Move up tank, cycle or no cycle?

[odoprelude]

I am not doing my move up to the bigger tank for a little while now, due to a financial setback, but I've been wondering... If I am moving everything up from my 55 to my 125 using the same rock, same sand everything... do I need to cycle this before adding livestock? I will of course need more sand and rock, but figured that with about 75lbs of rock and 40lbs of live sand...(I will probably use more aragalive, man I love that stuff!) and will be needing to add more rock. I don't need to cycle before adding my livestock do I? Help?

[phljess]

I would not recommend setting up your new tank without cycling it first. You are doing a rather large move from a 55 to a 125. Here are some things I did to really speed up my move from a 75 to a 210 + 55 sump.

1. Do a large WC on your 55 and use this water to help you start. If you have someone you can get water from get some of it also.
2. Put as many old filter pads in your water as you can, they have alot of bacteria in them.
3. Put about 3/4 of you LR and LS in your new tank and save the coral, fish and inverts in your old tank for a while. Try not to disturb your sandbed too much while doing this. I would move the sand and rock over a couple of days.
4. Check your parameters and wait a few days till things begin to stabilize. It took my new tank about two weeks to cycle and I used my old rock but changed sand. I also used 3/4 of used tank water and put about 10 old filters in my new tank to seed it. You will probably cycle faster because you are using your old sand.
5. When your sure everything looks good start adding your livestock and corals. Check your parameters again because you might have another mini-cycle.

[firefish2020]

Yeh I would do it how Phil said.
When we went from 55 to 120 we used about 30 Gal of cycled water plus our old water. We had no choice but to put everything in that night, luckily everything did just fine after the move and we experienced no noticeable effects due to it. Did we plan it right or just get lucky? Who knows but unless you have little to loose I would advise against taking that route.

[mcox33]

when I got my 90 gal I moved rock from a 55 tank that I was using to hold them in until I got the 90. I moved the rock drained all the water and put it in the 90 and finished filling the tank with new water. Barry said it was okay sincle it would just be like I did a major water change. I used new sand ( Live sand the one with the black in it.) I put everything in the tank including the fish, and never had any problems.

[H.crispa]

All the bacteria is in you LS, LR, etc. Scaling up is nothing more than a large water change as far as I'm concerned. I wouln't bother "cycling" jack. I'd just move it, top off the system with new seawater and go go go. Oh yeah, I'd age the new H2O for 12 hours or so with good circulation.

OK.... LET THE BEATINGS BEGIN!:rolleye1:

[LtPiper]

Interesting reading this thread. I only added extra gravel to a couple fresh water tanks I have and saw them both go through a huge cycle as everything readjusted itself to the new levels in the tank. Well guess I'll find out when I upgrade....

[1package]

I went from 90g +29g sump to 125g + 55g sump to 210g + 75g sump, never cycled, lost only a clam in the last upgrade, that was due in part to attempting to save too much sand. Almost need to scrap the majority of it, it will be a mess. I did not worry so much about the water, I tried to use the water to clean the sand and rock a little. Make certain to take the opportunity to clean the rock since it is in your hand twice prior to putting in it in the upgrade tank, I used a couple of 5 gallon buckets and dunked them a couple of times, surprised what a mess that left also.

I think it is also more like a big water change.

[coralreefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7229605#post7229605 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by H.crispa
All the bacteria is in you LS, LR, etc. Scaling up is nothing more than a large water change as far as I'm concerned. I wouln't bother "cycling" jack. I'd just move it, top off the system with new seawater and go go go. Oh yeah, I'd age the new H2O for 12 hours or so with good circulation.

OK.... LET THE BEATINGS BEGIN!:rolleye1:
Gasp Jason I agree :beer:
Actually I agree with Jason on a lot of things but I still don't dose my tank with Dawn :p

I tried to use the water to clean the sand and rock a little. Make certain to take the opportunity to clean the rock since it is in your hand twice prior to putting in it in the upgrade tank, I used a couple of 5 gallon buckets and dunked them a couple of times, surprised what a mess that left also.
Amazing what comes out of the rock isn't it.
When we bought the 220 we swished and dunked all the rock as we took it out of the tank. When we were done there was a 5-6" pile of detritus on the old sand bed. Set it back up with 100% new water and sand.

I'd make sure the new rock is fully cured before adding it to the tank though.