Live rock from existing system....

[crazyfishgirl]

So, I've got an empty 20 long that im thinking of upgrading my 10 gallon to. I've got plenty of dry rock. Just need sand. Can I just move everything from the 10 to the 20? Or will adding the dry rock create a cycle? I plan on using the sand from my 10 gallon to seed the new sand.

[FlCandy]

You'll have a cycle.

 

It may not be as long but you will still have a cycle.

 

How much dry rock and sand are you adding vs the LR and LS?

[awpong]

The dry rock will not create a cycle. At least, not if it is true dry rock. There should be no organic matter on the rock, so there would be nothing to decompose. However, you will have a mini cycle from the tank transfer. You will have die off on your live rock that is coming from your 10g tank.

 

Additionally, I would not use the 10g tank's sand. Buy new live sand. Don't recycle the old, you're just asking for problems. There's bound to be all sorts of nasty crap and nitrates buried in the old sand.

[crazyfishgirl]

How much die off am I likely to have? I figure the live rock wont be out of water for more than a couple minutes. Im just worried about putting my fish and inverts thru any type of cycle at all.

[FlCandy]

How much die off am I likely to have? I figure the live rock wont be out of water for more than a couple minutes. Im just worried about putting my fish and inverts thru any type of cycle at all.

 

Really can't tell you for sure. Any time the rock is out of water for more than just moving out of the bucket into the tank your going to have die off. If you can I would transport them in water to your house and then put it right into your tank.

 

There still may be a small amount of die off but moving it out of water would increase the die off a lot.

 

I would just get a few clean 5 gallon buckets and move it in water.

 

That's what I plan to do when I get my LR but I will be putting it into a brand new tank that is going to cycle anyways due to the new sand.

[crazyfishgirl]

Really can't tell you for sure. Any time the rock is out of water for more than just moving out of the bucket into the tank your going to have die off. If you can I would transport them in water to your house and then put it right into your tank.

 

There still may be a small amount of die off but moving it out of water would increase the die off a lot.

 

I would just get a few clean 5 gallon buckets and move it in water.

 

That's what I plan to do when I get my LR but I will be putting it into a brand new tank that is going to cycle anyways due to the new sand.

 

Basically this is just a tank transfer..going from my 10 gallon to a 20 gallon that's set up 2 feet away.

[Pjanssen]

i moved stuff from a 5 gallon to a 10 gallon. I used the same live rock, about 1 gallon of the water, and a small amount of the sand, which I thought I added very carefully. I must have done something wrong, because my two fish and a pistol shrimp all died within 24 hours. replies here suggested it was probably the sand. Just my story. Thought I'd pass it on.

[FlCandy]

How much die off am I likely to have? I figure the live rock wont be out of water for more than a couple minutes. Im just worried about putting my fish and inverts thru any type of cycle at all.

 

You stated it would be a few minutes, so figured you could put it in a bucket with water to save you some die off. I wouldn't have the rock out of the tank for more than just moving it directly to the new tank. I would leave it in tank until your ready to put it in the other tank.

 

Misunderstood, but still the longer out of the water the more die off.

[savageajc]

I would not use the same sand, If you really want to re-use it, rinse it out very well. Like awpong said there is going to be a lot of nasty stuff in your old sand. The rocks should be fine and you most likely wont notice a cycle from them. But again, dont just pour the used sand in!

[metrokat]

No expert here but isn't old sand essentially sand with nutrients as much as detritus. For example if you put new sand and a sand sifting star, what would the poor thing eat? You would have to wait for the bioload (fish, organic matter) to start settling in the new sand for any CUC or sand sifters to eat.

 

Unless the old tank had a disease or problem, why assume its nasty? It's seeded, it is home to pods, and bio slime, all of which are a natural part of an enclosed eco system. By all means refresh it by adding some fresh sand but toss out the old sand? Whatever for?

[FlCandy]

No expert here but isn't old sand essentially sand with nutrients as much as detritus. For example if you put new sand and a sand sifting star, what would the poor thing eat? You would have to wait for the bioload (fish, organic matter) to start settling in the new sand for any CUC or sand sifters to eat.

