When I bought the ten gallon tank, I purposefully bought equipment that would work in a 20-30 gallon tank.  Last week, I bought a 20 gallon long tank and 20 lbs. of CaribSea Arag-Alive Fiji Pink to supplement the sand I already had which resulted in a 1 1/2 inch sand bed tank-wide.  There were a few things that prompted me to get a slightly larger tank:  Clarkii clownfish will grow to 5 to 5½ inches, need more surface area for copepods to live (they feed the mandarinfish), help keep water levels stable and leave more room for error, want more swimming room for fish (reason I opted for 20L over 20H).

I put down the new sand first and added the “old” sand on top to help prevent any major cycle from happening.  I like the look and feel of the CaribSea Fiji Pink sand.  The sand isn’t as fine as the Nature’s Ocean blend I bought for the 10 gallon, but it has some nice shells and other fragmented things from the ocean.  The only downside was that there were all these dead worm-looking things floating around by the time I emptied the bag.  I used the fish net to skim the surface.

I made a huge mistake in doing all of this… I started the switch at around 9 PM, and mistakenly thought that I could finish this all by midnight.  Needless to say, I was wrong…very wrong.  I was up until 2:30 PM trying to get all of this done.  This was my first time ever moving a tank/upgrading.  I definitely learned a lot in doing this.

To those of you who are thinking about or planning on doing this, I offer the following advice:

• Give yourself an entire day to move the tank.  The entire process will typically take 1-3 days, though it can take longer depending on the circumstances.
• If you are upgrading, have all or most of the water premixed, heated, and properly aerated the day before.  Make sure you have freshwater on hand as well.
• Make sure all of your equipment will be sufficient for your new tank.  If you have coral or plants, make sure you have the proper light intensity and watts per gallon standard.
• Put any new sand down first, then cover it with the existing sand.  This will help keep the beneficial bacteria alive and reduce the possibility of a “large” cycle.
• To ensure a quick and painless process, exercise extreme care when placing the sand in the tank.  If the sand is just dumped in it can cause cloudiness that can last for days.  I recommend waiting at least an hour before turning on any pumps or filters.  I made the mistake of leaving everything on and had the HOB refugium impeller (AquaClear 70) clog up and stop.  My heart nearly stopped, but I cleaned it out and got it to work again.  Use the cup method to prevent excessive cloudiness (put sand in cup, place your hand over top so no sand falls out, place cup upside down on bottom and slowly pull it up).
• If you have livestock, make sure that the new tank conditions match those of the old tank.  After getting them established in their “new” environment, you may continue to make adjustments.
• Research, research, research.  This is not an extensive list.  These are just things that I personally picked up along the way, both through research and experience.
• Be patient.  (I can’t stress this enough…)

If I missed anything, please feel free to comment!