so hard to grow.

Budman's Corals · Jan 22, 2013

bigkai said:
Well I'm pore lol can't aford to by that much sand and than again I don't want to loss any thing iv worked so hard to grow.

i did too..but understand the money..

bigkai · Jan 22, 2013

Anyone else

rjcranor · Jan 22, 2013

I've done this several times although I don't have a sump, I would drain as much water as I could. Then slide tank over to a temporary stand, set up new tank transfer sand and rock. Ad water and fish! I've never had any issues doing it this way! Once I went down in size due to my tank leaking then back up to bigger tank,

OurReef · Jan 22, 2013

Just avoid the "dead" sand. Anything that is not white or tan don't use. It has a very distinctive odor, almost like raw sewage.

bigkai · Jan 22, 2013

I'm thanking about brakeing out 2 old canister filters I have and my hot mag and run a lot of carbon and filter pads and try and clean the water as fast as I can when I move every thing and any thing spikes startvdoing water changes lol and will still probably need to buy some more sand any ways.

bigkai · Jan 22, 2013

And might get tank set up with out any sand and just add new sand slowly lol

bigkai · Jan 22, 2013

Thank you all for the axvice. Anyone else up graded to a bigger tank and how did it go? One other thing I'm about to do a perfillup test on the tank to make sure it holds water fine any add vice is it ok to use cold water or should I use warm water?