Upgrading 50g to 150g

[Ryan-b]

Hey everyone,

I'm currently in the process of getting ready to upgrade my 50g(30g sump) to a 150g(90g sump) I have a couple of questions, I'm hoping some of you will be able to help me with.

First off the new tank is going to be put in the spot of the current one. Any suggestions on how I should go about doing this? I was thinking of getting a couple rubbermaid containers, to house my live rock, livestock, and corals in. That being said how long can I "store" everything in? I have a 100 gpd ro/di unit. So at a minimum it would be guessing 3 days. Plus what ever amount of time it takes my water to come to temp.

Secondly if the above is viable, I will be using new live sand, and completely new water. Will I have a cycle? Should I use all of my old water and add it to the "new" system?

I will drip acclimate all the current residence, to hopefully reduce the stress aswell. Anyways thats all I can think of ATM I'm sure I will have more questions.

Thanks in advance for your input/comments.

Ryan

[Leah]

I did almost the same as you I went from a 72 to 120 and wanted it in the same spot.
I used almost all my old water I had and lots of bins a couple for fish, a couple for corals and a couple for rock. I would make all new water a head of time. I purchased a garbage can on wheels not that the wheels did any good as it was heavy.

I emptied the tank one day and moved the old tank and then set up the new one the next day. The quicker the better. Make extra water too just in case.

[toytech]

Probably better to fill your tank with tap water then let your livestock sit in bins for 3 days , or ask around and see if anyone close can give you some water .

[whatcaneyedo]

I moved the contents of a 50gal into my current 120gal back in 2005. I set up the 120gal using new 'sugar' sand and a little bit of base rock then slowly filled it with used water from the 50gal by doing water changes. Once the 120gal was full enough I jumped everything over except the old sand. The sand that was in the 50gal was very course crushed coral which I didn't want to use anymore.

Anytime you disturb the system you will have a cycle to some degree. I notice it every time I shuffle things around in my own tank. The disruption releases pockets of organic waste which pollute the tank slightly. For me this results in a bit more algae on the glass, an increase in skimmer action and some cyano on the sand.