All Suggestions Welcome....

[jeffandkelly]

This weekend we will be moving our 28 gallon bowfront into our 60 gallon Innovative Marine SR-60.

I have never swapped tanks before in the saltwater world.

Currently the tank (the 60 gallon) is a little over 1/2 way filled with water and I have 80 pounds of new sand ready to go in to the tank.

I am going to use as much of the tank water that is currently in the tank as I can as well as all of the existing live rock. The tank has been running for 10 months.

I am just concerned about losing my coral or my fish.

Any suggestions on making the transition smooth?

 

[jstrick930]

following

 

[matlet]

Jeff,

I would get the new sand in the 60 gallon so that any residual dust is able to settle.

Depending on the type of fish you have, you may have to pull a good portion of your live rock out of the 29 gallon (and transfer over to the new tank) in order to catch the fish. I would place them in a small bucket and then let them swim out of the bucket into the new tank. The less handling the better.

Since your 29 gallon is fairly new, you may not have much debris in the old tank where you would still be able to use the old tank water into the new tank. I'm moving too and in my situation, I expect my old water will not be optimal once I start removing live rock.

I'm sure it's obvious that you want the 60 gallon tank to be the same temp, ph, salinity, alkalinity, etc. as the 29 gallon tank to avoid shock to the livestock.

There are also a number of products on the market that you can purchase from our sponsors that boosts the bacterial load to start a new tank. Personally, I've only used these products for new freshwater tanks, so I can't recommend anything.

Hopefully there will be some other folks with more experience than myself who can give you sound advice.

Best of luck,

Mark

 

[mcphock]

Curious as to why the tank is filled with water before the sand is added?

 

[jeffandkelly]

McPhock;966402 wrote: Curious as to why the tank is filled with water before the sand is added?

I mixed the water in the tank, I plan on adding the sand today so it has time to settle and clear up

 

[jeffandkelly]

matlet;966401 wrote: Jeff,

I would get the new sand in the 60 gallon so that any residual dust is able to settle.

Depending on the type of fish you have, you may have to pull a good portion of your live rock out of the 29 gallon (and transfer over to the new tank) in order to catch the fish. I would place them in a small bucket and then let them swim out of the bucket into the new tank. The less handling the better.

Since your 29 gallon is fairly new, you may not have much debris in the old tank where you would still be able to use the old tank water into the new tank. I'm moving too and in my situation, I expect my old water will not be optimal once I start removing live rock.

I'm sure it's obvious that you want the 60 gallon tank to be the same temp, ph, salinity, alkalinity, etc. as the 29 gallon tank to avoid shock to the livestock.

There are also a number of products on the market that you can purchase from our sponsors that boosts the bacterial load to start a new tank. Personally, I've only used these products for new freshwater tanks, so I can't recommend anything.

Hopefully there will be some other folks with more experience than myself who can give you sound advice.

Best of luck,

Mark

I have the salinity and temp the same.. I just need to test to confirm the ph alk, cal and mag which I did plan on doing before I switched over.

I had thought about draining out some water before removing the rock to not kick up dust and debris.

I considered an additive, but I am afraid to cause a cycle, because I do have a lot of coral in the tank.

This is very stressful!
Kelly

 

[berje]

matlet;966401 wrote: Jeff,

I would get the new sand in the 60 gallon so that any residual dust is able to settle.

Depending on the type of fish you have, you may have to pull a good portion of your live rock out of the 29 gallon (and transfer over to the new tank) in order to catch the fish. I would place them in a small bucket and then let them swim out of the bucket into the new tank. The less handling the better.

Since your 29 gallon is fairly new, you may not have much debris in the old tank where you would still be able to use the old tank water into the new tank. I'm moving too and in my situation, I expect my old water will not be optimal once I start removing live rock.

I'm sure it's obvious that you want the 60 gallon tank to be the same temp, ph, salinity, alkalinity, etc. as the 29 gallon tank to avoid shock to the livestock.

There are also a number of products on the market that you can purchase from our sponsors that boosts the bacterial load to start a new tank. Personally, I've only used these products for new freshwater tanks, so I can't recommend anything.

Hopefully there will be some other folks with more experience than myself who can give you sound advice.

Best of luck,

Mark

I always drain a good portion of the water out before removing anything, that way there isn't any detritus floating around or anything getting stirred up from moving rock.

This is how I have swapped tanks.
Drain majority of water into tub to transfer to new tank, while keeping some of the water in a bucket to put livestock in.
Then move the rock to the new tank
Then catch all livestock to put into the buckets
Then acclimate them to new tank

That has always worked for me.

 

[nickg]

Hey Kelly, I have an extra brute if you need one to use. My recommendation is Prime, Prime, Prime.... Prime will help to de-toxify any Nitrates that come out of the LR and sand....

 

[bcavalli]

Use a 1.5 or 2" PVC pipe and a funnel taped on the end then the sand slides down to the bottom with less sand and dust flying everywhere.

 

[jeffandkelly]

Thanks Nick! I am good with buckets. I will go by our favorite hangout tomorrow and grab some prime. I was going to pickup some at petsmart last night but they were out. today I am just going to do sand.

Kelly

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