Upgrading 8 Gallon to 20 Gallon Reef Tank

[MannyB]

Hi fellow reefers,

 

I know there is a lot of information out there but Id appreciate the experts opinion on my specifics.

 

I have the Aquaone 35 litre with some SPS and few LPS , Live rock and sand, neon blue goby , Percula clownfish, Peppermint Shrimp (which has devoured my Aiptasia on live rock yay!) 10 month old setup.

 

I finally got my hands on the IM Fusion Pro 20 with APS stand in the UK. Love it!

 

Now, do I risk doing the transfer (i only plan to maybe add 1 life rock TMC to the existing Live rock and go for it one night. Will I get a cycle with new live Caribsea Sand added and that 1 piece of man made rock ? Do I add the existing water to the new and top off using fresh SW RODI. I see it as a BIG water change right ? Or is it too risky ?

 

Or, have the new tank cycled as new and slowly add from my AquaOne (which I guess I can do having both in the living room and upsetting the Mrs for a while! 🙂

 

Cheers,

Manny

[aclman88]

I would do it in one shot and monitors from there. If you seen any ammonia just dose Prime and do leather water changes. As long as your current rock has minimal air contract it should be fine. When I upgraded one tank and adopted one from a reefer I used new substance both times with established rock and had no issues or cycle  to speak of. 

[seabass]

With man made rock, it's unlikely to contain organics that could cause an ammonia spike.  That said, I still like to build up the biofilter on it by using the fishless cycling guide.  That way it will immediately assist in processing ammonia; also, it will likely aid in the spread of biodiversity onto the new rock.  This can be accomplished with a 5 gallon bucket of saltwater and a powerhead.

 

Once the new rock has an established biofilter, you can transfer everything to the new tank.

• First, remove any water to transfer your rock and livestock (plus any water you may wish to reuse in the new tank).  I like using 5 gallon buckets for this.
• Then remove loose corals and inverts.  A separate bucket for rock is recommended so that you don't crush other livestock.  NOTE: after you have disturbed your existing substrate, you should discard the remaining water.
• After the rock and inverts are out, you should be able to catch your fish, and remove any remaining inverts in the sand.

As for the sand, I like to take a cup of the undisturbed old sand off the top of the sand bed to help seed the new sand.  For your new tank, you can either go with all new sand, or THOROUGHLY rinse the old sand with tap water until it washes clear.  Washing sand is a tedious and time consuming effort, so many people will tell you to discard it (put it is salvageable).  Since you have other work to do during this transfer, you might wish to rinse this the following day.

 

Note, cleaning old sand well enough and adding new uncycled rock are the two main causes of ammonia spikes resulting from tank transfers.

[Joevember]

I did a transfer between a 65g to an IM nuvo 20, and did it in, more or less, one shot. I got biological filtration out of my 65 and added it to the 20g and got the rest of the filtration up too. Then I started taking corals from one tank over to the other. 

I put a few soft corals and hardy corals in first for one night to test if the system had been kickstarted and it all went smoothly for me after that. 

If you have some biological filtration media (the ceramic kind or a subsitute) it should be a pretty quick transfer. It would also be a good idea to cycle any of the new rocks.

[MannyB]

Thanks for the advice. But why do I need to cycle caribsea life rock, I have the arch I want to add to my established live rock. The Caribsea life rock should not cycle right ? I will put dry sand now as I know live sand might cycle so I'll just seed it with a cup of my old sand ?

[seabass]

1 hour ago, MannyB said:

The Caribsea life rock should not cycle right ?

If you mean cause an ammonia spike, then yes, it shouldn't cause a spike.  If you're talking about the nitrogen cycle (biofilter), then it's certainly possible to build up the biofilter on the rock:

http://www.drtimsaquatics.com/resources/fishless-cycling

 

1 hour ago, MannyB said:

I will put dry sand now as I know live sand might cycle so I'll just seed it with a cup of my old sand ?

Either type of of sand should be fine.  And yes, a cup of your old sand will help seed the micro-inverts and other beneficial life.

[MannyB]

Just thinking about the order of doing this in my head.

Get new tank half filled with fresh saltwater and bring to temp. Fine.

 

Now, do I put live rock in new tank then add new live sand if so won't I have to wait till it's not cloudy? This wait time is going to be scary, as I see it the old tank has no live rock now and my fish and shrimps are still in ?

[seabass]

2 hours ago, MannyB said:

so won't I have to wait till it's not cloudy?

I recommend rinsing the sand clear (even if it is live sand).  That should reduce the cloudiness, and wait time.  If the tank does cloud up, you can still continue the transfer (I usually make sure I can at least see the back of the tank).

[Clown79]

17 hours ago, MannyB said:

Just thinking about the order of doing this in my head.

Get new tank half filled with fresh saltwater and bring to temp. Fine.

 

Now, do I put live rock in new tank then add new live sand if so won't I have to wait till it's not cloudy? This wait time is going to be scary, as I see it the old tank has no live rock now and my fish and shrimps are still in ?

I documented my transfer method in my journal.

 

It may help you. Its very detailed.

 

 

Its the first 2-3 pages so no searching or going through it all.

[MannyB]

On 8/6/2020 at 1:29 AM, seabass said:

I recommend rinsing the sand clear (even if it is live sand).  That should reduce the cloudiness, and wait time.  If the tank does cloud up, you can still continue the transfer (I usually make sure I can at least see the back of the tank).

Thanks, won't that kill the beneficial bacteria in the live sand. I've gone for the red sea reef base pink ? So don't put straight in ?

[MannyB]

9 hours ago, Clown79 said:

I documented my transfer method in my journal.

 

It may help you. Its very detailed.

 

 

Its the first 2-3 pages so no searching or going through it all.

Thanks will defo be using this as a guide for my IM 20 Nuvo Pro, appreciate it. So you did rocks then sand then SW, did you adopt the pour into bowl method, it's the clouding I'm worried about, with livestock in a now shallow old tank waiting, as I strip it down and transfer my sump contents into the new IM Nuvo media baskets. They are biohome media all loose, should have put them in a stocking! lol will have to take them out 1 by 1..! This will take a while. So many things to think about!

[seabass]

2 hours ago, MannyB said:

Thanks, won't that kill the beneficial bacteria in the live sand. I've gone for the red sea reef base pink ? So don't put straight in?

IMO, it wouldn't be that big of a loss.  Certainly nothing a bottled culture couldn't replace.  And since you'll be moving your rock, it shouldn't even be missed.

 

Yeah, I'd rinse it before putting it in (even for live sand).  You'd be surprised how cloudy even live sand can make your water.

[Clown79]

6 hours ago, MannyB said:

Thanks will defo be using this as a guide for my IM 20 Nuvo Pro, appreciate it. So you did rocks then sand then SW, did you adopt the pour into bowl method, it's the clouding I'm worried about, with livestock in a now shallow old tank waiting, as I strip it down and transfer my sump contents into the new IM Nuvo media baskets. They are biohome media all loose, should have put them in a stocking! lol will have to take them out 1 by 1..! This will take a while. So many things to think about!

I prewashed my sand a day or 2 before so my tank had only a bit of clouding thst was gone in quick time.