Tank upgrade advice needed

[pete_ra]

i am thinking of upgrading my 46 bow to a 65 high. What is the easiest way to do this without stressing my fish out? Can i just use the same water? I plan on using the same stand, so cycling it would be impossible because i wont be able to lift it the tank.

[HoopsGuru]

What kind of substrate do you currently use as well as any decor (liverock, etc.) and what all will be moving to the new tank?

I would certainly start getting prepared by purchasing a (or several) large food grade plastic containers. I get mine at Target for just a couple bucks.

The following is for a 1 day tank swap:

Transfer as much of the water as possible. One can hold just water, liverock, etc....the other can have your livestock with a powerhead and heater running in it if possible. Remove the tank if possible and place new tank in position (if not remove substrate, etc to buckets too.). Transfer substrate from old tank to new (if not using same substrate, place as much as possible into filter media bags. This will allow you to place them in the tank to seed it, yet be removed one at a time as the tank stabilizes). Replace liverock and any decor. Transfer water, I use an old Rio powerhead that I put a hose on. Hook all the new hardware up and allow it to run a bit. Transfer the livestock (acclimate if you end up using a lot of newly made water, I always keep and extra 5-15g on hand for precaution).

The rest should just be some odds and ends. I recently did a complete substrate change in this manner in a 29g tank and it took about 4 hours for the complete process. I may have left out a few minor details but this should give you the general idea of how you could accomplish it.