tank change help????

[djessem]

I have a 12 week old established reef in a 55 gal tank. I only have one leather mushroom, sevarl colony polyp clusters and a kenya tree as of now. I also have a condy, two brittle stars and a banded coral shrimp, one clown, and sevaral damsels. I have approximately 50-60 lbs of LR in tha tank now. I have added about 30 gallons of new water to the tank and adjusted the salt content appropriately. I have installed a heater to get the water to the same temop as the 55 . I planned on using the water in the 55 to add to the 30 gallons of new water to get the 90 gallon tank up to snuff. Does anyone have a timetable for letting the 30 gallons sit before i add the contents of the 55 to the new tank and is there any precautions i need to observe.

 

[djessem]

I need to add some info to my problem.......Im setting up a new 90 and wanting to move the 55 inhabitants, coral, rock and all, to it . I currently have about 30 gallons in the 90 mixed with salt and added 3 bags of new indopacific black sand. Im wanting to add the sand from the 55 to it, along with all the contents. .
Heres the real question........Do i need to wait for the cycle period or is this the same as a over 50% water change and as a result, able to add after the 55's contents after only three days of water in the 90 sitting?

 

[lesleybird]

Hi, If you add all the old rock and old sand from the 55 with the same bioload (inhabitants) of the 55 gallon to the 90 gallon you should be ok. The amount of benificial bacteria in relationship to the bioload will be about the same so you should not have much in the way of a cycle. I would not add any new fish for a month or two until the new gravel gets seeded from the old gravel, and the tank surfaces get bacteria growing, and maybe a new filter gets bacteria growing. I would use the old filter along with the new for a month or so, or at least use any sponges from the old one if any. Also, if you add any new live rock make sure that you add it slowly and that it is cured before adding it to the tank as any live rock die off can cause amonia spikes. When the tank contents are newly moved over to the larger one I would moniter the water often for the first month or so and if it starts to go through a mini cycle do a partial water change. You can also buy a bottle of benificial bacteria to add to the tank to help add to the benificial bacteria count to seed the new gravel/sand. They are sold under different names. Make sure you follow the directions and get one made for salt water tanks.
Good luck, Lesley

 

[djessem]

Thats what i though the case would be but i did want to get some perspectives from others that may have done this before. I plan on mixing the old into tyhe new sand as a mixture rather than a layer of old live sand over top of the new layers. Do you think this is ok to do that way with the sand - mix it up into the newer sand I just added to the new tank?