how to switch everything to a 125 gallon from my 75gallon....?

[beth]

Starting again with new sand is certainly not a bad idea, but the existing sand (if a 1" bed) will help seed the new tank. You can't immediately add everything back in anyway. If most of your "new" sand is also live sand, then use that. If you get ammonia, which you can get with the old sand or with all new sand, then, yes, that will mean a cycle is happening. Lots less likely with LS to happen, or, if it does, it will be min.

 

[jussery17]

Gotcha....going with new sand and maybe 2 cups of old sand is def going to restart the cycle right? Or no?

 

[jussery17]

And how long are the fish going to have to stay in rubbermaids or wherever I put them if there is a cycle going on? And will it be a month long cycle like the beginning??

 

[jussery17]

And live sand will make the new tank water cloudy for days too right? I'm thinking about just getting the 125 and getting new LS and a few cups of old sand and I have 2 big panty hoses full of substrate from a well established tank that I've had in my filter ever since I cycled from the beginning so I may drop that in the new tank as well...and just start from scratch and cycle this 125 and do it right just like this 75 gallon

 

[jussery17]

But I dunno, the wait!! Ugh...what would y'all do?

 

[beth]

Yes, any sand will make the water cloudy but should clear by overnight. Adding just a bit of old sand is good too.

 

[lmforbis]

It shouldn't take more than a couple days maybe a week.
I have always just moved the fish when the tank is set up. I always have Prime on hand for emergencies and I use an ammonia alert badge in situations like this. Once you use Prime you get a false positive with most ammonia tests. This doesn't happen with the ammonia alert badge.

 

[jussery17]

Ok good thing to know about the amm badge..and when I first added a bag of live sand it took over a week for the cloudiness to go away!

 

[silverado61]

Ok good thing to know about the amm badge..and when I first added a bag of live sand it took over a week for the cloudiness to go away!

Did you have power heads, an HOB filter or a sump during this time?

 

[jussery17]

I have a 75 gallon tank with a Tidal 110 HOB filter and it came with a huge bag of matrix...also have Purigen and chemipure elite in there....water is crystal clear and my levels have all been great for several months

 

[jussery17]

But the 125 gallon I'll possibly be getting has a 40 gallon dump and has been running...just gotta find a truck

 

[jussery17]

Sump

 

[jussery17]

And at the time of the cloudiness yes I had 2 hob running

 

[silverado61]

And at the time of the cloudiness yes I had 2 hob running

What about power heads?

 

[jussery17]

I had them but when I added the live sand and it was cloudy it didn't make any sense to run the power heads. Instead I was told my Seachem to add some prime bc it would bind to the LS making it cloudy and make them settle faster....but not getting the 125 gallon bc I cannot find a truck to pick it up.......but one day very soon

 

[silverado61]

Sorry to hear about the 125.

That being said, an HOB running without power heads will only pick up whatever cloudiness that happens to wander in it's direction. Power heads keep the water column constantly moving giving the HOB a much better chance of pulling the cloudiness out of the water column. Cleaning the water faster.

Just a thought.

 

[jussery17]

Well I will run them next time I add LS for sure!