Upgrading to a larger tank

Hiker4twenty

Reef enthusiast
I currently have a 14g BC, but it's quite small and I'd like a bit more room. My brother has a spare 29g that he used to keep lizards in. I would like to set that up until I get enough money together for a lager tank.

Anyway, my question is can I just transfer everything over from my 14g and just add more live rock/sand? My current setup has been going for about 5months. Will this cause a new cycle to start?
 
probably so, just cause you'll be stirring up the substrate, but yea, you can move it over,

if you wanna do it really right, you could start the new tank up,(just like if it was just a normal new tank), put in the "additional new rock" that your gonna buy anyway(i'd suggest base rock cause its cheaper), and then just take a cup of sand and a rock or 2 from the BC and "seed" the new tank..., let the new one cycle, and then transfer the remaining stuff over, and then you have the option to tear down the BC if you wanna...

the other thing that i would do, is each time you do a water change, take the "old" water from the bc and put it in the new tank, that'll help seed it as well...

just a thought...
 
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If I "seed" the tank as you say, will the cycle time be shorter or the usual 4-6 weeks? Since there will be no livestock in the new tank during the cycling process do I need to run lights? Also, I've read about people adding an uncooked shrimp to the tank to help it cycle faster. What's that all about?
 
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Well I got the new 29g up and running this past Friday night. It's got 30lbs sand (20lbs dry & 10lbs live). I have another 10lbs from my current tank that I will transfer in. I put in 12lbs LR and about 1-2lbs LR from my current tank to help seed. 200w submersible heater and a 160gph powerhead just to get a little movement, lighting with PC's. A few hitchhikers came on the LR(snails and small white stars. Do you think they'll make it through the cycling?
 
The wheels are spinning in my head with this new tank and got me thinking of possible issues. When I transfer my LR and sand from my current tank will it cause the new tank to go into another cycle because of all the junk in the sand? Or will I have enough bacteria in the newly cycled tank to handle the changes? I was thinking about adding the about 1/2 the LR and sand about a week prior to the actual transfer to reduce the amount of toxins released into the water....good or bad idea?
 
It's unlikely that moving your rock and sand over will start a cycle, but there is the possibility. Usually enough bacteria survives that you won't see anything spike. Adding some of it ahead of time is a great idea, IMO.
 
and if it does cause another cycle, at most i would think that you could call it a "mini" cycle... prolly only last a couple days at most...
 
So it's been 10 days since I started my 29g tank. I checked the levels last night:

amm - 0ppm
rites - 0ppm
rates - 20+ppm

Do you think my tank cycled that fast that I missed the ammomia and nitrites spike? I did use existing LR, about 2g's of water and some sand from my current tank to help seed it. Input please!
 
Yeah, it's done.

But it's not stable yet. Not many bacteria in there. Change 15g of water and confirm nitrate reduction to 10ppm.

Then take a cup of sand out of your other tank. Put it in the new 29g tank and pour it into a little pile on the sand bed. Don't spread it out. Just scoop it out of your existing tank and put it in the 29g tank. Hold it down close to the sand bed and pour it in making as little disturbance as possible. Pour the live sand into a pile and leave it alone.

Okay, now take a few more cups out of the existing tank. Pour a few more piles of live sand into different spots in the 29g tank. DO NOT spread it out. Pour it in a pile and leave it. DO NOT make a mess of things when you do it. Move slow and don't spill or cause a stir in the tank.

Give it a couple weeks. Toss 1/4 cube of frozen food in there. Give it a few more weeks. Bacteria need food to grow. Just like anything else. And they don't grow overnight. It takes them time to grow out and spread over all the sand and rocks. So feed them a little bit every week or two. Seed a few cups of sand from the existing tank every couple weeks. It isn't going to hurt the existing tank if you scoop out sand every couple weeks. It's isn't going to hurt the new tank to seed it with some more live sand every couple weeks.

You could probably transfer all your stuff over now. I did it when I moved all my frags from my 10g over to the new 29g bare bottom. They are all alive. But the tank is a wreck. I had it cycled and then I got sick and left it alone for 3 or 4 days. It sucked the sump dry and died when the water quit moving. Had to fill it up and cycle it again. Took longer the 2nd time. Was stinky and dead. Finally got it cycled the 2nd time and did 3 or 4 10g water changes before it smelled like fresh saltwater again. Dropped my corals in and it went to hell. :frustrat:

I don't have the option of going back now. I KNEW I was rushing it and I KNEW I was going to have problems. But I was in a hurry. Now I wish I had just waited. Can't sell any frags out of a tank that looks like a sewer pit.

You have the option of taking it slow or moving forward. :mrgreen:
 
RC...I'm definitely going to take it slow and do it right. I sort of rushed my current tank because I didn't know much about SW. I will add some more sand tonight and maybe another chunk of LR. I was even thinking about taking out some of the bioballs from my BC and letting them float in the water to add some bacteria. Good or bad idea?
 
Update on the new tank. On Friday I transfered everything over to the new tank. I took all the LR and livestock from the BC14 and it worked out great. It didn't even cause any spike in my params. I took a ton of pics and will start a tank thread tomorrow. Thanks to all for you help!
 
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