Transfer--what do you think?

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

I will be transferring everything from my current tank to the new tank very soon and looking for ideas. The tanks are in different spots, so that makes this easy. But I am using the same sump, so that kind of complicates things a little I guess.

I also have to make about 120 new Gallons of water and the only place to do that is in the new tank. To start this though, I have to remove the sump from the current tank, put in under the new tank and then put in the front support brace (sump will not fit with brace already in place). So easy enough but then my tank will have no sump, skimmer, zeo ect. for up to a week. That worries me since the tank has such a high bio load. What would you do? Maybe transfer the corals over as soon as possible (so tank would be about half full maybe) and then move the fish once the sump is running on the new tank?

Then the other thing to think about is the sand. I am not going to use it all since I want very little sand this time but will siphoning out the top inch or so and putting it in the new tank cause a cycle at all? I guess I just have to do it and then find out.

Probably making this more complicated then it needs to be but I have had some VERY bad luck with moves in the past, loosing everything the last time.

Any advice would be great!

[banditpowdercoat]

Can you do frequent water changes on the Old tank to eliminate waste buildup?

And the Sand, I've heard/read that it's better to take a whole section of sand out, not skim a layer off all the sand. So, take 1/3 of the sand, or whatever your wanting, but where you take it from, take all the sand all the way down to the bottom. That way you'll be not disturbing the remaining sand and releasing alot of bad crap. Will most likely get a little cycle in old tank, but not nothing major.

Also, can you put sump under new tank, but keep it plumbed to Old tank after placement, or is it the re plumbing that will take the week? Shouldnt need the sump hooked to new tank for cycle. Just have new tank running with powerheads for a while. No Bioload, shouldnt need a sump.

[Mrfish55]

When I upgraded from the 180 to the 300 I mixed up 150gals in the new tank (getting temp and salinity the same), then did water changes back and forth between the two over a few hours then moved everything at once. Only lost a couple corals (they were questionable to begin with) and was carefull with feeding for a couple weeks. Total time to do the changeover was 6 hours (moving from one house to another)

[fishoholic]

When we set up my new fowlr 230g we had our skimmer off line from our old reef 230g tank which has a high bio-load for a week and we didn't have any problems.

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Can you do frequent water changes on the Old tank to eliminate waste buildup?

And the Sand, I've heard/read that it's better to take a whole section of sand out, not skim a layer off all the sand. So, take 1/3 of the sand, or whatever your wanting, but where you take it from, take all the sand all the way down to the bottom. That way you'll be not disturbing the remaining sand and releasing alot of bad crap. Will most likely get a little cycle in old tank, but not nothing major.

Also, can you put sump under new tank, but keep it plumbed to Old tank after placement, or is it the re plumbing that will take the week? Shouldnt need the sump hooked to new tank for cycle. Just have new tank running with powerheads for a while. No Bioload, shouldnt need a sump.

Yeah that makes sense about the sand. I will take whole sections out then but only use the top layer for the new tank. Actually the top inch or so of this sand bed is only a month old...maybe not even. I will try to use just that I think. Or maybe just new sand.

Can't plumb the sump back to the old tank once its under the new stand. Not close enough and not worth it I don't think since it would be only for a week tops.

When I upgraded from the 180 to the 300 I mixed up 150gals in the new tank (getting temp and salinity the same), then did water changes back and forth between the two over a few hours then moved everything at once. Only lost a couple corals (they were questionable to begin with) and was carefull with feeding for a couple weeks. Total time to do the changeover was 6 hours (moving from one house to another)

I think this is basically what I will do.

When we set up my new fowlr 230g we had our skimmer off line from our old reef 230g tank which has a high bio-load for a week and we didn't have any problems.

Good to know. But I don't know if I want to risk it with SPS...



So I think I have it figured out now...hopefully it will go smoothly. Seems like doing this a bit quicker than I was going to may be best for all the livestock rather than dragging it out over a week or two.

I think I will make all the new water in the new tank, add the sand and some LR from the existing tank. Wait a day or two and see if it starts a cycle or not. If it does, then wait that out, if not, then transfer everything else over all at once. Keeps things simple and quick.

[banditpowdercoat]

PS, what you doing with the old tank??? what size is it?? Hint Hint LOL

[tang daddy]

Here is my suggestion remove the sump and place in the new spot then put the brace back. transfer water from old tank to new tank with basically everything rock sand and livestock..... then do your plumbing on your new tank which should buy you a week and in this time keep adding water like 5g a day to your tank which will give you a chance to fill it slowly as for lights just rig them up so they work and then worry about perfecting them afterwards. oh yea and the question about leaks with the overflow? you can dump buckets through your overflow to see if there
are any leaks..... if youve done plumbing before then you know to do things right the first time, use extra glue so there are tight seals and the rest is history, only thing that might complicate things is if you have a cl system and in which case transfer the sump first anyways do plumbing and then transfer everything over then start filling slowly like 30g every few days and you're golden! :smile:

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

PS, what you doing with the old tank??? what size is it?? Hint Hint LOL

Its been in the sale forum for about a month :D

I couldn't sell it even though I was almost giving it away so I am now GIVING it away to my cousin I think. There is still one more person interested but they have not given me an answer yet.

