Going Bigger!! Need advice please

[chuckawd]

Hello again, I'm bumping up a few gallons from my current 1.5month old 20 gallon to a 30 gallon. I have about 20lbs of live rock and a 2" sand bed. I also have 2 ocellaris clowns and a damsel that I will be donating to the LFS. As far as corals are concerned, I have 5 small shrooms, 3 frags of GSP, one small branching hammer, some Zoas, and a few button polyps. I also have several snails, 3 hermits, an emerald, and a tiny brittle star that came as a hitchhiker. I will be switching over to the 30 gallon asap. Any tips anyone can give me to make this easier? I'm mostly concerned with getting "new tank syndrome" as I will be reusing as much of the water from my 20gallon as possible as well as adding the obvious 10 gallons or fresh saltwater. Now, I figure it's like doing a water change so if I make up the 10 additional gallons just like I'm about to do a water change I should be ok correct? I will also be reusing my current sand and LR and I plan on doing a 3" DSB using CaribSea aragonite.

 

[sly]

I would try to keep as much water and substrate as possible. You also need to temperature acclimate your livestock and I would also recommend lowering the lighting some for a few days. Reduce the lighting period to both prevent shock to the fish and to help the corals photo-acclimate. Then gradually increase the lighting until you are back up to normal.

 

[al mc]

There is very little 'good bacteria' in the water column so saving the water, while helpful, is not essential. IMHO, the rock is the most important thing to transfer over along with any filter medium. Personally, if I could afford it, I would consider going with all new 'live' sand. Sometimes the old sand bed is actually harboring consideable debris, and when disturbed, will release debris/nitrates. If you use the existing sand i would rinse it in new saltwater before moving it into the new tank. I just find it easier to buy new live sand and toss the old.