switching tanks, thoughts anyone?

[mayotac]

I have a 30 gallon FOWLR right now, with about 2-3 inches of sand in the bottom and 4-5 large pieces of live rock, 3 fish, some snails, two star fish and a crab. I am thinking of just trading tanks, getting a nicer 30 gallon with a stand and canopy that match, etc. How would I go about moving all of this stuff into the new tank? How do I get the sand and rocks and water into the new tank successfully? Thoughts?

[Loverotties]

I would get new sand,then put the rocks in and add the water half way and add new water the rest and put fish in last.

[janscott23]

get a large rubbermaid storage container fill the container with water from you existing 30gal put the live rock and fish in the container then begin setting up your new 30gal tank ,add the sand and about 15gal of salt water from old tank fill the rest of the tank with new salt water allow the water to clear (sand settle) then add the rock and then fish
also use your old filters to maintain bio filtration, you will probably have a mini cycle but should be manageable.
I would also temp acclamate the fish before adding to new tank.
good luck.