Changing tanks - need advice

[kirkwood]

So I am working through a 55gal to 120 gal upgrade. My 55 gal system has been running for 7 years, so it is mature... Obviously, when I upgrade I want to make sure that I don't have any cycling issues... I will transfer all of my mature liverock, but as I've read from other threads I will trash the sand... My new system will have a refugium so one idea I had was to take a few large cup fulls of my existing sand and put that into the new refugium... that way I would get a good population of pods to start while at the same time would not be transferring toxic levels of ammonia to the new system.. does that make sense and/or sound like a good idea??

In my existing system I also have bioballs and a few filter sponges and blocks in various locations in the sump... i know those accumulate a good amount of bacteria so would there be any benefit to adding them initially into the new sump/refugium of the new system to make sure that I don't have a crash???

thanks for your input... i am listening!!

 

[crewdawg1981]

Get a few Brute trash cans (I have a few you can borrow).

Make up as much new water as is possible. Put it in these trash cans with a pump at the bottom that will circulate the water and keep it aerated. Heater in them if possible... not a requirement.

Day of the swap:

Drain some of your tank water into another container. Enough to put your corals and livestock in temporarily. This bin will need a heater and a powerhead. Take out your Live rock and put it buckets. Swish it around in the tank to free any detritus from it before you take it out.

Toss the remaining water and sand. Save a cup or two for pods.

Move old equipment, clean floor and walls of any old crud (debris, salt creep, etc.)

Move in new equipment. Measure for level. Place rock and sand in tank (this part is optional. Some put water in first). Again, measure for level... shim as necessary. Fill with water, check again for level. A good idea to avoid a sandstorm... place a bowl in your tank, on the sand. Pump the water into the tank by pumping it into the bowl. This will lessen the blast to the sand bed.

Once the water, sand and rock are in, make sure you get the water heated and flowing. If you have made enough water to get the tank to turn over, start er up. If not, dont worry... you can tie it all together later. When the tank temp is at the same as the holding bin (and salinity), move your livestock into their new home.

Start running carbon... now.

Done.

 

[merkywater]

crewdawg1981;767781 wrote: get a few brute trash cans (i have a few you can borrow).

Make up as much new water as is possible. Put it in these trash cans with a pump at the bottom that will circulate the water and keep it aerated. Heater in them if possible... Not a requirement.

Day of the swap:

Drain some of your tank water into another container. Enough to put your corals and livestock in temporarily. This bin will need a heater and a powerhead. Take out your live rock and put it buckets. Swish it around in the tank to free any detritus from it before you take it out.

Toss the remaining water and sand. Save a cup or two for pods.

Move old equipment, clean floor and walls of any old crud (debris, salt creep, etc.)

move in new equipment. Measure for level. Place rock and sand in tank (this part is optional. Some put water in first). Again, measure for level... Shim as necessary. Fill with water, check again for level. A good idea to avoid a sandstorm... Place a bowl in your tank, on the sand. Pump the water into the tank by pumping it into the bowl. This will lessen the blast to the sand bed.

Once the water, sand and rock are in, make sure you get the water heated and flowing. If you have made enough water to get the tank to turn over, start er up. If not, dont worry... You can tie it all together later. When the tank temp is at the same as the holding bin (and salinity), move your livestock into their new home.

Done.

+1

 

[kirkwood]

Crewdawg1981;767781 wrote: Get a few Brute trash cans (I have a few you can borrow).

Make up as much new water as is possible. Put it in these trash cans with a pump at the bottom that will circulate the water and keep it aerated. Heater in them if possible... not a requirement.

Day of the swap:

Drain some of your tank water into another container. Enough to put your corals and livestock in temporarily. This bin will need a heater and a powerhead. Take out your Live rock and put it buckets. Swish it around in the tank to free any detritus from it before you take it out.

Toss the remaining water and sand. Save a cup or two for pods.

Move old equipment, clean floor and walls of any old crud (debris, salt creep, etc.)

