Questions about upgrading system

[mdumet]

Hey guys,

I've had a 20g for almost two years and have been wanting to upgrade to a bigger tank for a while now. we just bought our first home and since we will be moving to a permanent place, it's time to upgrade the tank!
I bought a 65g (I know for some of you that's not even a sump) but that's what I can afford at the moment, money and space wise!
So right now we are in the painting and fixing everything before the move by the end of the month. And so This weekend I also wanted to go ahead and setup the tank and hopefully the sump at the new place and leave it running until the move. But I had a few questions.

Q: do I need to use new water and cycle the tank or can I use the water from the current system and just add more water?

Q: if I do have to cycle, what's your take on cycling acceleration products?is there anything else to do if I use one of those products?

Q: can I use the sand I have in the current system and just add more for the new tank or is it better to start fresh?

Q: i want to make sure no pests go in my new tank, I read somewhere that one can get rid of bristle worms and flatworms by dipping the rocks in fresh RO water before putting them in the tank. Has anyone heard/tried this before, if so, how effective? Can I do that with a rock that has corals attached to it?

Q: when started my first tank i added a couple of fish after cycling then had to wait a while to add more because of the bioload. What can I do now since I will be adding all my corals and 5 fish at once, are there any risks?

I know I have too many questions, but it took me a while to have the tank the way it is now and I don't want to kill anything when I move to the new tank.
Any insight is welcomed and greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Mauricio

 

[rdnelson]

I would wait until all painting is done before setting up the new tank. The fumes could cause problems. You can use the old water and add to it. I would not use the old sand unless I rinsed it several times. It is full of nasty stuff that will be released into the water the minute you stir it up. It would be better to start with new dead sand in my opinion. You can add a cup of the old sand to the new to seed it.

If you transfer the live rock you have now with the fish you have now you should not see a cycle because that rock has the bacteria to support the bio load you currently have. You will loose some in the sand but should be ok. If you plan on more bio load down the road you will need some additional rock. If you use new live rock you may have some die off in the transfer so I would let the system run for a week with no livestock. But I the rock you add is dead rock you should be good to go immediately. Just wait a month before adding new livestock so the dead rock becomes live.

Last, congrats on the new house.



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[sinbad]

I agree with RippedTide on everything except that I used the sand from my smaller tank. It should be established with an ecosystem and since it was in your tank you know it is safe. There are several older posts here about upgrades - I have learned a ton from here.

With patience (hard when you are excited) your move should go well. I have done 2 upgrades with no loss...

And also, congrats on the house and move.

 

[mdumet]

Thanks for the info guys! And like you said, it's hard to be patient when there's so much excitement going on. Will keep you updated on how it goes...

 

[rdnelson]

sinbad;880139 wrote: I agree with RippedTide on everything except that I used the sand from my smaller tank. It should be established with an ecosystem and since it was in your tank you know it is safe. There are several older posts here about upgrades - I have learned a ton from here.

With patience (hard when you are excited) your move should go well. I have done 2 upgrades with no loss...

And also, congrats on the house and move.

I am going to smack you if you confuse me with Dylan again. hehehehehehe :lol2:

 

[bluespot]

I pretty much agree with RippedTide (I am too far away for you to easily smack, Rich lol). Use new dry sand instead of spending extra money on "live" sand in a bag. It is just pretty much dead sand that they add a dormant bacterial culture too. If you use a couple cups of your old sand it will quickly spread throughout the new sand.

I stay clear of the bacteria in a bottle type products. They may have some merit for a brand new tank with everything new/dead in it to accelerate a cycle or when adding way too much livestock at a time. Again, the bacteria are in a dormant state. They can't live long in a bottle producing tons of waste products otherwise. They must become active, find a food source, and then start reproducing. You already have the active bacteria. They will start reproducing as soon as a food source is present and can thus populate the new substrate much faster.

As far as a fresh water dip is concerned, I would hesitate. The more complex a life form is the more resiliant it will be to death from a quick change in osmotic pressure. Bacteria die very quickly. Pods and other inverts, more slowly. Vertebrates like fish survive well and dipping is often used to kill parasites on them. Sometimes an invertebrate will flee a rock placed in regular water but will stay a lot of times. In essence, you would have just killed all the beneficial bacteria and now your rock is now "dead".

Feed lightly for a few weeks and you will be fine. Good luck with the move and congrats on the house!

 

[cedzaquaddiction]

I agree with Dylan as well. :tongue:

Starting off my tank with new dry sand. Leaning on the existing LR to carry the beneficial bacteria over into the new tank...

 

[rdnelson]

Good lord. I see a trend starting here. One that I am not happy about. LOL

 

[sinbad]

rdnelson99;880155 wrote: I am going to smack you if you confuse me with Dylan again. hehehehehehe :lol2:

My bad, no foul intended to either party. Must not have been awake. Wait a minute, what day is it anyway?

 

[rdnelson]

sinbad;880241 wrote: My bad, no foul intended to either party. Must not have been awake. Wait a minute, what day is it anyway?

LOL No problem. I suspect Dylan would be more upset about it than me. hehehehehehe

 

[giulianom]

rdnelson99;880300 wrote: LOL No problem. I suspect Dylan would be more upset about it than me. hehehehehehe

Dylan, why are you talking about yourself in the third person?



Also, is that mustard on your shirt?

 

[rdnelson]

GiulianoM;880346 wrote: Dylan, why are you talking about yourself in the third person?



Also, is that mustard on your shirt?

No but I got catsup on this years aniversary shirt last night. We will see if it works as well as the mustard dosing.


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[bluespot]

GiulianoM;880346 wrote: Dylan, why are you talking about yourself in the third person?

I am pretty sure they are they same person. Like split personalities or something. One is more serious and the other has a thing for condiments. :yes:

 

[shanepike]

I was going to go with dry sand until everyone chimed in that you had to rinse it really</em> well. As much time as that would take for that much sand, it was worth a little extra to go with live and just dump it in.

 

[mdumet]

Thanks guys for all the advice, it's awesome to count with all your knowledge as a resource, specially Dylan's lol