need help with my upgrade

[beckisguy73]

ok I have a up and running 90G and want to upgrade to a 125G in the same place as the 90. Now I'm going to need more sand and was wondering how would I remove the sand I have and add more with out having to cycle the tank again? there is other questions I had but at the moment I cant seem to remember them...
thanks,
Mike

 

[stingythingy45]

Mike,you wont have a cycle just by adding sand.Just make sure that when you are moving the sand from the 90 over to the 125 gallon that there enough water to cover the sand.I kept mine in a couple totes and occasionally rocked the tote back and forth every 10-20 minutes.Make sure the sand doesn't get cold as well.
Don't be afraid to rinse the sand with old tank water to get some of the detritus out.
Make sure you have plenty of water mixed up before hand.I moved my 90 gallon into the same place my 55 gallon was,added extra sand and even had to take an hour to do some plumbing.All in all it took 3 hours.Never even had the hint of a cycle.
I would suggest when you add the new sand add it as to not cover the old sand.

 

[beckisguy73]

OK so I should put it under the old sand? One more question. How about I add some fine agronite? I have the white sand with some black in it and want to get a darker color so I thought about mixing black agronite in it...

 

[stingythingy45]

OK so I should put it under the old sand? One more question. How about I add some fine agronite? I have the white sand with some black in it and want to get a darker color so I thought about mixing black agronite in it...

What I did is put the new sand in one half of the tank and old on the other side.You could do this with the black as well.JME,but the only way you'll get a cycle is if you kill the live sand and the resulting ammonia can't be converted by the bacteria on the rock.This rarely happens if you have a good amount of rock.