Is it possible to transfer one tank to another?

[spankey]

I have a 15 gallon tall nano tank and I also have a 20 gallon high. The 15 gallon is established and running. The 20 has NO water what so ever in it? Nothing at all..
I decided that I can get more light depth in the 20 vs the 15 gallons 18" height... Plus another 5 gallons to work with?
My question is this? How can I move the 15 gallon tank with LR, 2 damsels and hermits and such to the 20? What I mean is can I safely do this? Meaning biologically???? Is it possible? Or do I have to cycle the tank all over again?
Anyone help me out with this decision???
Has anyone ever transfered from one tank to another? Went to a larger tank? Dangers???
I have a sand bed and such??? I would move everything over to the 20, LR, Coral, Filter and powerheads and sand? Will this be enough biologically to safely do this, or should I do it slowly?
Tips?
Thanks for your HELP!!!
Spankey

 

[arkey.d]

Yes you can move everything over to your bigger tank. You'll want to do it as fast as you can. You may want to elicit the help of friends when you do it
Mix the extra 5 gallons of saltwater a day ahead before you do the move that way you can top off the tank after it's setup.

 

[scubadoo]

I recently moved most of the contents in my 55 to a 110. I never did see a spike. I only transferred some of the water 5-10 gallons , fish and about 100 pounds of live rock. I decided not to move the CC substrate in the 55 and went with aragonite. You need to keep the bacteria alive in your sand and on your rocks. I acclimated my fish for about 3-4 hours. All are doing well. I do not have inverts .
The new tank was set-up for two weeks with nothing in it but the aragonite. I moved my rocks first along with about 5-10 gallons of water as I did not top off the tank for a few days. I checked the ph/temp. I then transfereed my rock...then acclimated the fish. No problems. All water parameters are normal/acceptable..ph 8.0 nitrites 0, nitrites 0, etc.

 

[unleashed]

I recently moved to a new house luckily in the same town I had to move my entire tank peice by peice to anyone thinking of moving your tank without a huge water change and loss of stock this did the trick.I drained the tank water into a large cooler 50 gal put all my fish inside of this.purchase a five 5 gal buckets from a local hardware store for the live rocks to be moved safely.I purchased a battery opperated airpump used for live well on a fishing boat( btw works great for those power outages).picked it up at corbellas sporting good store for a mere 25 bucks.works on AA batteries all fish survived the move .

 

[spankey]

Thanks guys for your help on this issue.....
I did the move and all is and seems well.. I already had 5 gallons or RO salt mixed stored.. So that was fine.. All I did was add the water from the old tank to the new one and filters and such.. Then topped it off with the stored salt water.. It looks so much better... And my lights seem brighter already with the reduction of the 5 inches the 15 tall added... Lookes awesome.. Plus now I hvae much more room to scape... Before the 15 was only 13"x 13" square.. Not much room to scape...
This tank has much more area...another aquare foot of floor space to be exact... So all is going good and when I can, I will post before pictures and after...
Thanks again..
Spankey

 

[6stokes]

Just curious, how did you move the sand without clouding the water?

 

[penny ish]

so it is possible to move everything including live sand/rock and water to a new bigger tank without having the new tank cycled????????

 

[spankey]

The sand was already filtered.. What I do is when I buy sand, I put it in a pillowcase and run a hose thru it to get all the sand dust out...
Then when the water finally runs clear, I add it to the tank...It usually depends on how much you put in the pillow case, but I only add about two pounds at a time and rinse it... Then place it in the tank.. This mind you is for NEW bought NON LIVE sand... So with that in mind.... Thats how I can move sand without clouding the other tank...
Hope that helped???
Spankey

 

[6stokes]

Yes of course with a couple of caviots:
1. Nothing died or no die off on live rock.
2. You don't increase your bio-load too fast in the bigger tank. Like by adding several more new fish.

 

[6stokes]

Yep, that explains it. I have a live sand bed of argonite though. It'll no doubt cause a dust storm if I tried to move it.

 

[spankey]

Yeah as 6 explained...I only really wanted a wider tank and not the taller one.. More room to scape... I only intended on ever having just 3 maybee 4 small fish....in the 20 gallon that is..
I only have the two yellow tailed damsels right now and thats all that I intend on having for at least a month... I might get a royal garama. But that is not for at least a month...
I really just want some more room for more coral and live rock...
So yeah.. As 6 stated, just don't want to raise your bio load...Thats a huge key in this.. As I read on other forums after posting this question...
Spankey:joy:

 

[penny ish]

is it possible to move all the live stock in to buckets, then place the live sand in the new tank and wait a few minutes for the dust strom the settle then add everything else to the bigger tank?

 

[penny ish]

added to my above post.... is it possbile to do all that without the new tank cycled???

 

[unleashed]

yep it is.if your changing you filtering system wait a few days you dont wan to remove all the bacteria from the tank at the same time as the switch thus its pre cycled but if your goinf to busket you stock make sure you have adequit however ya spell it lol oxygen