Upgrading from 55 to 125 and cycling

[signde]

I have a 125 on its way here hopefully this weekend

I currently have a 55 with a few inches of crushed argonite, 20 pounds of holey rock, and about 40 pounds of lace rock. I have an assortment of malawi in the tank now. For filtration I have an emperor 400, ehiem 2213 canister, and a magnum hot 250 filter.

I fishless cycled my current 55 during initial setup so I am familiar with this technique and I know I can do it again for a new tank if required. The process was greatly expedited through the help of a friend who gave me some filter media from one of his established tanks but it still took a few weeks.

So my question is this, in upgrading from my 55 to the 125, can I get away with moving all the current filtration, decorations, water, and argonite to the new tank? In my mind this seems like basically doing a 50% water change but I don't know if I will have enough bacteria to handle the new load.

If I can get away with not having to go through the whole cycling process in the new tank that would be ideal. I'm not concerned with the old tank.

Any feedback would be great, thanks.

[angel]

If it were me I'd do it. I've moved less than that and had a tank be cycled before. A 125--you scored!

[mruble]

There will be no problem with your proposed swap. Leave your filters off for the least amount of time possible (to reduce the level of nitrifying bacteria loss). Check your current tank PH against tap water PH. If they are the same, all you need to do is get the tap water (make-up water) temperature the same as the 55 gl tank temperature. If PH is different, you will need to acclimate your fish to the new tank. Do not know what kind of cichlids you have, but a 50% water change can be a lot for many types of african cichlids, especially wild caught.

[signde]

Thanks for the advice.

I found more advice last night on some other forums that corroborate your comments so I believe I will be going through with it.

Now I just have to find the patience to wait until the tank gets here.

[bunnie1978]

If you don't have plans for the 55, I would be happy to take it off your hands.

[signde]

I plan on keeping it but fyi there are a bunch of 55's on craigslist for very reasonable prices.