AdamK1
Community Member
In a few weeks I'm going to be stripping down my aquareef 326, to upgrade to a 6x2.5ft custom. Very excited for the new tank, but genuinely worried about the change over.
The new tank is well over double the volume of the old one. The process of the change over is truly daunting. My tank is only 6 months old, but I've some good corals, including some across which are encrusting and growing well. I've pretty well nailed it with this system, and ideally id like the change over to not kill everything I have already, and hopefully pick up where this one left off. Wishful thinking I know.
The existing tank is where the new one will be, so running the 2 tanks for a few months isn't an option. I will be adding more rock to the new one, and would like to take some time to scape the new tank a little better than my current one. I'm going to drill some rock and use some acrilic rod to get the scape I want. Course all my current rock is pretty well established, and filtering my current tank, so I want to keep it that way.
I really don't know the best way to go about this. Instinct says pack it all into tubs and bags the evening before the new tank arrives, half fill the tank with new water, then add my existing water, livestock, rock etc and a bottle of bacteria, get it all running ASAP and hope for the best. Logic says that as there's no increase in bioload and nothing removed, that another cycle is unlikely, but is that realistic? Seems like in real terms here all I'm doing is adding a bunch more water and rock. My current rock may be out of water for half an hour or so while I work fast to scape it. How much damage will this do?
Do I have any other options? Is this a stupid idea, and should I try and house my livestock somewhere else, smaller tank maybe, and set the new one up as a brand new tank, cycle, then start adding stuff?
The new tank is well over double the volume of the old one. The process of the change over is truly daunting. My tank is only 6 months old, but I've some good corals, including some across which are encrusting and growing well. I've pretty well nailed it with this system, and ideally id like the change over to not kill everything I have already, and hopefully pick up where this one left off. Wishful thinking I know.
The existing tank is where the new one will be, so running the 2 tanks for a few months isn't an option. I will be adding more rock to the new one, and would like to take some time to scape the new tank a little better than my current one. I'm going to drill some rock and use some acrilic rod to get the scape I want. Course all my current rock is pretty well established, and filtering my current tank, so I want to keep it that way.
I really don't know the best way to go about this. Instinct says pack it all into tubs and bags the evening before the new tank arrives, half fill the tank with new water, then add my existing water, livestock, rock etc and a bottle of bacteria, get it all running ASAP and hope for the best. Logic says that as there's no increase in bioload and nothing removed, that another cycle is unlikely, but is that realistic? Seems like in real terms here all I'm doing is adding a bunch more water and rock. My current rock may be out of water for half an hour or so while I work fast to scape it. How much damage will this do?
Do I have any other options? Is this a stupid idea, and should I try and house my livestock somewhere else, smaller tank maybe, and set the new one up as a brand new tank, cycle, then start adding stuff?
