tank swap

[ricksconnected]

ok heres the deal. i have a 27 thats stand has seen better days.
i have a empty 45 that i want to swap everything over to.
in said 27 is several corals that will end up going to the 120
when it gets ready.
i have 60 plus lbs of live rock and 3in of sand in the 27 that needs to be swapped over. now, the 45 has 3in of sand in it thats never seen
any action. it was dumped in from a bag as live sand about a yr ago
but i never did anything after that with it.
ok as for live stock, theres 1 clown, 1 humbug, 1 engineer goby, and several snails and crabs.
i want to do the swap as quickly and as painless as possible w/o
any livestock suffering.
how should i prep the 45?
how should i go about the swap?
anything i need to be careful of?
keep in mind that im going to mix the old sand with new/unused sand.

 

[coolsurf]

I have done a couple swaps with no real ill effect. You will have to watch your ammonia levels however as you may </em>go through a mini cycle. I would wash the sand (coming from the up and running tank) as once you start the move, it'll stir up who knows what and could pose some risk to the inhabitants. Keep your LR submerged to prevent die off and use as much water out of your existing tank as you can. You should be ok and it would almost be the same as a large water change with no imminant problems.

 

[ricksconnected]

anybody else?
i would have thought more folks
would have opinions on this.

 

[cr500_af]

Rick, when I did a swap, I used all new sand except for about 4 cups of the old. Your LR should hold enough bacteria to take care of you as long as you don't let it dry out and get die-off. I don't think I really NEEDED to use any of my old sand, but I did it anyway just because I'd always read to seed the new sand.

The biggest problem I had was storing everything (having enough containers) because I had to completely empty and move one tank before setting the other one up... the new went in the same spot as the old.

The main thing that took up lots of time was letting the water clear up after filling the new tank and stirring up sand. I used two large HOB filters. If I were going to do it again, I think I would shop for a deal on a used canister filter. That should take care of it pretty fast. I put all my fish and snails on one 10g QT while I did the work. They were cramped, but I began around noon and the tank was ready (sand settled and water up to temp) by around midnight.

By the way, WTH is a "humbug"?

 

[ricksconnected]

hey barry thank you for the reply.
my 27's sand is very very healthy now.
i want to use as much of it as possibe.
yep i want the 45 in the exact same spot as the
27, its gonna be tough.
i do have a ehiem classic i could fire up and run.
its gonna be the filter of choice anyways for the 45.
i think i have enough containers. if not wally world is right up the street.
my 27's stand is starting to swell so its getting time to make the change.
besides, the 45 is bigger and way more nice of a tank.
the 27 is a bow front. i'll trash it when im done probably
unless kirsten wants to keep it for some reason.
had hackman and ATLkayak over on sunday.
we are talking about the plumbing of the 120 and will be getting
started very soon with that project. im gonna let hackman and
mark handle the plumbing. they know more about what i NEED
than i do.
i have a feeling i might have to end up paying them in shrimp and
crawfish lol. which is cool by me cause i know where plenty is.
the 45 is currently where the 120 will be going. so i gotta move it
and move the 30 thats beside the 27 so i can get the 45 closer to the
27. the 27 will be going into the 45, and the 30 will go back to its original spot
which will now be beside the 45 which took the place of the 27, all the while the 120
will have its new home where the 45 once was.
oh, a humbug is a damsel.

 

[ricksconnected]

thank you cliff. between mark, hackman, kirsten, dutsin, and myself, we should have it covered. kirsten can then have her living room back.
right now its like a stones concert, standing room only.

 

[kayakatl]

My suggestion, save some of the water from the next water change to go into the 45. Maybe the water from the next 2 WC. This will help the tank swap not be like a 50% water change. Once you have that in there I would move a cup of Live Sand to the 45. As bad as it sucks. I would not use more than several cups of sand from the 27 UNLESS YOU VAC THE HE** OUT of the sand or wash it out. The ammonia spike could seriously be detrimental to the health of your live stock. I got rid of all my old sand when I moved the 55. Too many people warned me of a second cycle. My tank was THRIVING after I moved it. Still is.

 

[ricksconnected]

my tank just needs a good glass cleaning. i think the health of the 27 is pretty good for what it is.