upgrade advice

[thetermite]

hey all...

im upgrading from a 1.2meter tank to a 2 meter tank in the next few days.

its a used system currently with water and LR. it has 2 skimmers, 2 UV sterilizers and 2 canister filters plus smaller items such as powerheads etc.

the upgrade tank has gravel, LR, no fish and no inverts.

from my experience, the proper steps to migrate would be (pls correct me if im wrong and advice is what im after):

1- empty water from old tank and put in large containers with aeration.
2- take out fish and put in one container
3- take out inverts and keep separately
4- divide live rock amongst the containers
5- disconnect equipment and hoses

6- place new tank in position
7- clean tank with water/vinegar mixture
8- clean equipment and connect
9- lay down rock formations
10- lay down new substrate mixed in with the old
11- fill tank with old water, and put livestock back in new tank
12- slowly keep topping up with new water to correct water level

have i left anything out, got things reversed, all wrong etc?

pls help asap as the new tank arrives on saturday

a few quetions:

-how will this affect the nitrogen cycle?
-do i keep the lights off for a while to allow everything to adjust?
-would you advise that i let the tank to settle with all new water before putting the livestock back?

pls help asap!

 

[Ace25]

6 / 7 may be reversed depending on how your setup. I like to clean my tanks outside and rinse very good (hour) before I put them in place and use them. Your call though.

Water, I always use all new water when swapping tanks or doing major work. No point keeping the old water IMO if you can put new water in.

You may have a small mini cycle that has slightly elevated levels for a couple days, but nothing deadly. I have always had good luck with moves.

Yes, always better to keep the lights off the first day so the fish are not stressed out from all the moving around and new home.

I let me tank cycle with just the sand/rock/water for 15-30 minutes after a move/major rescape to let things filter out through the sump/carbon then I put my corals and fish back in. So far never had a problem doing it that way.

 

[thetermite]

Thanks for the response Ace, but wouldnt using 100% new water need to do a FULL cycle to replenish the microbacteria that i would be throwing out with the old water? doesnt that usually take a few weeks, as if im setting up a brand new tank?

as far as cleaning it outside, that would be kinda hard considering im in an apartment and once its delivered, the guys are not gonna wait for me to clean it for an hour and then help me to take it up 2 flights of stairs! haha!! they are just gonna drop it off in at the apartment and leave. so cleaning is gonna have to be done in its final resting place.

cleaning: gonna scrub it down with a water/vinegar solution, fill it up and empty it a few times using powerheads and a whole lotta buckets!!

put in the rock (old and new) and finish off the aquascaping, will fill it up and run it for a few hours before i put the live stock in.

that should work...right?

input from others?

 

[Ace25]

The water doesn't contain anything really of value as far as bacteria/cycling is concerned. It is more your rock that does all that. I do 50% waterchanges weekly on my 75G and 95% weekly waterchanges on my 29G and never had a problem, actually it only helps doing waterchanges that big as long as the water going in is better than the water coming out. Still, I go to the extremes and not something I would recommend to others since I know I do waste some "good" water by doing such large waterchanges.. still, if I can afford to do it and my tank seems to thank me for it I will continue to do so on my own tank, but still would recommend a 10-20% weekly for most others. Just because I do 50% weekly doesn't mean I think everyone should do it.

I tore down my tank completely (drained it and removed all the rocks/corals/fish/and 1/4 of the sand) about 2 weeks ago to fix some problems and rearrange the rocks, leaving the fish, corals, and rocks in rubbermaid containers for about 3 hours as I did the work, and I used 100% new water when I refilled it and my corals never even looked "sad" for a day.