Upgrading from a 55g to a 90g ~ what about the sand?

[linda lee]

I'd like to buy brand-spanking new sand for my 90g. How many pounds should I get for a 90g?

I'd like to put a good amount of my existing sand into my 'fuge. The fuge champer of my sump is about 10g's. How many inches of sand in the fuge?

Do I use the existing water in my 55g? Or a portion of the existing water and freshly mixed salt/RO water? What ratio?

At what point do I put my existing LR into the 90g? (I've had this LR since July)

At what point can I put my existing livestock into the 90G? Will I have a cycle?

I do not want to seed the new sand with my old sand since it will be a different kind of sand. Is this okay? Won't some of that *life* in my existing sand migrate from the fuge into the display?

 

[liverock27]

I'm tagging along because I am about to go from 14g to 29g and have the same questions.

 

[kevinbeth]

I swapped over from a 75 to 90 recently, i used most of my old tank water and 1/2 the sand. I didn't notice much of a cycle becuase it was already established.I think using the old water helped keep everything simple and i didn't even loose a snail.

 

[ronnieblaze]

ill be going to a 75 here soon from a 55, im planing on using all the water and sand i can get out from my old setup, just to keep things easyer

 

[liverock27]

Like Linda I want to use new sand in my DT and use the old sand in my refug. Should this be a problem? I am also going to add some rock, but this should be coming from another existing tank so I am not too worried about a cycle from it.

 

[linda lee]

And which comes first, the chicken or the egg?

Do you put your LR in and then the sand around it? (So as not to trap/smother the sand.)

Or do you put your sand in and arrange the LR on top of it? (So as not to have the rock directly against the glass.)

Currently, I have eggcrate on the bottom of my tank with the rock resting on it and the sand filled in around it, but I'd really like to get some sandsifters (starfish, etc.). I wonder about the eggcrate hindering their existence. I've also consididered drilling the LR and inserting acrylic dowels, etc., but I have so much stuff growing on my LR and would really like to have it exposed to the air as little as possible.

 

[tnyga]

Linda..I cant tell if I was right or worng but here I go with mine..

24 to 54

Used all water and substarte from 24, also substrate form another tank and about 20 gallons of their water.

So all substrate was seeded..25-30 gallons of water was from seeded tank, 1/2 the rock was from my tank and and the other half cured from Tims.

Everything was done in the same day and ALL corals, fish and inverts were transferred within hours. I lost nothing...

35 to 90

100 lbs of Black substrate was Natures Ocean Live argonite. 100 lbs of rock came from Sals another 30 coralined from previous tank, 35 gallons of water was from previuos tank. Rest of the water was RO using Coralife Salt.

Corals (yellow polyps, some zoas) and inverts were placed in tank the next morning along with my wheeler goby, pistol and clowns.

I had zero spikes, no cycle at all...

I dont avocate any of this its just me lol....BTW I put my rock in after my sand was put in...right or wrong I have no idea

 

[linda lee]

tnyga;156159 wrote: BTW I put my rock in after my sand was put in...right or wrong I have no idea

I think if it's new sand and there are no live critters in it, it might be okay to put rock on it. There'd be nothing to kill and create die-off in the sand from the rock smothering it.

 

[FutureInterest]

Instead of putting acrylic dowels in the rock itself you could make an acrylic lift. Mine is just a few bars of acrylic that go the length of the tank. I then drilled some holes in it and put some acyrlic pegs in. I placed the rock, changed some of the pegs for longer ones and removed all the ones that I didn't need. Instead of using acrylic bars as the base you could also use plastic cutting boards.

I don't have a lot of experience moving from tank to tank like Russ and kevinbeth here. It worked for them so it should work for you. I would only recommend that you try and keep your rock submerged if you can as the primary cause of ammonia spikes is sponge die off due to air exposure. Some tanks have less sponge in the rockwork than others. So if you don't have a lot of sponge then you don't have to worry about this too much and changing tanks should be a breeze.

 

[calireefer]

Drill your rock. You will be able to come up with a much more interesting aquascape than if you just stack it. The corals will be fine out of the water for an hour or two (like low tide) just keep them damp with a spray bottle and wet towels. Also try and keep most of your rock off the sand bed for better flow and less detritus accumulation. You'll see what I mean when you move your old rock.

 

[linda lee]

Thanks everyone for the feedback!!

Another question about new sand:

Is bagged *live sand* really live? I've read somewhere that just because it's damp doesn't mean it's live.

I've found some sand that I like (Seachem) and it's dry and not marked as *live*. Is that a problem?

 

[tnyga]

Linda Lee;156255 wrote: Thanks everyone for the feedback!!

Another question about new sand:

Is bagged *live sand* really live? I've read somewhere that just because it's damp doesn't mean it's live.

I've found some sand that I like (Seachem) and it's dry and not marked as *live*. Is that a problem?

Ive heard different stories...I believe that Natures Ocean is for sure...Not sure about others

 

[olds350racer]

Linda,
For what it's worth...
I offically started up my new system (~100 gallon system volume) about 3 weeks ago. I started it with new sand, new water, and about 30-40 lbs of WELL cured rock. I have slowly been adding a little more rock at a time for the last week or so. I have not seen any sign of a cycle. I will be adding my current sand to the sump once all the rock has been moved. This isn't a suggestion... just my experience. Good luck! Also, I made small homemade LR peices about 2 years ago to bury in the sand which provides support to keep my "real" LR off the sand bed. The pieces are a basic cone shape. This puts a flat base on the bottom of the tank and keeps more of the LR exposed.

 

[linda lee]

olds350racer;156382 wrote: Also, I made small homemade LR peices about 2 years ago to bury in the sand which provides support to keep my "real" LR off the sand bed. The pieces are a basic cone shape. This puts a flat base on the bottom of the tank and keeps more of the LR exposed.

I have some of that from another member's tank. Homemade rock. I'll bet that's what this is, but I never figured it out. Looks like rock made in the shape of *falsies* you'd put into a bra.