upgrading to a 120

[waya1974]

I currantly have three 55's, 2 salt water (one is empty) they are fish only and 1 freshwater I am buying a 120 so i can combime the two saltwater I have a couple questions. Then flip one of the remaining 55's in to a fresh water for a rather aggresive birch.

can I combime the water in the two tanks? the salinity and chemical readings are about identical.

how long should I wait transfer fish ext into the new tank?

Is there anything you have to do to convert a salt water tank to fresh or a brackish water tank?


any advice is greatly appreciated I know that these are noob questions but i definately don't want a massive fish massicre, thank you.

 

[eagle9252]

i would say treat it as you would new fish.

if you were upgrading one tank you could treat it as a WC and move everything from one tank to the other and then add the new water. thats what i did. i moved my 75 to a 100g stock tank for 3 weeks and then from the 100g stock tank to the 120g DT. adding about 30g of fresh SW each time

 

[jef4y]

It's just water. If the parms are very close, mix 'em up. As for transfering the fish, if they're already in one tank and you pull that water, you should be fine to transfer them straight away. I'm assuming you have some liverock or something as well that's going in this tank?

Basically, if you're just moving to a bigger tank there is no reason to wait and risk stressing the fish more in a tub. Just get it done.

Salt to Fresh or Brackish, I have no experience.

 

[eagle9252]

i used a tub because i wanted to take my time. if you can swap out in 3 to 4 hrs just put them in a buckett. you could add an air stone if you like

 

[waya1974]

yes I have live sand and rock in both tanks thank for the replys guys I just wasn't positive that they could be tranfered same day

 

[jef4y]

it may not be able to be transferred in the same day. You'll have to figure that out for yourself.

In my case, I'm upgrading from a 60 to a 150 and the timeline is 3 days MINIMUM, and it may stretch into the 4th day. Will see.

Plan it all out!

Also, on your sand bed, if it has any age to it (like over a couple months old) you are going to need to replace it or spend a SIGNIFICANT amount of time rinsing the sand or you're going to run a very high likelihood of nuking your tank.

 

[eagle9252]

i used new on the 120 upgrade as the sand i had in my 75 was used and VERY NASTY.
at $25.00 for 20# of LS vs $40.00 for 40# of dry sand. for $10.00 i did not have to rinse anything. just dump and go.