Breaking in a brand new tank

[gnashty]

as many of you know I am transferring a set up into a new tank. anything special I need to do other than the obvious? ie: wiping it out really well, scrape any wayward silicone, leveling, leak testing....

I am putting an entire 210 set up into a 180, Ive retained all the livestock, rock (most of it), and about 120 gallons of the water. The sand didnt make it so I have to rinse it out really well. anyone foresee an issue with this?

 

[lilrobb]

Dump the water! No benefit from old water...

 

[rjrgroup]

LilRobb;613792 wrote: Dump the water! No benefit from old water...

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa?

 

[cr500_af]

rjrgroup;613803 wrote: Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa?

The vast majority of the nitrifrying bacteria live on the rock and substrate. Very little , if any would be in the water column. No reason to pump organics and nitrates, etc back into the system.

 

[rjrgroup]

cr500_af;613808 wrote: The vast majority of the nitrifrying bacteria live on the rock and substrate. Very little , if any would be in the water column. No reason to pump organics and nitrates, etc back into the system.

Oh, I see pods in my water column...lots o' pods.

 

[acroholic]

When I moved my 210 to my 300 I saved as much old water as I could, and it sat for 2 weeks in rubbermaid totes. Used it all again without issue. JME.

 

[gnashty]

I'm kinda depending on the water (and all my livestock is in it currently), I can only make 50 gal at a time right now since all of my available vessels are kinda tied up..lol

Im kind of worried because all of my sand is dead. Im going to rinse it with a little bleach and dry it before I put it in. I do have several cups I could pull from the front tank to seed it.

last thing I need is for a cycle to kick in when I return the livestock and corals to the tank.

 

[rjrgroup]

Acroholic;613835 wrote: when I moved my 210 to my 300 I saved as much old water as I could, and it sat for 2 weeks in rubbermaid totes. Used it all again without issue. JME.

That's what I did, subject the size...72gal and 58gal. Someone please explain further. I thought rock, sand and water could be live?

 

[cr500_af]

I CAN see an advantage to using some old water from the angle of matching parameters as much as possible. I'd think with some careful dosing/testing of the new water to achieve the same numbers it would be just fine with all new.

I didn't mean to imply that using the old water would cause trouble.

 

[cr500_af]

Gary, IMO you have enough rock to support your bioload fine without relying on the substrate to handle part of it. Just clean that sand well and rinse the heck out of it to make sure you don't have chlorine present... and I'd do what you said (seed it with a little from your Eclipse).

 

[gnashty]

cr500_af;613844 wrote: Gary, IMO you have enough rock to support your bioload fine without relying on the substrate to handle part of it. Just clean that sand well and rinse the heck out of it to make sure you don't have chlorine present... and I'd do what you said (seed it with a little from your Eclipse).

Ill probably prime it on the last rinse for safety then dry it. Im just going to put the rock that is in the stock tank back and wait a few more weeks before I put the rock from the garage in. unfortunately I was unable to hold the temp or keep good flow on it. It also sat out for 8-10 hrs without water..

 

[cr500_af]

gnashty;613847 wrote: Ill probably prime it on the last rinse for safety then dry it. Im just going to put the rock that is in the stock tank back and wait a few more weeks before I put the rock from the garage in. unfortunately I was unable to hold the temp or keep good flow on it. It also sat out for 8-10 hrs without water..

Good call. Cure that stuff longer... you've definitely had some dieoff with that considered.

 

[mvm]

Honestly, I'd trash the sand and start over. You have to rinse the new stuff too. I think the amount of die off that could harbor in the sand, even after rinsing and drying is not worth it. Whenever I transfer tanks, I use as much of the old water as possible, but trash the sand. I change tanks A LOT!!

 

[mvm]

gnashty;613847 wrote: Ill probably prime it on the last rinse for safety then dry it. Im just going to put the rock that is in the stock tank back and wait a few more weeks before I put the rock from the garage in. unfortunately I was unable to hold the temp or keep good flow on it. It also sat out for 8-10 hrs without water..

I just read about the rock that was left out. In that case:
I would add the rock that dried out and the rinsed sand to the stock container and let them cycle together(after you remove the live rock and stock, obviously). Then check params and move them back to the display after they stablize....

 

[lilrobb]

MvM;613861 wrote: I change tanks A LOT!!

No kidding Matt, haha

 

[mvm]

LilRobb;613866 wrote: No kidding Matt, haha

Both this
And this :doh:

 

[gnashty]

MvM;613861 wrote: Honestly, I'd trash the sand and start over. You have to rinse the new stuff too. I think the amount of die off that could harbor in the sand, even after rinsing and drying is not worth it. Whenever I transfer tanks, I use as much of the old water as possible, but trash the sand. I change tanks A LOT!!

The sand is pretty new and I dont have the time or $$ to start it all over find new, buy new and rinse new..

a bleach rinse and final prime rinse along with a full dry should do me up just fine.

Edit: Well, I got the sand all bleached and rinsed really well, then I put a good capful of prime to each 1/3rd bucket of sand and rinsed again. I spread it all out on a tarp to get any junk and shells out and to let it dry...its in the driveway hope no stray cats find it...lol

I also installed some shower pan liner into the stand to help keep the wood nice should i have a boo boo..

Filling it up for a leak test now!!