[Frank_Farmakis]

Hey everybuddy, in the near future i am planning to switch one of my 30 gallon tanks into a 80....however, im not too sure how to go about doing it. I want to put everything that is in the 30 into the 80 and what i want to know is what steps i need to take when switching. For example, do i transfer the rock one day and the fish the next, or first the substrate and then the rock etc.....the 30 gallon has been established for over a year and everything is going to be put into the 80 so i just want to know how to do it and whats safe as to not lose anything

[FireEater]

Are you planning on using the same water? IMO, I would just go with maybe about 10 gallons of it and the rest new salt water. It will be a great water change. You are going to be adding new water anyway to make up the gallon difference.

What type of substrate do you have?

I would place a hang on filter on the tank to help remove any bad stuff that might come from stirring up the sand. Slowwwwwwly remove the substrate to a few buckets or big Rubbermaid container. Do this with a large cup and be patient about it. Then clean it real good. This way you can basically start fresh with the sand as removing it and switching it over will only stir it up anyway. You will be messing up the layers of filtration on it so to speak.

Once you have it cleaned and in the new tank, you can then add the new sand on top of it. You will need more sand you know for the bigger tank. Buy the dry bagged sand and not the wet live sand.

You can also transfer all livestock and live rock into a holding container for this process. That way you can just pull the sand out faster and not worry about stirring it up. Put a powerhead in the container for water movement.

Now once you have all the sand in the tank with the water, let it settle down over night.

Then you can add the live rock. This is why I said to buy dry sand and rinse you old sand out. Buying the dry sand will save you a lot of money, plus you will not be paying for the water in the bag. Then the live rock you have that has been established will bring your sand to life real quick.

Then start acclimating the fishies and such.

This cover the livestock, rock and sand. The mechanical things such a s powerhead, pumps and such you just add to new tank during this process.

Tell us a little more about what type of fish, invertebrates and corals you have so we can see if you should do this differently.

[Frank_Farmakis]

I am tranffering all the fish fromt he 30 and a few from my other thanks into the 80 gallon

- yellow tang
- sand sifftin goby
- fiji damsel
- 2 clowns
- dragonet

- 2 serpent star
- snails
- hermits
- 2 cleaner shrimp
- 2 blood shrimp
- 2 sally long leg

btw won't it take time for the new tank to become established again?

[FireEater]

Not really as all you are doing is adding new sand. The live rock will establish that in no time.