Upgrading from a 20g to a 65g

[hookedonsalt]

Im looking for some advise please. I currently have a 20 gal reef tank that is around 16 months old. I have a lot of soft corals in it as well as a couple of fish, crabs, snails shrimp ect....
I have around 25 lbs of live rock and 20 lbs of live sand.

New Tank: 65 gal AGA RR tank, 20 gal long sump, I have around 80 lbs of base rock so far.
I wanted to know if once I get the new tank assembled and running if I can just transfer the contents of my 20 to the 65?

Or do I need to wait for it to cycle first? If I added all my sand, rocks, water ect will that make a difference?
The tank is in my office and having two up and running at the same time will take a lot of room, so Im just trying to figure this out...
I will appreciate all advise given.

[nazzy_19]

It will cycle your tank a bit. Just be prepared for it. Have extra salt water ready in case you need to do a water change or two.

[jkable]

I did an upgrade last year from a 55 to a 100. I transfered everything in 3 days. What i did was bought 100lbs of baged live sand put it in the new tank, then pumped about 40 gallons of my old water into the new tank, transfered the living animals and rock, and pumped the rest of the water in. At this point it is basically the same environment for your animals. Then i added 10 gallons of new salt water about every 6 0r 8 hours or whenever i had time. I should mention while i was slowly adding water i had my skimmer operating in the tank and a couple powerheads. Eventually the tank and sump were full and i moved my skimmer back down to the sump. I had 100% success with no loses. When i did this upgrade my 55 was bare bottom so i didn't have any sand to transfer, but if i did i would have bought new sand and seeded it with a cup of my old sand. I have never done it but you could probably clean your old sand and reuse it. I would be sure to get all of the life out of the tank before you disturb the sandbed, hope this helps.

[jkable]

Oh p.s. my tank didn't cyle useing this aproach, because basically the bioload was not increased, everything was just put into more water, also i think the baged live sand was a big help as far as biological filtration.

[dqualls]

I upgraded in August from a 55gal to a 120g w/30g sump. Used all new water and all new sand. I transfered about 70 lbs of LR and all corals and fish in one day. No losses or cycle! Plan ahead. Good luck!

[hookedonsalt]

Thanks for the input guys, I was hoping this could be done... SO fingers crossed in the next few weeks I will be moving my 20 into a new home.....

[Laurie]

Hi Guys&Gals
So you don't think it is a good idea to use my old sand bed it is about 5 years old it is around 200 lbs. of sand, I hate to waste it but if it is going to cause a problem I will not use it.