Moving to a bigger tank with new lights

[down&dirty]

I am fairly new to this hobby. Currently I am running a 55 gal tank with 80lbs of LR, 200 watts of NO lighting, several different polyps and mushrooms, and a aquatic ecosystem filter. Quickly after setting up and cycling this tank I found an incredible deal on a drilled 75 gal tank with a corner overflow and all the pumps. As you can imagine, I am ready to upgrade and move to the larger tank, but I have no free space in my house to keep the 55 going while I cycle the 75. I was thinking about just transferring the entire 55 setup into the 75. I figured that I would need to put everything into holding containers and then transfer my substrate. Right now I have a 4-6 inch bed of crushed coral, which I know I don't like, but I will be moving this year and I don't want to put to much more into this before I move. So I thought that I would move the substrate and about 50% of the water and let the thing settle for an hour or so. Then I am thinking I can add my LR and the rest of the water. After this settles back down move the livestock and go! AM I CRAZY? I also just purchased a 220watt PC setup that I will be using on the 75 until my VHO/ metal halide retro fit shows up. I have not really had much luck with this tank up to now, and I moved it 4 months ago without any adverse effects. The move was basically performed the way I have discribed here but without moving to the larger tank and with fewer corals. Can I transfer like this? Any better ideas would be greatly appriciated, but I am really looking forward to having a system with a sump so that i can get my auto-topoff system up and running.

 

[taikonaut]

>... AM I CRAZY?

What you described sounds fine.

>... I am really looking forward to having a system with a sump

Maybe a 55 gal is big of a sump.... but I have seem something similar (75/55), FWIW.

>... I will be moving this year

However, if I were you, I would wait until the move is done before transfering the content of your 55 over to the 75. This is how I feel if I were you....

 

[down&dirty]

I wasn't going to move this tank with me when I move this year. I am finishing up grad school and will hopefully be moving far away from where I am living now, so I want to enjoy the tank while I can. I have many people here who want to buy this setup once I am done. My original thought was a 75 show tank with a small sump, but I will have another 55 gal tank laying around so now I am thinking about dividing the 55 into 3 smaller tanks, a sump, a fuge, and a prop tank(maybe just another small display tank for things that don't get along with the rest of the inhabitants). The prop and fuge will be visible on either side of the stand so only people who know will truely enjoy the addition of the 55. This will leave the sump section fully accessible in the center of the stand. I will post pics and designs as soon as I get time to finish them up. Probably really soon since its snowing and I can't get OT this weekend.

Thanks for responding, I know that I am crazy, I mean I do have a saltwater reef tank in a house that I spend a total of 8 hours a day in if I am lucky.

 

[Johnsteph10]

Down&Dirty I know what you mean! I spend at most about 8 hours at home and most of that is sleeping at the moment....
there is, however, nothing more relaxing than coming home to a beautiful, complex saltwater ecosystem. I think's that's why I like it so much. .

 

[down&dirty]

So the move has been made. After many hours of stand construction, plumbing, and electrical wiring I finally heard the unmistakable rumble of an overflow without an appropriate stand pipe. The actual stand construction took just over 8 hours, but this was many trips to the hardware stores locally to get all the parts. Mainly because each store was out of a couple of things on my list. Now I am running a 75 gal with 2inches of live sand, 85 pounds of LR, and 220 watts of PCs. I am going to have to order another 220 watts of PCs. I was going to switch to VHO, but I can get PCs for so cheap and I get individual light control that I don't get with the icecap 660. I will be finishing the hood this week and I am working on getting a camera to use so that I can have some pics.