How to transfer a 5 gal reef to a 20 gal reef?

[zanysreef]

so i have a fluval spec v thats been running for about 7 months, it has live rock , plenty of coral, and 3 small fish. i want to upgrade to a 20 gallon. what are the proper steps in doing this???

 

Thanks for any input!

[deathbyart]

By no means am I an expert.. but I recently went from a BioCube to a Fusion 20. I also had the space and equipment to run both tanks at the same time. Not sure if you plan on that same type of situation.

 

I basically setup the new tank with fresh sand and small piece of live rock from the old tank to help kick start it. Ran both tanks for roughly 3 weeks and then slowly transferred everything over.

[Sancho]

Add sand, water, and move everything into the new tank from the 5. Make sure the temp is the same in both tanks before you add the fish. You can reuse the sand from the 5 if you do try and syphin as much detritus out of the sand. Personally I don't transfer sand.

[JavaJacketOC]

If you're adding any new rock or sand with the move, you'll need to cycle all that first or separately. Once it's all cycled you can move it into the new tank.

[olemanwinter]

I've done this a lot. Lots of moving everything but the glass back and forth.

 

As long as you don't immediately increase your stocking and new bio-load, you can do the entire move immediately.

 

Consider the following logically:

You already have enough live rock, live sand, filter media, etc...to sustain your current system.

If you simply place all that in a larger body of water, that's not going to hurt anything or reduce it's effectiveness whatsoever.

 

Follow the following steps:

 

1) CLEAN the new tank thoroughly!

 

2) Get base-rock, totally dry and clean it well. If there is nothing on it alive, there is nothing that can die. It cannot therefore cause a cycle.

 

3) Get non-live reef sand. Clean it well. Same thing as above.

 

Cycles are caused by the decomposition of matter in the tank IN EXCESS of the bacteria that can consume/process those nutrients. Therefore, logically, if you introduce no additional bio-load over your current setup and maintain the same bacteria you currently have, you will not have a cycle.

 

4) Add 15 gallons of water to the tank and bring it to proper PH and temperature.

 

5) Add all existing liverock, livesand, filter media, tank water and livestock.

 

6) ENJOY

 

7) Add additional livestock slowly over time with the understanding that you have a 5gal bioload and a 5 gal biological filtration capacity in a 20gal tank until it expands.

 

I've done this so many times I can't count.

 

I've taken a 20gal and used it to start a 75g. Broke that 75 gallon down into a BC14 and different 20g, etc. etc.

 

Bacteria don't know if it's a new tank or not