Upgrading to a bigger tank - Cycle question?

[jen1363]

Hi,

 

I have a question about cycling a new tank. Will my tank go through a cycle if I use the live rock and water from my 29 gallon in my new 38 gallon with 12 gallon sump? I would be using some dry base rock and new sand from reef rocks along with all the rock in my existing 29 gallon. I would like to get the new tank set up in the same location as the 29 gallon and want to avoid as much stress as possible on my fish and coral.

 

Thanks for your input,

 

 

[glennr1978]

It depends on the new base rock and how much dead stuff is on it. Typically there will be a little organic matter left on the dry rock. I give mine a muriatic acid bath to ensure that it's all clean. Other than that, you may have a small cycle but nothing thst would cause much of a problem. Just try to make the transfer as quickly as possible.

[ajmckay]

In general when what comes out is equal to what's going in there is no cycle to worry about. Even if dry rock/sand or properly cured rock is added during the move this remains true. The exceptions would be a significant change in stocking level (i.e. adding a bunch of new fish at the same time) or adding uncured or insufficiently cured rock.

 

When you take down your old tank, put everything in some 5g buckets. Do your business taking down the old tank and putting up the new, making sure the temp in the buckets doesn't get too whack (and try to keep them all consistent - don't run a heater in 1 bucket and no heater in the other buckets).

 

Add your new sand, then fill with fresh SW - pay attention to temp. Feel free to use some of the SW you saved with your old tank as well, but know that it's not really benefitting you, but not hurting anything either.

 

Add live rock & corals and create the scape, and then double check that the temp in the buckets is close to the temp in the tank and add fish. Otherwise you may need to temp acclimate by floating in some bags or something.

 

As for the dry rock, there may be some organic material on it, but as long as you're not adding a ton I don't think it would be enough to mess things up in the tank. So IMO no need for an acid bath just clean it off with a stiff brush in a bucket of old tank water. Anything but significant decay should be handled easily by the current biofilter.

[jen1363]

Thank you for the information.

[shawnyboy66]

I am doing something similar... Did this work well for you?