combining 2 tanks

[hankstanks]

In the past what I have done to combine 2 smaller tanks into 1 large one I have done the following.

Set up the large one and get all the pluming etc working.
Add power heads, heater, lights etc....

Now add the substrate and add a little of the sub from the 20 and a little of the sub from the 30. This will colonize the substrate with the bacteria that is already in your fish's/Corals tanks.

I would raise the salinity of the 20 back to 1.023-24 slowly and match the salinity of the 30 to the 20.

When it's time to move, I might use most of the water from the 30 (replace the H20 already in the 55 with it).

The new tank will still need to cycle. But adding bacteria or Bio Balls from an established tank will help speed things up. I have also used H20 From existing tanks which seems to have helped with the stress levels on my fish....

In the mean time, I would run out and get a UV steralizer. I haven't had ICH or anything like that since I have had one....
Now on the other hand, if they made a device which stopped my Maroon Clown from Chomping on the tail of the Wrasse ;-) LOL

[salt creepette]

thanks hank. maybe a mod will combine these two threads? dont know if that is possible.

with all of the filters and protein skimmers and cycled LR and substrate and (50% old) water, just putting it in one tank, would I STILL have a cycle??

[hankstanks]

You can do it that way but make sure you check water every day and do a H20 change the first week. Just to take the peaks off anything that changes.

We do it that way in the display tanks at the LFS. It works fine but we are religous about the H20 change on like day 3-4 just to prevent a spike...

Like always....Have a backup plan!

[yardboy]

Here's a weird thing I did to start up a tank. The other day I caught my blue damsel and needed a place to put him besides the toilet. I have a 70 and 20 connected by a sump. One of the rocks in the 20 is covered with a huge bouquet of halimedia. I set a ten gallon tank right next to the 20 and filled it with fresh salt water. Then connected the two tanks with a u tube like in an overflow. Put the return line from the 20 into the ten and the flow started going between them. Put the halimedia rock into the ten and tossed the damsel into the ten. Since there was no substrate in the ten and only the rock straight from the 20, it was kinda like a ten gallon water change. So far everything seems okay. I do feel a little uncomfortable about the siphoning arrangement; be a mess if it stopped. It's only temporary but avoided having to hold the damsel in the net for a month while I waited for a tank to cycle!