Lessons learned during tank swaps please

[GratefulAlpaca]

Here’s another post about a Gen 1 Red Sea tank failing. Well, two tanks actually! My neighbor’s Red Sea Reefer 350 blew the front seam and failed a couple weeks ago. That got me looking at new tanks, and a good thing too! Last night I noticed a brand new void in the seam of my Reeder XL 425 (It was NOT there 48 hours prior). You can even see water in it if you push on the glass. Luckily I had gotten quotes on new custom tanks last week. I know of Red Sea’s reputation with Gen 1 tank seam failures, but assumed it was just a statistic. I also told myself that because I dreaded thinking about what’s involved in doing a tank swap.

Now that I’m being forced into needing to fit a new tank in, I’m curious to hear the experiences of others who have replaced/upgraded their tank. My journey will be a bit interesting as I’ll move from a Herbie drain setup to a Bean-animal and have them drill dual returns on either end of the tank. I also do not have the sump under the stand. Instead I have piping through the wall to a fish room behind. So I’ll have to marry up the old plumbing with new additional lines. It also means I’ll need to add a second return pump as my old one was already running at 100% on the Red Sea. The new tank will be about 135 gallons, so a decent step up from 88.

If you have swapped tanks, please share! How did you manage sand? How much water did you transfer and reuse? Mini cycle and fish/corals? Tricks to moving the old tank with stuff still in it? Things to definitely not do?

 

[project1004]

That’s horrible…. So many of these redsea tanks seams busting is one thing I guess we can all expect…. I guess you can now sleep good knowing that will not be an issue.

Going from 88 to 135 is not a big upgrade and shouldn’t have too many hiccups. And it’s not being transferred to different location. Going from 30Gal to 180Gal would expect a problems…

I’ve done tons of upgrades and tank swaps in the past and it’s pretty straight forward. Make sure you have more than enough water made (both salt and rodi), level the tank properly, keep everything wet and make transition using everything from your old system. Removing the old tank and putting your new tank in the location will take the most time. You will likely need tons of buckets and plastic bins. Once the tank is in the location. I would put all the livestocks and rocks in the new tank and fill with water while I work on putting all the parts together. Instead of keeping them in the bucket until you are done setting up the tank which can be a while. Arrange the rocks and stuff after everything is up and running with filterations in operation.

 

[aquaworld75]

@GratefulAlpaca i have done this many times.. even across new home.. below are some of the lesson learned:

1. If possible have the new tank and stand in place empty and all the plumbing and equipment ready.. (I have also done same location swap which requires setting up quickly or establishing a 3rd system)
2. Water. I usually moved up in size so I would use almost all “old” water as possible. This is what your stability is based on. I would drain as much “clear” water as possible.. saving rest of water to dust off rocks and rinse sand.
3. Rocks/corals (non fish/inverts). I re use all and would rinse and put into holding/ transport tubs. Pull these all out as you are draining water.
3. Fish and inverts. I would capture once tank is only sand and limited water.
4. Sand would be last to go out. Rinsed in salt water. This is always the questionable part. IF you have a deep sand bed. This can cause spike in levels. May have to consider adding to new tank slowly. But this also provided major filtration in your old system so it’s needed.
5. Equipment. Sump’s, skimmers, pumps, heaters, etc. anything that willl be re used. Great time for a deep clean.
6. Lighting. Changing lights is troublesome as well. Your tank / coral are used to certain light spectrum / intensity and height. Ideally you use same lights. Or acclimate from low settings.
7. Transport or holding tanks. Keep flow and temp stable.
8. No matter what there will be some imbalance in ammonia / nitrate. So expect some level of cycle / break in period to settle back in.

Good luck!