Suggestions on transferring fish into larger tank

I bought a 100 gallon a couple of weeks and I haven't quite got it set up. I'll be moving the fish that's in my 55 into the 100. Do you guys have any suggestions on the best way to transfer? I'll be using the same filters and I'll use the same water, but I want to put the 100g where the 55 currently is. Another problem I'll have is I'll be using pool filter sand and every time I've set up my other tanks the water stays cloudy for a few days. Would it be safe to put them in while it's cloudy?

I have had fish in cloudy sand water like that and they seem to have no problems BUT what I would do now is wash off all the sand. It may not get it all but if you wash it out pretty well prior to putting it in the tank it really does help.

Other then that I kept my fish in a large tote. I hooked up the filter and heater in there and the fish could realistically stay in there as long as they need to. Just make sure the heater does not sit on the bottom and melt it.

Then when I had my tanks all ready and the water got heated up I put the fish back in and moved the filter and heater. It worked great!

I've always rinsed the sand real good in buckets but for some reason when I fill them up with water it's still real cloudy. I might try a tote, but with huskies, cats, and a toddler, they couldn't be in there for long

haha I ended up sitting the cover over my totes because my cats just could not stop from wanting to check out was moving in there lol.

I know it is hard to get some sand clean. I normally have to do a few water changes to get mine to clean up even if I rinse it. The one thing I found really helped was not letting the water muck things up so much when I filled it. I had to either run the water in slower or make sure it didn't stir the bottom.

Try using an old pillow case. Cleaning sand in a pillow case is really easy and fast. The cloudy water will be fine for the fish but you might as well for a it all out while its broken down.

Rinse your sand repeatedly before you bother to put it in the tank. I do it in a 1/2 filled 5 gal bucket and keep the sand constantly stirred/agitated so all the 'cloudy' creating stuff runs out with the water. Put the rinsed sand in a large tub while you do the tank switch.

Move your fish to a large tub with water from your old tank in it....if moving the tanks around is going to take a while, try to figure out how to get your filters running on the tub! Move the old tank out and the new one in.

Put the sand in the new tank (after rocks IMHO) then fill the tank. Don't worry about dechlor. at this point. With the tank full, go ahead and run your hand through all the sand and stir it up as much as possible. Get as much stuff in the water column as possible. Then drain the tank. Depending on how well you did the original rinse you may be good to go now...sometimes I have to repeat this step.

Now fill the tank with new water. Use dechlor this time. Do NOT bring water from the old tank/tub. This water only carries unwanted nitrates..no significant bebebac to make it worth bringing the nitrate along.

Make sure the water temp is pretty close to the original tank. Bring all the filters from the old tank/tub to the new tank and start them running. Bring all the fish over as soon as the filters are running. Your new tank is now cycled and stable.

Leave the filters alone for a week or so. Then start your maintenance routine....I like to do extra filter maint. & add extra micro pads for the first month or so and really stir the sand up with each water change.

IME it's better to bite the bullet and work my butt off to get any of the 'fines' that cause cloudyness out on the front side...then never have to worry about it again forever.

HTHs

Thanks for the suggestions, I assumed I would have to use the same water or as much of it as I could