Upgrading later this year, 20L to 40B. Steps for success?

CoRPS · Oct 9, 2019

So a little bit of back story. I used to run reef tanks about 10yrs ago or so. I got out of the hobby and always wanted back in but just didn’t think I had the time.

Fast forward to about 3 months ago and a friend had to give away his tank because of his living situation changing. About a year or two ago an extended power outage (hurricane) killed all of his corals and crashed the tank. He kept the fish alive for the next year or two but gave up on everything else. The rocks covered in turf algae and a couple of zoas still alive somehow.

When he gave me the tank and we moved it about a half hour away I was sure it was going to crash again. It didn’t. I ended up going to the LFS and getting a large clean up crew to deal with the algae. 20 hermits, half red half blue leg. 3 turbos and maybe a dozen assorted snails. Throchus and astrea’s and a few others.

Which brings us to present day. The algae is completely out of the display, there’s some in the overflow and a ball of chaeto in the Fuge. I’ve got some sps, lps and softie frags in the tank. Polyp extension and color is great. I’d like to keep it going.

I’ve got a 40b in the garage and plan on transferring the livestock and rocks and going bare bottom in the 40 for obvious reasons.

I’m going to be cooking rock in a Rubbermaid in the garage for a few months before the move and hoping I can get away with not killing anything.

Any precautions, tales, tips or tricks to get this to go smoothly ? The 40 will be exactly where the 20 is so cycling it separately is not something that could be done feasibly.

Thanks for any and all information!!

Retro Reefer · Oct 10, 2019

My latest build is a 40 breeder, it’s a great tank! My best advice would be to set up the 40, cycle it and then move live stock over but since you are not able to do that easily I would suggest getting the best rock you can for the new tank.. If you start it with dry/cooked rock and no sand your probably in for a bumpy ride.

CoRPS · Oct 10, 2019

Retro Reefer said:
My latest build is a 40 breeder, it’s a great tank! My best advice would be to set up the 40, cycle it and then move live stock over but since you are not able to do that easily I would suggest getting the best rock you can for the new tank.. If you start it with dry/cooked rock and no sand your probably in for a bumpy ride.

Oh sorry I guess I should have made the post more clear. The plan is to move all the 20l rock into the 40, and since there’s a bit extra room I’ll be cooking a few additional pieces in a Rubbermaid for several months that way it’s at least mostly ready.