Upgrading tank, Should I transfer my rock and water?

[RockusDukakis33]

I'm upgrading from an old Reefer 170 to new RedSea 425 G2+. Should I transfer the rock running in the tank now? How about the water?

Currently having some issues with a phosphate spike which as lead to algae so I'm worried about transferring algae/current issues into the new tank.

Another option I'm looking at is buying a mix of cured live rock from my LFS and Dry Rock for the new aquascape.

For the water question. I would think moving over 20-30 Gallons of water from my 170 and then adding 90 Gallons of new saltwater would dilute the Pho/Nitrate levels and help the tank cycle quickly.

Thoughts and advice?

 

[Oldreefer44]

I would transfer the rock from your existing tank and otherwise follow the plan you outlined.

 

[steveschuerger]

As above. I’ve done similar with two previous upgrades. Plus adding extra live-rock as each time I added 30 gallons to tank size. I’d avoid dry rock as much as possible.

 

[BigUgliesNY]

I am getting ready in about 2-3 weeks to upgrade from my Red Octopus T90 (46 gal) to a new Red Sea Reefer Max 425 G2+. It is coming with new equipment (skimmer, reef mat, PVC pipes, return pump and powerheads. My question is, can I move my live rock with my corals that are attached to the new tank? I only have a cleaner shrimp, watchman goby and a damsel in the tank right now. All but 1 coral are softies and LPS. 2 anemones and various clean up crew of hermits, nassarius, trochus, and cerith. Also have about two inches of live carib sand that has been in the tank for over 1 year, same as the carib rock. Do I move the water, sand and rock with and without coral? Can I add new live rock with the existing? How do you rinse existing sand without removing BB? I really am stressing about the move but excited about the opportunity, if that makes any sense. Thanks all

 

[Keko21]

Im going to be going from a 90gal Red Sea to a 230gal Waterbox. I plan on starting from scratch. vermetid snails and aiptasia are not welcome in the new tank lol

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I am getting ready in about 2-3 weeks to upgrade from my Red Octopus T90 (46 gal) to a new Red Sea Reefer Max 425 G2+. It is coming with new equipment (skimmer, reef mat, PVC pipes, return pump and powerheads. My question is, can I move my live rock with my corals that are attached to the new tank? I only have a cleaner shrimp, watchman goby and a damsel in the tank right now. All but 1 coral are softies and LPS. 2 anemones and various clean up crew of hermits, nassarius, trochus, and cerith. Also have about two inches of live carib sand that has been in the tank for over 1 year, same as the carib rock. Do I move the water, sand and rock with and without coral? Can I add new live rock with the existing? How do you rinse existing sand without removing BB? I really am stressing about the move but excited about the opportunity, if that makes any sense. Thanks all

I wouldn't use the same sand. Rock is fine to reuse

 

[SaltyWalty]

I am getting ready in about 2-3 weeks to upgrade from my Red Octopus T90 (46 gal) to a new Red Sea Reefer Max 425 G2+. It is coming with new equipment (skimmer, reef mat, PVC pipes, return pump and powerheads. My question is, can I move my live rock with my corals that are attached to the new tank? I only have a cleaner shrimp, watchman goby and a damsel in the tank right now. All but 1 coral are softies and LPS. 2 anemones and various clean up crew of hermits, nassarius, trochus, and cerith. Also have about two inches of live carib sand that has been in the tank for over 1 year, same as the carib rock. Do I move the water, sand and rock with and without coral? Can I add new live rock with the existing? How do you rinse existing sand without removing BB? I really am stressing about the move but excited about the opportunity, if that makes any sense. Thanks all

BRS has shown that a healthy live sand is super beneficial when setting up a tank.
While the old sand is gonna be dirty it houses a ton of healthy bacteria, so if you want to avoid uglies and a total restart it might be worth it to try and gravel vac the sand while it’s still in your existing tank, like when you do a water change and clear out as much detritus as possible then transfer it over, or get new live sand from somewhere like Tampa bay, or KP aquatic.
If you can move the rock without corals on it and let the new tank run dark for a few days (like 3) then move the corals over. Just gives time for everything to settle a little bit before corals are introduced but this would require both tanks to be running and if that not a possibility or too much of a hassle or should be too big of an issue to transfer all the rock and corals over just make sure the water is up to temperature, and salinity match up.
If your parameters are well inline it would be good idea to transfer the water.

 

[BigUgliesNY]

BRS has shown that a healthy live sand is super beneficial when setting up a tank.
While the old sand is gonna be dirty it houses a ton of healthy bacteria, so if you want to avoid uglies and a total restart it might be worth it to try and gravel vac the sand while it’s still in your existing tank, like when you do a water change and clear out as much detritus as possible then transfer it over, or get new live sand from somewhere like Tampa bay, or KP aquatic.
If you can move the rock without corals on it and let the new tank run dark for a few days (like 3) then move the corals over. Just gives time for everything to settle a little bit before corals are introduced but this would require both tanks to be running and if that not a possibility or too much of a hassle or should be too big of an issue to transfer all the rock and corals over just make sure the water is up to temperature, and salinity match up.
If your parameters are well inline it would be good idea to transfer the water.

Thank you Salty!

 

[BigUgliesNY]

I wouldn't use the same sand. Rock is fine to reuse

Thank you

 

[RockusDukakis33]

I am getting ready in about 2-3 weeks to upgrade from my Red Octopus T90 (46 gal) to a new Red Sea Reefer Max 425 G2+. It is coming with new equipment (skimmer, reef mat, PVC pipes, return pump and powerheads. My question is, can I move my live rock with my corals that are attached to the new tank? I only have a cleaner shrimp, watchman goby and a damsel in the tank right now. All but 1 coral are softies and LPS. 2 anemones and various clean up crew of hermits, nassarius, trochus, and cerith. Also have about two inches of live carib sand that has been in the tank for over 1 year, same as the carib rock. Do I move the water, sand and rock with and without coral? Can I add new live rock with the existing? How do you rinse existing sand without removing BB? I really am stressing about the move but excited about the opportunity, if that makes any sense. Thanks all

So I moved from a similar size tank to the 425. My sand had all kinds of awful in it and decided to use new caribesea sand and moved my old rock over. I also bought cycled rock from LFS to add to the new tank. Old rock and fish went into new tank the same day with zero issues. Corals look better then ever and new fish were added a couple weeks later with no issues. Big believer in getting new sand and using old rock.