going to switch from a 20 gallon to either 55 or 120 need help

[hart.thomas]

hi i know i have another thread going but that is totally different. I am wanting to switch tanks im going to either get my aunts 55 gallon tank or buy a 120 gallon from craigslist. what would i need to do to transfer what i have in my tank now to the new tank?

i have a clown fish
red thorny starfish
coral beauty
coral banded shrimp
a tenticle anemone thing
and some blue legged hermit crabs

i plan on getting coral either now or when i switch tanks. i just dont want all my livestock to die when switching tanks

 

[little_fish]

You have two options for the rock
1. Move all of your existing rock over and add dry rock to get up to the correct amount (my favorite place to buy dry rock is marcorocks.com)
2. Precycle live and dry rock, then move over the live rock you have now. Never add live rock to a tank that is already set up unless you have recured it. The exception to this is if you buy the rock from a local place and there is almost no exposure time. This is the more expensive option.

For the sand, you should either buy new sand and toss the old, or clean the old sand. Sand traps all sorts of nasty stuff and you dont want to stir that up when you move. To clean the sand put it in a bucket and run water in to the bucket and stir the sand until the water comes off clear. Do save a few cups of the unrinsed sand to seed the new sandbed. That will keep some of the good stuff while minimizing the icky thing.