Moving in...and out....and back in...

;D;D:-[:-[:-[::8)8)::3 reefers- - - - - -8)8)8)
I currently have a 100 gallon established tank (about 6 months) with 2 tomato clowns, 2 scissortail gobies, a firetail goby, a coral beauty, a bubble coral, and a torch coral. We currently have 28 pounds of live rock, but I have 90 plus pounds curing in the garage. Before I place the remaining 90lbs of rock in the tank, I want to place a sump underneath and stain the base. My plan is to transfer all of the livestock and rock to another 55 gallon tank that I have so I can get the tank off of the base so I can complete the work that needs to be done. Is this possible?:-/
The work will be done within a 24 - 48 hour period. Is this much movement going to be too stressful for my fish? Any good recommendations would be greatly appreciated!%^$#!$%^!#!!
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I would use the water from the DT and keep the lights out during the swap to help minimize the stress. Give them some places to hide so they will feel safe. When I changed tanks I put all my live stock in BIG coolers with heaters and Power heads and kept the lids cracked open while changing tanks. I would keep some fresh saltwater for changes during this time or run a filter. There may be better ways but this is how I done it. I didnt lose anything during the swap. Hope this will help

 

Thanks for the reply... so it is definitely possible to knock it out with out losing any of my livestock... G O O D T O K N O W

 

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I finally finished re-establishing my established tank. It consumed 2 weeks of my life but was worth it. The tank looks amazing ( can't wait to get the chance to post some pics).
I had a 45 gallon tank laying in the garage that I scrubbed thoroughly with vinegar and baking soda before rinsing multiple times with my powerwasher. I transfered water from the display tank... as well as my protein skimmer, canister filter (with UV attached), and one of the two powerheads. I lined the bottom of the smaller tank with egg crate to help prevent the 30 pounds of live rock I had from slipping on bare glass. All of the livestock was transferred successfullly. The remaining water was mostly saved in an empty 35 gallon trash can. I did however dispose of about 20 gallons as I did a big gravel cleaning of the substrate. I chose to leave the substrate on the bottom of the display tank with about an inch of water and left a powerhead in to circulate and oxygenate the water. Somehow, with the help of a friend, we were able to lift the tank off of the stand and place it on the ground.
At this point, the hard work began! I stained and polyurethaned the stand multiple times... built and secured 'I' beams for extra support... tinted the back window of the tank with limousine car tint.... and built my first sump with a refugium. After all was said and done, I was able to lift the tank back on the stand that now had the sump underneath.
I entered water back in to the display tank by basically performing multiple water changes on the small temporary tank. I would take out 10 gallons at a time from the temporary tank and place it in the DT... refill the ten gallons... wait awhile... and repeat the process.... etc...

After all was said and done, I added the additional 90 lbs of rock that had been curing in the garage and drip acclimated all the livestock back into the DT. It has been 2 weeks now and all is well.

Will post pics soon.....