I guess I'm up grading!

I guess I'm upgrading. Well I'm terrified, my husband and I went to the store to buy a sea hare and came home after ordering a custom 90 gallon now front. Oh boy. I'm very excited but that's a pretty big tank for me. Any body want to give a 3!year newbie some tips on transferring tanks?

 

Take your time, make a plan. If you need more rock, get it in a brute to cycle. Are you putting the tank in the same place as the current tank or new location? If new location get it set up running and cycled before switching.

For me I am going from a 100 to a 220. I have a 150 gallon rubber made and a skimmer curing my rocks. Once the rock is cured I am going to transfer the rocks to brutes that I have with powerhead and heater and then use the 150 as a holding tank for my current tank inhabitants. Once I have everything in the holding tank, I Will remove the 100 and in with the 220. Hook up the plumbing ( I am fortunate that I built a sump room with expansion in mind and don't need to do anything with my sump / skimmer etc.)

Make a list of everything you think you will need and bounce ideas off here and other reefers. You will need extra water made up, salt - etc

Don't rush the transfer, make a plan and take your time. Rushing leads to problems and leaving things out.

 

oh yeah and good luck with the upgrade!! Enjoy the tank!

 

Oh boy, I may be in over my head! Let's start with this, what is a Brutes? Yes I'm putting it in the same place as the other tank, our plan was to set it up and use the same rock and of course livestock etc.... We currently have which isn't a lot, like possibly 35-45 lbs and then add over time. We wanted to really take our time with our aquascaping. To be honest, we have never had a sump below with a skimmer. What I understand is they are putting a 20 gal sump with a reef octopus classic? They are drilling it for us, and then will show us how to maintain it and set it up.

How long should this new tank cycle before I can transfer anything? I will for sure be asking a ton of questions because this is totally new to me!!

Thanks for the advice.

 

Oh, also, am I a bad tank owner that I buy my water and don't mix it myself?

 

so with a 90 in the house now, you should really look into a RODI filter. Water for that tank will get very costly in the long haul and the cost of a GOOD RODI filter will be covered very shortly.

 

Brute is a trashcan - I have one I only use for my fish tanks. Buy it new and keep it for the fish. Adding rock overtime is good and bad. You will always have some kind of die off and could have spikes in ammonia and nitrates when adding a new rock that is not cured.

I would start by posting a list of everything you have now and everything you think you will need.

 

A 20 gallon sump is not that big for a 90 gallon tank. Personally I would go with as large of a sump that you can fit in the stand.

Do you plan on fish only or a reef?

 

So my husband corrected me, it's a 29 gallon sump.

With that info, maybe we will purchase our new rock. Ow and

 

Oops... New rock now and let it cure.

And no, we have a pretty nice mixture of coral, anemone, fish, snails, crabs and star fish. My current contents of my tank are in the pics below. My over all goal is to transfer these to one side of the new tank and start a Acropora bed on the other.