Moving anemone to new tank

[medicreefer]

I've had a healthy GBTA in my 20g nano for over a year now. When I introduced it my tank was about 2 years old and the anemone had no trouble acclimatizing. It was rather small when I first got it and has since quadrupled in size. My ocellaris clown pair have been hosting it since the first week it was in the tank.

I'm now in the midst of setting up a new 65g tank and will be moving the anemone and clowns over to it when it's ready. I'm cycling it with LR as well as a couple of small pieces of seed LR and sand from my 20g system. I know that the general rule of thumb is to not put an anemone into a tank that is less than a year old, and my new 65g will certainly not meet that goal. Does this rule not apply when moving an anemone as long as the rock and sand are moved over as well? Should I also move the water over to the new system? Does anyone have any other suggestions for acclimatization? I was thinking perhaps for the week before the transfer I could start swapping 2-3 gallons of water between the 2 tanks daily so that by the time I move everything over the water is the same in both systems and I can just pick up the rock that the GBTA is attached to and move it over. Do the anemone/clown experts on here have any other suggestions?

My final question has to do with lighting. The anemone is under 96w of T5 lighting right now. In the new tank it will be under a new LED fixture that will be much much brighter from what I've seen. The fixture output is adjustable. Should I start at say just 30% lighting and increase it by 5% or so a day until I'm at the desired light level, or just start immediately with full lighting?

Thanks.

[killerbubbles]

water doesn't retain the bio colony. that is in the rock and substrate. the (insert length of time here) rule isn't just about tank maturity, it's also about reefer maturity. if you are knowledgeable already, then i would think that you're ok to move the nem after the cycle ends. this is assuming your water quality is up to par - salinity, mag, ca, alk, etc.

start the nem at the bottom of the tank and let it move around until it finds its spot. if you do that, you probably don't have to worry about ramping up your led lights.

[Islandfever]

Key is duplicating the parameters as close to your 20g as possible. Temp, salinity, alk, cal, you name it. Lighting: do not full blast led. Your nem will be shocked to the change. REPLICATE AND GRADUAL, use the same intensity as in your 20g and gradually increase the intensity. SLOW

[medicreefer]

Ok great. Thanks for the replies.

[rssjsb]

It wouldn't hurt to move the water over. It will be like a very healthy water change. These guys are pretty hardy. Just don't do what I did when I moved tanks five years ago. I tripped carrying the nem from one tank to the other and it flew out of my hand and onto the carpet. Scared the h*ll out of me, but the nem was fine.