Help upgrading from 40g-130g

[mel11422]

Hello Everyone & Happy New Year.
I am in the process of upgrading my tank from a 40g to 130g. Currently its a FOWLR tank, but since im going bigger i am going to introduce some corals.( After researching what i can put in it, with the fish i currently have)
What is the best way to get my 130 going with out it taking a couple of months to cycle and not stressing my fish. ( Yellow Tang, Pajama cardinals, Clowns, Blue Green Chromis, turbo snails)
How have you done tank upgrades? What worked and what didnt?
Thanks for your feedback!
Mel

 

[snakeblitz33]

Get a nice large food grade plastic tote and buy your new live rock. Fill the tote up with live rock, saltwater, and a powerhead. If you have a spare light or two, clip it to the tote. Also keep a heater in the tote - especially this time of year. Going ahead and purchasing your rock and having it cycle while you are in the process of setting up your new tank is a definite plus.
Another way is to buy "cured" base rock - or cure it yourself in some freshwater with some bleach in it - you can read a method of how to do this if you do a simple search. If you drain the tank that you have and put your rock and fish in a tote with a heater and powerhead and then put the new tank in place and start out with all new sand and some base rock. Then fill it up half way and add your old live rock from your old tank. Then fill it up the rest of the way as much as you can with your old tank water. It's kind of like doing a 150% water change - and there's nothing wrong with that - as long as salinity, temp and pH match.
Another way is to find a buddy that is able to house your fish temporarily so that you can make the move.
Personally - and I wouldn't recommend this for everyone, but if you do use your base rock and your old live rock without adding any new live rock to the tank you can potentially throw in your fish in the new tank - as long as the temp and salinity is approximately the same.
Then again, I don't know a whole lot about the hobby anyways.

 

[mel11422]

Thank you!
You pretty much said what i had in mind. I bought the totes and was going to put new live rock in them along with 3/4 fresh water and then during my water changes add it to the totes. I was thinking of filling the new tank about 1/2-3/4 of the way with fresh water and add the water from my old tank to fill the rest of the way, adding live sand and maybe transfering half of my live rock into the new tank. This way the fish are going back into the same water . Im in no rush so i can have both tanks going at the same time.
I was also debating on rotating 1/2 the live rock to the new tank, and thenwhen i buy the new live rock to the old tank until im ready to do the final swap out.
I have another question regarding reinforcing my floor. I have a 3 year old house on a concrete foundation. The tank is going on an exterior wall in my living room. I bought 2x6's to build a support in the basement under the area where my tank is going to be. Any recomendations or other ways to reinforce it?
Again thanks for your help!!