amonia dosing?

Ok cooll thanks inwall im all ears

 

I also have dr.tims bacteria culture on hand...tons of it lol for close to 1000 galllons(lfs went outa buisness I bought it all for$ 75)

 

Here's my idea since most of your sand and rock are coming from the tank with the majority of the fish.....

For the rock in the garbage can, just keep the bacteria alive. Don't worry about increasing the bacteria population.

(THIS IDEA IS PREDICATED ON THE ASSUMPTION THAT IF YOU LAY ON THE FLOOR AND LOOK UP THROUGH THE BOTTOM OF THE STAND WITH A FLASHLIGHT AT THE BOTTOM LAYERS OF SAND, IT'S WHITE AND THERE ARE NO LARGE BLACK SPOTS)

In the tank that has the majority of the sand, rock, and fish, those are the rocks that you'll increase the bacterial population on. Sand takes a lot longer to rinse and uses much more water than you could possibly imagine......A LOOOOOOOT LONGER. I'm so lazy I never do it. I always start off new. I'm assuming that for monetary reasons, you want to re-use the sand. I wouldn't even keep the majority of it alive. It would cost you fortune in salt and RO/DI water to keep them alive and it's not worth it. Rinse the living daylights out of it, use a hose and a bucket hose until there's no more cloudiness, then lay it out on some cheap plastic and dry it out. Even if you're one of those people who hate bristleworms, have a bucket of saltwater and a thick glove so that you can save them and put them back into the tank to save their lives. (Just trust me on this one...don't want to go off-topic).

15~20 days before you're going to set up your new tank, remove 1/10th of the sand. Wash it with your hose and then lay it out on plastic in the sun. The next day do the same. (The bacteria to handle your current bioload will move to your rock as well as other areas). Eventually, you'll be bare bottom and your rock will be able to handle the entire bioload. As the surface area decreases, more bacteria will move to those rocks.

A number of days before you set up your tank, re-use this sand and put saltwater on top of it with a powerhead. Once you're at zero Ammonia, start moving rock over. When you move the rock over from the highly stocked tank, you'll have all the bacteria you will need.

 

i managed to score 200gallons of saltwater for $25 from a local guy after his water change out of his epic sized tank i should be able to rinse my sand with that, though it does not have all the levels of new sw its still sw (yes i transported it in 5 gallon buckets lol,its outside coverd in some old tanks)

so move the sand 1/10th of the tank per day. i think i can do that....my only concern is that i cannot see the bottom of my sand. my tank is on a desk. but its about 2 years old. sould i be worried about amonia in that tank?

 

im hoping this tank will be going up this month.my brothers wedding is next month wich means family at the house. right now i have the 2 tank taking up the majority of my living room

 

I wouldn't worry about Ammonia. I would worry about H2S2. Hydrogen Sulfide zones aren't usually a problem unless your tank is quite old and has a DSB. Usually found in tanks that are overstocked, under-skimmed, with not enough flow. I wouldn't think you are going to have an issue but as a precaution, I would have some heated, aerated, fully mixed saltwater sitting there just in case you get the tell-tale smell of rotten eggs. That way you can do a very fast waterchange. You probably have Prime or Amquel sitting by just in case there's ever an Ammonia issue.

 

ok cool i always have atleast 50 gallons of water change water on hand for an emergency. and i happen to have amquil stress coat and prime on hand lol,they came from a craigslist score.

thanks everyone and special thanks to inwall