Help with upgrading

[supra557]

I am new to this site posting wise and I need your help for my buddy... He is finally upgrading his 60 to either a 140 or 180 I forget but what I want to know will this cause a cycle? His tank has been up for a little over a year without a single loss and he does not want to lose any fish here...
Its has to be a 1 day deal switch since the person is waiting for the 60 gallon and I told him I would help him set up the 180 tank all day this weekend. The fish are 2 firefish, yellow watchman, 1 chromi, 1 damsel, 10 crabs, 10 snails.... He has all plumbing ready to go and we are going to try to transfer as much of the water from the sixty into the other tank.
Please only input into it cycling or not and the best way to transfer everything out in one weekend.

 

[mopar9012]

im not an expert but i would say there would probably be a small cycle. also i know if you look in the DIY section they have post on upgrading from a tank that has been set up for a while to another bigger tank. i believe it tells you the best way to care for your living things in your current tank.
P.S. you may have to look some in the DIY section but ive seen post about it before.

 

[supra557]

Thanks for the quick response... Last week I saw a thread about upgrading to a bigger tank and I was trying to look for that thread since it had other links to more info but I can't find that for the life of me. thanks.

 

[timdaddie]

try serching the word upgrade. that might get you some where.

 

[maeistero]

get a lot of saltwater premixed up and heated. it's best if you can switch the living to shallow rubbermaids (like the underbed ones) with the original tankwater, no sand and maybe some small rock frags. keep small powerheads going to keep the water moving in these. turn up the heat in your place if you don't have enough heaters to keep the temperature constant in these tubs.
then fill the new tank with the sand, put a dinner plate in the bottom and fill with the remaining original water onto the plate so as not to stir the sand. then the rocks. at this point wait a couple hours and test. then test your premixed new water. even them out as much as you can and add the new water to the new tank and a little to the specimen tubs. do this as gradually as you can and you'll likely be up all night, so plan on some coffee. usually by morning if you've kept up on it you'll be done and the tubs will be happily emptied into the new tank.
if you can't tell i've done quite a few lately. i now happily have a 125, 135, and 175 with no problems. i just have to figure out my 55's and 75? :notsure:
edit: this way on a 55 -> a 135 i had about 14hrs of small spike, but nothing that would kill the fish. just make sure that they aren't cold/hot in the car, warm it up or run the ac for awhile with a temp gauge before you take them for a ride. it also depends on whether he has a deep sand bed right now or a regular one. deep sand beds hold a lot more bacteria that would cause a longer spike when stirred and spread.
nighty nighty

 

[supra557]

^^^Thanks man, great info... I know we will be there all night but he already said he would BBQ for me and buy some drinks... His sand is actually not that deep maybe 3 inches in some places and 2 in others.
Also are you saying after the fish and everything are out put the original water in first for a couple of hours. Pretty much leaving it almost half way full? Then test and then add and test the premixed water right... Just want to make sure I got it right for when I print this out tonight.
I am going to be getting him more sand tomorrow so I will put that on top of the original sand right?Or at least mixed together? DO you suggest Sand in the bag or the sand out of the LFS tank? Thanks for you input.