Tranfering tanks....

I brought this up in a forum earlier, but I thought I would get for feedback if I started a thread solely for it. I currently have a 55 gallon that has been up for about 3 years, doing great. I am moving within the next few months and will be purchasing a 90 gallon drilled upgrade. I have yet to do a tank transfer, anyone out there care to give me a few pointers?

Thanks in advance!

D.

 

I recently did this 2 twice.

I never use the old sand, but I do take a cup or two and rinse the heck out of it in SW and add it to the new sand.

Sturdy plastic containers are your best friend.

I move all the rock into one, drain most of the tank water into that container, this lowers the water level and removes fish hiding places.

I then catch all the fish and siphon the rest of the water into a container without ever disturbing the sand bed. Provide flow and O2 with a power head and heat if you live in a cold climate.

Since you are using live cured rock you should experience very little if any cycle if the rock has remained moist and wet.

I also use sponge from the older tank to seed the new tank.

Since the tank and equipment might be new you may experience a Diatom out break and perhaps some Cyano as well.

 

Great, that's pretty much how I imagined it. What's the best way to transport my SPS that has grown onto and branched off my live rock? I only have a couple pieces that still only have plugs at the base, in which I could simply break off and place in it's own container...

 

Well I just broke my large pieces off the rock because I wanted to start with new rock and it's hard to make rock with existing sps fit into the scape you really want.

My sps have sat in the container for hours with out issue as long as they had flow because they slime so darn much after handling.

If you look at my profile page you can see the size of the sps I had to break off the rocks.

Member evolved (Hunter) just did a big tank move, he has a recent thread, check it out. I have a feeling Wrasse must be in the title.

 

Cool, will do. Thanks. ;D

 

This may sound like a silly question, but is it necessary to buy live sand again for the new tank or just reg fine sand and seed it with the couple cups of my current sand? That live sand is expensive!

 

NO!Buy dry sand,theres too many dead organics in bagged "livesand" that could start off another cycle.But by all means use a cup or to out of your 55 to seed the dry sand.

 

Awesome, thanks man!

 

rinsed?

 

preferably ;D,rinsing yourself is a big PITA and not rinsing will give you silt that can take days to clear up and leave a coating/mess everywhere.You'll have some silt anyway you go,but it is much less trouble with pre-rinsed sand.