Setting up Upgrade Tank

Question
Hello, at the moment i have a 24G nano cube and i have just put a deposit down for a 50G aquareef 200. my question is the nano cube has been set up for about 3 years now and when i come to fill up the tank with water can i use my existing liverock and will i have to wait the maturing process again or will it just create a mini cycle in the new set up? The guy at my local fish store said if i use RO water to start off with i can put my rock/corals/fish in after 24 hours. Your thoughts and advice would be much appreciated. Thanks

Answer
Hey Paul, congrats on the upgrade... exciting huh???

if you can put the new tank in a new location, and just move all the stuff over into the new tank, it wont be too bad...

Keep in mind that in 'reality' that all tanks are in a constant state of 'cycling'

Everytime you move something, or add or take out something, your tank's bilogical filtration system has to adjust to maintain the right balance of BIOLOGICAL ORGANISMS to the amount of detritus/waste being produced/accumulated in your tank

if your current system is WELL established/mature, you can probably do a lot to it and still bounce back... Not sure if you remember when you setup your tank and how 'finicky' your tank and you were, and how afraid you were of doing TOP OFF or water changes, (yea, long ago we were nervous about doing something wrong/right)

well, that confidence comes from somewhere.. it comes from the three years of experinece and the surving even with some of the bad habits you probably have, (like we all do)...

this move will not be a problem

What i suggest is to get at least one plastic 'rubbermaid' or other container.. maybe in the 20-30 gallon range.

Get some salt water and have it available.  As much as you can get, or as many jugs as you can handle...

I would also suggest getting at least one 20-30 lb bag of live sand for the new tank.  (I hate using old sand, cause that is where all the detritus and gunk is)

I would place the new sand in the new tank, and use about 5-10 lbs of the old sand.. just scopp out a few cups for now, and get the rest in a bit...


Do a large water change from the old tank, and put that water into the new tank... Add some new water, but leave room for some of your rock.. you can move some of your rock into the new tnak, and if you have corals maybe put the corals and whatever rock they grow on into the rubbermaid container...

you can put a power head in that container if you want depending on how long it will take you


finish moving the rock, and by this time your water level is low in the old tank and youcan catch your fish easier..... move them directly to the new tank...

BTW:  you can rinse the rocks in a bucket of old salt water.. just swish and rinse / repeat... do that 1-2 times then move to the new tank


after you move the fish, you can start putting the rest of the rock and corals, and then top off the tank and check your salinity and let it settle for a couple hours, and do some water tests


AMMONIA/NITRITE/NITRATE/SALINITY


no need to worry about calc/alk and that stuff for now...


if the new tank is going where the old tank is, then you might need more rubbermaids and jsut store your fish and stuff in the rubber maids until you can move the old tank out of the way and then setup the new tank


anyways, it really wont be a big problem.. it helps if you have abuddy there and a umm, something to drink.. hehehehe


good luck and please let me know how things work out for yo

you can post it on my new forum, (actually upgraded last nite)  www.thelittleocean.com


hope to see you there



bill