I keep getting conflicting thoughts on using primarily new water when moving a tank. I know some people say you should use as much as you can, but logistically it would be much easier to use as little as possible. I can't really see any drawbacks considering my tank is ultra low in nutrients already. Thoughts?
Tank move
- Thread starter Dmac
- Start date
If you are moving a tank from one tank to another, you certainly can use the water if nothing is wrong with it. The problem is if you stir the sand bed or rocks etc and get a lot of excess nutrients/debris/waste that you move to the new system that can cause issues. If you carefully siphon and move from one tank to another, should be fine. However, most people like to use as much new water as it is like a massive water change when switching tanks.
Water is not nearly as bad as as re-using sand that has not been cleaned or vacuumed.
Water is not nearly as bad as as re-using sand that has not been cleaned or vacuumed.
FishciousRumors
New Member
Siphon as much water as you can BEFORE moving any rock. I learned this the hard way. My last move I lost all but one fish, thankfully my coral were fine. Premix more water than you think you’ll need and you’ll thank me later. same thing for buckets, you can never have enough. Use as much of the old (clean) water as you can. I also put in new sand on my last move, dont risk that ammonia spike. Its not worth it. good luck!
I moved one every year for 5 or 6 years from 29g to a 90g all over atlanta then to Tampa. My 2cents is siphon some tank water into the containers you will be moving with. Then move the rock corals and fish into them. Shake the rocks clean either in the tank or in a sacrificed bucket of tank water. That way you are moving limited detritus. Abandon the sand bed. Add a new one in the new/moves tank.
Before you start the move if at all possible have triple the new saltwater you think you will need ready to go. Get ready for some massive water changes to battle ammonia spikes just in case.
Before you start the move if at all possible have triple the new saltwater you think you will need ready to go. Get ready for some massive water changes to battle ammonia spikes just in case.
The idea behind using as much water from your tank as you possibly can is mostly because of the bacteria level present in the water. Usually when you move, you either discard your sand or rinse it thoroughly. In doing that, you lose a lot of bacteria. When we say low nutrient level, we usually talking about nitrate and phosphate, however there's a lot of other elements that make up the eco system in the tank that we either don't know of or don't test. Most of this guys (bacteria and other elements) build up over time. Using the water in your tank helps retain as much of these bacteria and elements as possible. Also moving can be stressful on the animals. Having them move into the same environment as they came from can be one less stress to worry about. Hope this helps.
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When I got back into the hobby, I bought an established tank used. I was told not to worry about the existing water as the primary biological component is the live rock. I think I brought back 10- 15 gallons of tank water because containers were there to do so. I mixed all new salt water and used the old water to house the fish and rocks until I had the tank ready. I also used about 5 gallons of the old water to scrub the rocks. I had no issues. I did not have any corals at the time though just fish.
Is this a tank upgrade within your home or is it a tank move?
That's a good plan.
