upgrading

[dolphinfan213]

i currently have a 55 gallon reef, but i am about to purchase a 90 gallon, my question is? instead of starting over from scratch, will it be safe to add my tank water along with 40 new gallons of water to fill my new tank?

here is how i plan to do it-----
1. place rock and sand in new tank
2. fill with 20 gallons fresh saltwater
3. add top 2 inches of old sand on top of new sand
4. fill with 30 gallons of exsisting water from current tank
5. fill with remaining 20 gallons of fresh saltwater
6. add all corals
7. fill with remaining exsisting water from current tank
8. add all fish
9. start sump
10. enjoy

this should be okay, right!

 

[Garth Schafluetzel]

i used a similar method when i had to raise my stand and when i upgraded from my 75 to my 200 gal system now and the only problem i had was with the first time and i realy didnt test very well befor i threw everything in the new setup due to the fact i had all livestock in rubbermaid makeshift holding tank for a day and a half so i wanted to get things done well after being up till 3 am plumbing and testing and fixing leaks everything was added rock then sand and i had already filled the 125 1/4 of the way up with fresh water then added about 30gal of my existing water added more sand then another container of my old water then added corals and all the water from there holding tank and last but not leeast my fish well the next morning i woke up everything still looked ruff but there were noticable dislike in allot of the corals. tested salinity it was under 1.020 and not to mention everything else out of wack so all i can say if you can hold your live stock for 6 or 7 hours let everything settle and test everything make sure its stable befor you add livestock. i lost 1 fish and 2 corals not bad but could have easily been prevented which it was on the second time lol

 

[returnofsid]

The steps you explain will work, however, you might experience problems with the sand bed. How long has your existing sand bed been established? Sometimes, stirring up older sand beds can release lots of nasties.

Even if no nasties become a problem, you'll still probably experience a diatom bloom on your algae bed. I recently re-aquascaped my 75, and have done it in the past as well. Seems any time that any major changes are made, it can start a minor diatom bloom.

 

[Kaptain]

When I upgraded my tank, I did a similar procedure, except it was strongly recomended to me to use about 90% new sand, and only a little of the old stuff to spread around and "seed" the new sand. Only had a couple days of brown diatoms, which cleared right up.