Transferring/consolidating tanks

[trackfast]

Anyone have experience with consolidating smaller tanks into one larger one? I'm planning on keeping the livestock in plastic containers while I rinse out the old sand for reuse. (I'll keep a small amount just for reseeding.) I'm wondering how long of a cycle period should I expect.
Has anyone just transferred the sand and run carbon for any toxins that may have been stirred up? TIA.

 

[BADGUS]

I've done that several times now.The best thing to do is buy new sand as the old sand even when rinsed will have alot of dead stuff in it.Re-seed with current sand.Running carbon should be a must,expect a mini-cycle.

What size are you upgrading to?

 

[Smitty]

As long as you rinse the sand very well, then it will be ok and shouldn't have any gunk in it. It may not cycle at all, because your live rocks have the same amount of bacteria on it, and as long as you don't add any new livestock for awhile, then the present bacteria will be able to handle the load...even in a larger tank.

 

[trackfast]

I've done that several times now.The best thing to do is buy new sand as the old sand even when rinsed will have alot of dead stuff in it.Re-seed with current sand.Running carbon should be a must,expect a mini-cycle.

What size are you upgrading to?

I'm just upgrading to a 55G. I have 3 nano tanks that I'm consolidating.

 

[ReefChick]

Oh nice,we did this last year,put our tanks together without issues,this year we went back to separate tanks.good luck.