krak256

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Recently I had a tank crash in my 14g biocube, but it's slowly recovering. I'm hoping that in 2-3 weeks, everything will be good to go. By the end of this week, I should have everything I need to set up my solana.

The question is, how can I transfer my stuff over to the solana without having a cycle/ammonia spike? I know that stirring up the old sand bed can cause this. Is there any easy way to transfer without having to cycle a tank for a month?

I was thinking of taking some rubble from my old tank and a cup of live sand to seed the new tank. I will need to buy more sand for the new tank because my 14g doesn't have enough. If I buy sand from a forum members tank, there shouldn't be a cycle, correct?

Has anyone upgraded/transferred before? What did you do? Any advice is appreciated. Thanks in advance!
 

dsgray16

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I woud set the new tank up and let it run for a month. I would start with a new sand bed in the tank and a good amount of new LR since you will need more for the bigger tank. Let it cycle for a month and then start moving stuff over slowely. Sure you will have two tanks for a little while, but it seems like the safest way to me.
 

NYPDFrogman

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Vernon, NJ
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I swapped everything from my 180 to my 450 within 1 week
I filled the tank with RO/DI water mixed my salt and got water parameters equal.

I had a sand bottom in my 180 and decided to go bare bottom in 450
I transferred all the rock to the new tank
I housed the corals in a spare tank with a power head in it
I housed the fish in a 55 gallon drum also with a power head
ands with in 24 hour period all were in
no fatalities, all I had was a diatom bloom that lasted a couple days my mexican turbos too care of that.

my only suggestion.... be patient don't add any new livestock for a few months thats the only mistake i made I added a powder blue a couple of weeks after the swap lost him a week later :(

I couldnt have the 2 tanks up and running at the same time
 

krak256

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my only suggestion.... be patient don't add any new livestock for a few months thats the only mistake i made I added a powder blue a couple of weeks after the swap lost him a week later :(

why's that? was the tang too much on your bioload? I would think one fish wouldn't make a huge difference in terms of bioload especially with established rock and bacteria from your old tank
 

NYPDFrogman

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why's that? was the tang too much on your bioload? I would think one fish wouldn't make a huge difference in terms of bioload especially with established rock and bacteria from your old tank

it probably wasn't a big load and just the tang itself that croaked I've never has luck with Powder blues


in any event patience is the key in this hobby
I'm sure the tank went through some sort of cycle
 

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