Transfer tank questions

[superclown]

So I'm setting up, transferring to a tank. Most tanks I've set up have always been started from scratch so this is sorta new to me.

Tank I'm moving to is same size and will be using same sump. My sump and other equipment needed cleaning anyway so I drained water from sump into other tank moved heater / powerhead into display of old tank so it still has heat and water aeration.
Soaked all my equipment sump in vinegar overnight.

Plans are to go home finish cleaning equipment plumbing up everything hooking up heater in new display to match temps. Once temp is matched up

I'm going to put fish in a 5g stock tank with a heater drain rest of water pull coral and put with other corals.

Move rock over to new tank rid of pest and hitch hikers, add dead sand. Seed with a spoon full of live sand from other tank put rest of sand in container to find all my sand sifters put in new tank. Transfer fish into new tank then coral.

Am I missing anything or doing this wrong. Will I encounter a cycle?

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[rdnelson]

I would suggest having two heaters. While trying to warm up the new water, the old water with livestock will get cold. When you are done, you will have a backup heater for the new system. Set one at the temp you want to maintain and the other just a hair under it. If the first one fails the second one will kick in.

Try not to keep the live rock out of water for too long and you should have no cycle. If it were me, I would not seed the sand. The live rock should handle everything just fine and the new dead sand will become live soon enough.

 

[superclown]

I'm sorry I worded that wrong I have a new heater already. I tend to replace my heaters often so I keep a few at all times

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[rdnelson]

Sounds like you are set. When I upgraded from a 35 to the 125 (sitting in the place where the old tank, TV and Entertainment stand were sitting) I started at 4:00 PM and finished at 1:00 AM. Long night. If you want to see how I was set up for it you can look at my build thread. Starting at post 172.

 

[superclown]

OK thx I will go take a look at that. I started last night I just didn't want to make all the chaos happen in one night lol. Its def one of those moments I wished more of u guys lived closer

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[jef4y]

You won't likely experience another full cycle. Small one, sure. But not likely anything noticeable. What you will more likely experience is a diatom bloom. No clue why, I just always end up going through one when I transfer.

 

[rdnelson]

I agree with Jeff. The silicates in the sand will cause the bloom until they are consumed and the it will die out.

 

[superclown]

Transfer took me from 11am to 5am next morning granted I did a lot of other things in between and took a few hours between breaks lol. I ended up loosing a tang but I think that is due to extreme temp drop in my tank we were having central heat put into the house last week to beat the cold weather but the electrician ever showed to finish his end of the install. So got a new one coming soon until then will be running a second heater in the tank to keep up with temp drops

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