 

Unless the old tank had a disease or problem, why assume its nasty? It's seeded, it is home to pods, and bio slime, all of which are a natural part of an enclosed eco system. By all means refresh it by adding some fresh sand but toss out the old sand? Whatever for?

 

It's all the deep buried waste and ammonia that is trapped down in the sand. It is better to start with new sand as you don't want to stir up all the garbage buried in it.

 

I would use the rock but keep it wet until you are ready for it, you can use a small amount of sand like a cup or two to seed your new sand with but I would always start new with the sand bed.

 

They sell LS with bacteria in it and after your done cycling the CUC eats all the waste on/in the sand from cycle ie. alge and other waste. The cycle begins the ocean life scenario and provides the first foods etc for them. Also Builds your Bio Filter

[HecticDialectics]

Definitely leave the sandbed imo. New sand.

[Julee]

When I switched from my 12 to a 10 I used the old sand and lost all my snails, worms, pods. My Blenny bailed out onto the carpet...when i moved everything back to the 12g. I saved a large cup of my sand, cleaned out the remaining and then added it back into the tank along with the cup of uncleaned sand. I had a mini cycle and everything was fine. If you want to salvage any of the sand I would do it that way.

[crazyfishgirl]

I hadn't planned on using all the sand from the 10 gallon, just a few cup fulls to seed the new sand. Sorry if it sounded like I meant to use it all. So there should be minimal die off on my live rock, but ill probably see a mini cycle. That sound right? I just want to make sure I'm doing this transfer the right way, I don't want to lose any of my fish or inverts, especially my Pom Pom crab. Even though I hardly ever see him I'm quite attached to him.

[HecticDialectics]

I didn't read your whole post before but now that I have, why don't you set up the 20 gallon with the dry rock, add just a small piece of live rock and a cup of sand from the 10g, and leave the 20g to cycle and seed the dry rock for a good two or three weeks first? And THEN make the transfer from the 10g to the 20g.

[FlCandy]

I didn't read your whole post before but now that I have, why don't you set up the 20 gallon with the dry rock, add just a small piece of live rock and a cup of sand from the 10g, and leave the 20g to cycle and seed the dry rock for a good two or three weeks first? And THEN make the transfer from the 10g to the 20g.

 

 

+1 to that.

[crazyfishgirl]

I didn't read your whole post before but now that I have, why don't you set up the 20 gallon with the dry rock, add just a small piece of live rock and a cup of sand from the 10g, and leave the 20g to cycle and seed the dry rock for a good two or three weeks first? And THEN make the transfer from the 10g to the 20g.

 

I think this is what im going to do. This way, I can add a couple more pieces of cured live rock also if I want. Just start the cycle from scratch. I have the room for both tanks to be set up at the same time so why not. Less worry for me at any rate about my fish and inverts if I just transfer them to a fully cycled tank. Thanks for the idea I don't know why it never occured to me to do it like this.

[picoreef78]

I transferred my 6 gallon Fluval Edge to a 34 Gallon RedSea Max. I first mixed the water up in the new tank to same specs as my fluvial edge then over an hour transferred water back and forth at a rate of 1 cup every 5 minutes. I was pretty sure at this the everything was well acclimated to the new water mixture and I just took out and placed in to the the new tank, live rock, sand and critters. I placed a base of some unused dead sand and rinsed dry rock. No cycle what so ever and after the stress of trying to transport the peppermint shrimp and sexy's as well as fish they settled in well into the new tank.

 

I wish I did not use the sand from the old tank as it had bryopsis spores I caught from a LFS coral frag which then grew like made later. No real massive die off that I could tell or peak in N products or PO4.

 

I also did not go crazy and add new live stock for a a few weeks so that the existing live rock could filter the bio-lode and give then new dry rock a chance to get colonized with nitrosomas etc. Then it was a slow addition of fish and corals after that. I also had the pleasure of the protein skimmer that really did not start skimming stuff until 3 months later once I increased the bio-lode.

 

Good luck