Migrating Tanks need advice

[ronnieblaze]

I will be migrating to a larger tank in the next couple of weeks, I am going from a 55g long to a 75G.

The new tank will go in the same place the 55 is so i cant just set up it another place which sucks!

So right now im making a list of things that i need to get to have ready.

Need more sand and rock (have 60lb sand and ~43lb rock)
250w heater (have a 150w now)
second Koralia 4
buckets lots of buckets!


ok now for method of moving whats in the tank to new tank.

as for live stock all i have is
1 pistol shrimp
1 yellow watchman gobie
1 scooter blenny
2 cleaner shrimp
1 yellow tang
1 6 line
1 emerald crap
god only know how many hermits and snails

Coral:
Leather Toadstool on a small rock
Xenia on a small rock (dont really care about them)
Medium sized open Brain.
small zoa frag.

I plan on pumping the water from the tank into the buckets and putting all the rock.. and fish in there own buckets.. then scooping the sand out then take the tank down and setup the new one...

one major question that a friend and i were discussing was adding that much new water to the tank once we get everything put back in will that start a cycle over agian?

 

[xyzpdq0121]

I would really consider using all new sand if your old sand bed was a "deep" sand bed. There could be some VERY nasty stuff in that old sand bad that you do not want to let out! If you had a shallow sand bed, you should be ok.

I would consider using both heaters in your new tank, you never can have enough safegaurds.

I would consider putting a heater in the fish bucket along with an airstone.

I would save about 40 gallons (OR AS MUCH AS YOU CAN) of old tank water for the new tank. This will make it much easier for your fish and corals to adjust as well as help stablize thigns a bit.

REMEMBER TO DRIP ACCLIMATE YOUR FISH TO THE NEW TANK!!! You just can not throw them in to the new tank.

A cycle should not start if a) you leave the rock covered at all times and b) if you save some of the old tank water.

 

[twinytwin]

tyrant i had just upgraded from my 55 to a 90 3 months ago. as long as you have cycled live rock and sand you should be fine. with adding all that new water it is like doing a big water change. so no it wont recycle. if your still worryed about u can get some stability from a lfs and put that in everyday for a week.

 

[ronnieblaze]

ya im going to try and pump all the water that i can from my current tank and reuse as much as possible of it.

i thought about getting all new sand, but my friend that is helping me said its really not nessicary... but you bring up a good point about possible having bad things in the sand... i have a total of 60lbs of sound now... so it would be all that bad to get all new sand.

im just worried about it starting a new cycle.. my current setup is about 6 months old...

 

[james s_]

KEEP THE OLD SAND. I learned that the hard way when I moved my tank .

 

[james s_]

Barbara;132013 wrote: If your system is only 6 months old your sand is probably not bad yet. Mine was a deep sand bed and was over 3 years old when I changed tanks. I took a garden hose and stuck it down in a 5 gallon bucket with about 15-20 pounds of my "old" sand, and the waterhose had to run for a good 10 minutes to get all the crap out of the sand. I doubt yours is that dirty.

Did you setup the tank with all new sand once you moved it? Any losses?

 

[caesar]

Xyzpdq0121 has a good idea. we could do a 20 gallon change the night before and save that water in bucket. that should give us 75 gallons for the move.

 

[saltwater junky]

i upgraded from a 46 to a 75 with29 gallons of new water with no problem at all. just make sure if you are running a wet/dry to keep your media wet so it doesnt die. stability would be a great investment because we all know s--- happens.

 

[stanfill reef]

If you want to make it easier to keep everything happier, don't use buckets. Buy a few 15-gal rubbermaid/stearlite containers instead. Siphon water into the first container (about 3/4 full). Pull out your rock and place into your second. Siphon water to cover the rock. Now that the tank water level is pretty low the fish are easier to catch. Remove fish and inverts to first container. (If you move the rock first you will kick up a lot of crap into the water, so remove the fish water to a clean container first). Make sure to place an airstone and heater in each container.

Remove remaining water to buckets or other containers. Remove sand to buckets. Break down old tank. Put up new tank. Add old sand. Add new sand. Slowly add old water. Place LR. Add LR container water. Top off tank with new water and let run for a few hours to get the temperature stable and crud filtered out/settled. Drip fish and add to new tank.

This is how I did it through several tank changes and moves. Works like a charm. And I would use the old sand, I don't think that it will be that bad after 6 months, assuming that you purchased it new.

 

[ronnieblaze]

ya that is a great method, and i wasnt going to use bucket buckets cus i know thats way to small to hold everything...

and this is why im starting my planning early so me and caesar have a game play to follow.


the only live stock that i think is going to be the hardest to catch is going to be my pistol shrimp since he lives under one of my rocks

Stanfill Reef;132031 wrote: If you want to make it easier to keep everything happier, don't use buckets. Buy a few 15-gal rubbermaid/stearlite containers instead. Siphon water into the first container (about 3/4 full). Pull out your rock and place into your second. Siphon water to cover the rock. Now that the tank water level is pretty low the fish are easier to catch. Remove fish and inverts to first container. (If you move the rock first you will kick up a lot of crap into the water, so remove the fish water to a clean container first). Make sure to place an airstone and heater in each container.

Remove remaining water to buckets or other containers. Remove sand to buckets. Break down old tank. Put up new tank. Add old sand. Add new sand. Slowly add old water. Place LR. Add LR container water. Top off tank with new water and let run for a few hours to get the temperature stable and crud filtered out/settled. Drip fish and add to new tank.

This is how I did it through several tank changes and moves. Works like a charm. And I would use the old sand, I don't think that it will be that bad after 6 months, assuming that you purchased it new.