Hello, I’ve recently got a 2.5 year old well established 20g and I have a brand new 40g already. I’d like to transfer everything from the 20g into the 40g and I was just wondering if that would initiate a new “mini” cycle? And if so how long do you think it would take for everything to re-stabilize? I’d like to get an anemone somewhat soon and I know it could go in the 20g right now but I’m assuming I should wait a while after the transfer for everything to reach equilibrium again. Also, side question: is large coarse gravel bad for a YWG?
Transferring 20g to 40g
- Thread starter Oceanman
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I would get the 40g filled, and start cycling it, also buy a bottle of Dr. Tim’s bacteria. Test test test! Once everything seems stable then transfer everything over. I normally transfer everything in about weeks time
after everything has been someone what settled, haven’t really had any issues, after many tank transfers. Just keep an eye on things once everything has been moved to the new tank.
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Couple months ago I transferred/upgrade from a 25 gal to a 60 gal tank, i dont have a sand bed, I transferred live rocks, corals and fish , i used 80% of my old water to the new tank
I had a lil of issue with green hair algae down the road but I was able to get rid of it with a refugium and ROWA phos
Lost couple corals because of temperature issues
25 Gal before
60 Gal After
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I had a lil of issue with green hair algae down the road but I was able to get rid of it with a refugium and ROWA phos
Lost couple corals because of temperature issues
25 Gal before
60 Gal After
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Oceanman...here's a suggestion because I'm not sure what your plan for the 20g is currently. Being that you have a brand new 40g (assuming it's a breeder tank), look into drilling drain holes to install an internal overflow and transform the 20g into a sump and grow some macroalgae using a light ona timer to lower your nutrients.
In regards to your mini cycle, test your water nutrient parameters: Ammonia/Nitrite/Nitrates/Phosphates - and do water changes as needed. Dilute the solution until your parameters match that of seawater and maintain those values.
As far as your yellow watchman goby, I would go with a fine sand to mix with the coarse sand to establish proper caves/tunnels. Look to add a pistol shrimp to pair up with the YWG.
Good luck.
- Larry
In regards to your mini cycle, test your water nutrient parameters: Ammonia/Nitrite/Nitrates/Phosphates - and do water changes as needed. Dilute the solution until your parameters match that of seawater and maintain those values.
As far as your yellow watchman goby, I would go with a fine sand to mix with the coarse sand to establish proper caves/tunnels. Look to add a pistol shrimp to pair up with the YWG.
Good luck.
- Larry
Special grade sand is probably the most used sand size and will be fine with the YWG. I would set up the 40g with your sand of choice(use less if you're going to carry over your old sand), seed it with some bacteria (Dr. Tim's, MB7 & PNS Substrate Sauce) and pull some sand from you 20g and put it in there to help kick things into gear. Personally, I would make sure that temp, salinity and alk match and try to match nutrient levels of your 20g (you may need to dose N&P?) and just move everything over. Don't overthink this, there are tiny mini cycles happening in our tanks every day, so it's the last thing I would worry about. You're going to a larger volume of water, so everything will be diluted compared to your 20g, so you'll need to monitor parameters for the first couple weeks, but things should stabilize quickly. If your current sand bed isn't too deep, just save the water from your 20g and use it to rinse the sand until it's clear, then you can safely add it (or some) to the 40g. I've done this countless times, especially in smaller systems. You're barely doubling the size of the 20g volume-wise, so it's not a big leap. Temp and salinity are the easiest to match, after that is alk and nutrients. Alk and nutrients are the biggest things people have problems with in general, so matching them as best you can would be my priority and you're good to go.