Move in new equipment. Measure for level. Place rock and sand in tank (this part is optional. Some put water in first). Again, measure for level... shim as necessary. Fill with water, check again for level. A good idea to avoid a sandstorm... place a bowl in your tank, on the sand. Pump the water into the tank by pumping it into the bowl. This will lessen the blast to the sand bed.

Once the water, sand and rock are in, make sure you get the water heated and flowing. If you have made enough water to get the tank to turn over, start er up. If not, dont worry... you can tie it all together later. When the tank temp is at the same as the holding bin (and salinity), move your livestock into their new home.

Done.

thanks Crew... in the end you know this is all your fault!!! LOL

I'm going to try and save as much water as possible from the existing system w/o picking up unnecessary ammonia from the sandbed... i currently have an overflow box in my system and in a previous relocation of the tank have successfully put all of my livestock into a rubbermaid bin and hooked it up to my sump via overflow box... so my plan is to fill a rubbermaid bin with all of my livestock and water and then via overflow box hook it up to my sump... i assume this will benefit me in the fact that i will retain the filtration and circulation of my system... i can even put an LED unit over the bin for a few hours to replicate the light cycle if need be... all in all the livestock shouldn't go through too much this way....

 

[db366]

Grab some Stability. Well worth the $20.

 

[texhorns98]

Crewdawg pretty much nailed it. Good luck!

 

[crewdawg1981]

Kirkwood;767784 wrote: thanks Crew... in the end you know this is all your fault!!! LOL

I'm going to try and save as much water as possible from the existing system w/o picking up unnecessary ammonia from the sandbed... i currently have an overflow box in my system and in a previous relocation of the tank have successfully put all of my livestock into a rubbermaid bin and hooked it up to my sump via overflow box... so my plan is to fill a rubbermaid bin with all of my livestock and water and then via overflow box hook it up to my sump... i assume this will benefit me in the fact that i will retain the filtration and circulation of my system... i can even put an LED unit over the bin for a few hours to replicate the light cycle if need be... all in all the livestock shouldn't go through too much this way....

Hahaha... uh huh.. :shades:

I guess I'm not understanding the plan too well. You're gonna have to move that sump too. So basically, all you're doing is setting up the temporary tank to run on the sump for a very short period of time?

Dont worry about putting a light over it or anything unless you plan on having everything in the temporary bin for an extended period of time. I dont consider half a day in a holding bin with a powerhead and a heater an extended period of time. Your fish and corals will be juuuuust fine. Its better to get more pieces out of your way so that you can setup the new system than to have things all over.

I had to swap out my tank back in February of last year and I think the whole system was down a total of 4 hours. That includes the 1 that it took to drive to the wholesaler, swap the tank, drive back and get to work putting it all back together. Of course, there was much less in it then than there is now.

 

[kirkwood]

Crewdawg1981;767813 wrote: Hahaha... uh huh.. :shades:

I guess I'm not understanding the plan too well. You're gonna have to move that sump too. So basically, all you're doing is setting up the temporary tank to run on the sump for a very short period of time?

ok, the way it will work is the on day 1 I will take all the livestock out of my current system and put it into a large rectangular rubbermaid bin... I will then remove my sump from the stand and hook it up to the rubbermaid bin via the overflow box.. i did this for a FOWLR (niger trigger and lunar wrasse) system when I moved into my house and i literally ran it in the garage for almost a month, just stopping by a couple days a week to top off water... so by doing this i won't have to worry about how long I live them in the temporary housing... i will put any remaining system water into a trash can.. i will save a couple cups of existing substrate...

day 2 i will have helping hands to go pick up the new system, and then remove my old tank and stand... once the old system is removed I will get to work on the salt damage on the wall (promised the wife) and tackle the cleanup on the wood floor underneath... I'm hoping Orangeglo will do the job on the floor... once that is done the new stand and tank will go into place and i'll follow Crew's advice from then on out... I'm thinking I may try to let the tank circulate over night before I put the livestock in, or maybe i'll just be too tired to get it all done on day 2...

i will get the build thread started soon...