I no this is probably going to be a stupid question, but I'm still new to the body. But I have an established reef take 40 gallons. And I want to swap over to an 80 with a 30 sump. Can I cycle the new one with my existing live rock and sand, and will it still take 6 to 8 weeks to cycle
New reef tank
- Thread starter Tonyglover
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Hey. Welcome!
So moving an established tank if done the right way I believe can be done so you don't experience any cycle. @godawgs24 Ben recently moved his tank from one house to another and could prolly chime in as I don't think he experienced any cycle and has a thriving tank.
So moving an established tank if done the right way I believe can be done so you don't experience any cycle. @godawgs24 Ben recently moved his tank from one house to another and could prolly chime in as I don't think he experienced any cycle and has a thriving tank.
Welcome to the group, and no question is stupid as we all have tp start from somewhere. You can use the live rock to help cycle it but most people on here say not to reuse sand or at least rinse it if you do. If you use the rock and as much of your water from existing tank as possible you should be fine, but some more experienced guys should chime in soon. Good luck.
Hey Welcome to ARC. I am in the exact same process. I used some live rock and new live sand in my new system. Its been about a week and a half and my Ammonia is almost to 0. So the cycle time is kind of still there. Look at getting some bacteria in a bottle like Fritz Turbo Start 900. That can help with establishing the bacteria. I havent had the chance to get any because I have a budget each month that i stick to and im out of money. lol. I feel like when I move over the rocks from my 40g everything will be great.
Blue ocean aquatics moved mine. Chris is a great guy and constantly reassured me through the process. I had over 200 different species of coral in my tank and didn’t lose a single one! In fact my tank has taken off since the move.
You sure can. Think of the bacteria and bioload as opposing sides on a balance scale. The liverock, sand other areas the can house bacteria on one side and the bioload (fish, inverts, etc) on the other side. In a well balanced and established system there is, well, balance. Both side of the scale are even; living things produce waste and the bacteria process it all through the nitrogen cycle. Sounds easy, right? Well, for the most part this is how it should work but there are always small issues that come up.
One thing I always do when planning a tank upgrade is add a few bags of biomedia (Matrix, bioballs) to my tank or sump a few weeks before the change over to make sure that I have all of the nitrifying bacteria I possible can. The biggest area of concern I would have in your situation is changing over the sandbed. That will stir up quite a bit of stuff and might throw a wrench in the process. I would start to vacuum the sandbed a few weeks before to get some of the crap out of it before you change things over. Now that I think about it, if I were you, I'd consider replacing the sand and using the old sand to "Seed" the new sandbed. New sand would throw off the bioload/bacteria balance of course but it might not be as risky as trying to move a whole sandbed.
Has anyone else had issues moving an entire sandbed during a tank upgrade? I've always used the "old" sand as seed and never had the experience of transferring over much.
One thing I always do when planning a tank upgrade is add a few bags of biomedia (Matrix, bioballs) to my tank or sump a few weeks before the change over to make sure that I have all of the nitrifying bacteria I possible can. The biggest area of concern I would have in your situation is changing over the sandbed. That will stir up quite a bit of stuff and might throw a wrench in the process. I would start to vacuum the sandbed a few weeks before to get some of the crap out of it before you change things over. Now that I think about it, if I were you, I'd consider replacing the sand and using the old sand to "Seed" the new sandbed. New sand would throw off the bioload/bacteria balance of course but it might not be as risky as trying to move a whole sandbed.
Has anyone else had issues moving an entire sandbed during a tank upgrade? I've always used the "old" sand as seed and never had the experience of transferring over much.
I ditched the sand in my move. Have never been happier! Even have wrasses that sleep in sand and they are fine. Multiple sand sifting snails too doing great, big fighting conchs!
Thanks everyone. Lots of good info
