How to's for moving a aquarium or transferring to a bigger one!!

[Brandon1023]

Originally Posted by Peredhil

Try not to hijack this thread with several questions - if this doesn't answer your question, please start a new thread.


I believe you are asking if you transfer your 16g 'stuff' to the new 36g, will it cycle in a few days? The answer is no. You will go through a new cycle all over again. The use of existing cycled rock, water, etc. may speed the process up for you, but you're still looking at several weeks of cycling before you should add any livestock.

As always, test often to monitor the cycle.

And welcome to 3reef!!!

I'm sorry, but having done this several times myself, I have to completely disagree.

If all you're doing is moving your rocks and sand from one tank to another tank, then it will be fine. Will there be a mini cycle? Yes, for MAYBE a day or 2. Otherwise if all you're adding is new water then you will be gravy. It's when you get into adding new LR when you run into issues. And even then, when I went from my 72gal to my 125gal and added a boatload of new LR, it was established rock from another tank that someone was breaking down. So it still wasn't an issue. I didn't lose a single coral, fish, or invertebrate during that move.

If you want more information I would be happy to go into detail on how I did that.

[Peredhil]

Kucky - as you can see there are varying opinions and experiences on this.

Obviously, I wouldn't completely disagree with myself as my last tank transfer did cause a mini-cycle that lasted several weeks (compared to a fresh setup that has a cycle that lasts 12-14 weeks quite often).

I'll recommend that you start your own thread on the subject so you can get feedback from several members.

But some quick tips - some of which Brandon hit on

• this is not a black and white defined activity. ton of grey area and your experience will be unique.
• if you have access to additional Live Rock (LR) that is 'already established' in someone's tank, that can speed things up further. This isn't a common option. Otherwise, I'd use dead base rock as my additional LR. It will become 'live' eventually and is much cheaper.
• I don't think you'll be able to transfer your sand without causing a large spike in nitrates and possibly phosphates. For me, I'd get new substrate, you'll probably need more anyway. I think no matter what though, you'll stir up something and would expect to see a nitrate spike. Waiting for Nitrates to come back down, IMO, is part of the cycle.
• Quite often it can take two days before a cycle even starts to register. I would recommend patience and testing to be sure.
• You've already got a tank, so you already know it definitely won't hurt to take it slow.

Good luck!

[amajda0519]

Do these same rules apply when going from a large tank to a smaller one? I am downsizing from a 75g to a 29g.

Thanks!

[madlarkin]

Originally Posted by Peredhil

• if you have access to additional Live Rock (LR) that is 'already established' in someone's tank, that can speed things up further. This isn't a common option. Otherwise, I'd use dead base rock as my additional LR. It will become 'live' eventually and is much cheaper

The other unmentioned benefit of using dry base rock is a lack of life to die off causing ammonia spikes and other cycle nastiness.