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Here is my suggestion remove the sump and place in the new spot then put the brace back. transfer water from old tank to new tank with basically everything rock sand and livestock..... then do your plumbing on your new tank which should buy you a week and in this time keep adding water like 5g a day to your tank which will give you a chance to fill it slowly as for lights just rig them up so they work and then worry about perfecting them afterwards. oh yea and the question about leaks with the overflow? you can dump buckets through your overflow to see if there
are any leaks..... if youve done plumbing before then you know to do things right the first time, use extra glue so there are tight seals and the rest is history, only thing that might complicate things is if you have a cl system and in which case transfer the sump first anyways do plumbing and then transfer everything over then start filling slowly like 30g every few days and you're golden! :smile:

Well the lights are already hung and ready to go basically since they are different from my current ones. The tank is not plumbed completely yet but is about 80% done already. The stand just needs a last coat of paint and is done...so all in all, its all almost there.

I like your idea though of doing the transfer by moving the current stuff over and then adding 5G of new water or so a day. The only thing I worry about is whether the sand will cause a new cycle or not but I am only transferring the top inch or so of sand....this time I really don't want much sand in the tank.

Thanks!

[banditpowdercoat]

Its been in the sale forum for about a month :D

I couldn't sell it even though I was almost giving it away so I am now GIVING it away to my cousin I think. There is still one more person interested but they have not given me an answer yet.

The 72x17x18 tank?? Bummer a little shallow and narrow. I can see why your upgrading :D

[Skimmerking]

dod what i did man new tank in a different area alot better. i took the rock out and the corals out sucked the sand out and clean it all in the and placed it back in the tank then i ahve clean new sand left about 2-4 icecream pails of old sand to seed it later. in thenew tank i was making about 80 gal of new water same salinity and then took sump off line took the water from the sump and put in new tank.

then what ever water was left in the tubs i had about 50 gal left went back to the new tank now all the old water water was thrown out and the tubs with corals in there were trnafered in to the newtak with the tub water. 5 gal here to the tube as and wait like 15 mins and then switch out all of it and then place the rock in the tank and then the fish and then the corals lost nothing total time 4 hourse from start to finish.

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

dod what i did man new tank in a different area alot better. i took the rock out and the corals out sucked the sand out and clean it all in the and placed it back in the tank then i ahve clean new sand left about 2-4 icecream pails of old sand to seed it later. in thenew tank i was making about 80 gal of new water same salinity and then took sump off line took the water from the sump and put in new tank.

then what ever water was left in the tubs i had about 50 gal left went back to the new tank now all the old water water was thrown out and the tubs with corals in there were trnafered in to the newtak with the tub water. 5 gal here to the tube as and wait like 15 mins and then switch out all of it and then place the rock in the tank and then the fish and then the corals lost nothing total time 4 hourse from start to finish.

Yes the new tank is in a different spot and that does make it easier. I am basically doing what you did.

So is it safe to "clean" some of the sand in old tank water then? Should I rinse as much as I can in either RO water or old tank water to get detritus out and then use it again. Not all of it but at least say 3/4?

[Skimmerking]

what type of sand do you have it will depend on your sand ... I have the carib sea select no dust i love that sand and i took it from the RO water and clean it and rinsed it and i had about 5 gal pail of sand took 1/4 of it as dirty cleans the rest and i still had loads of critter's

pm me your number i will call you ok
mike

[tang daddy]

gsp if you're only keeping abit of sand then this should be easy just empty contents of the old tank to the new, leave sand and abit of water in the old then take out what sand you want and remaining water with 3 or 5 salt pails, rinse the sand going from one pail to the other and so forth you know what I mean!

in the end all the detrtious should be minimal then cut off all the flow in your new tank, bag the sand in plastic bags drop it in the tank and gingerly pour them out causing minimal disturbance, alternatively poke a hole in the bottom of the bag and use the bag like a pastry chef piping a cake with icing TA DAH!! :mrgreen:

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

what type of sand do you have it will depend on your sand ... I have the carib sea select no dust i love that sand and i took it from the RO water and clean it and rinsed it and i had about 5 gal pail of sand took 1/4 of it as dirty cleans the rest and i still had loads of critter's

pm me your number i will call you ok
mike

Thanks Mike...I have the same sand. I think I should be fine.

gsp if you're only keeping abit of sand then this should be easy just empty contents of the old tank to the new, leave sand and abit of water in the old then take out what sand you want and remaining water with 3 or 5 salt pails, rinse the sand going from one pail to the other and so forth you know what I mean!

in the end all the detrtious should be minimal then cut off all the flow in your new tank, bag the sand in plastic bags drop it in the tank and gingerly pour them out causing minimal disturbance, alternatively poke a hole in the bottom of the bag and use the bag like a pastry chef piping a cake with icing TA DAH!! :mrgreen:

Good ideas. Thanks Chris.

I think the only reason I am worried is because with my last tank move, I didn't really rinse the sand and just added it back to the new tank...didn't go so well. I think the sand really messed the tank up. I just want to be sure this time.

[Mrfish55]

When I did the upgrade the sand was the last thing out of the old and the last thing into the new, once everything was moved and most of the water was drained I used the remaining water to clean the sand, I just scooped out 5-6" into a 5 gal bucket and topped up with salt water then hooked up the trusty old Diatom filter, keep stirring the sand untill spiffy clean then remove the sand and add more. It only took a little over an hour to clean up approx 100lbs of sand, then bag it up, lower into new tank and gently pour out. The new tank was spotless clean and clear within an hour and stayed that way. This is also the same method I use to maintain the sandbed, when doing a water change I just siphon the sand into a pail, run the Diatom till clear then dump the water and return the sand to the tank. Good luck with the changeover, when all is said and done you will find it is not as bad as you feared, just make sure you have a little extra water mixed and ready to go.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

I ran my 210g bare bottom for 6 months but Irene & I hated the look so I added some clean sand with no problems at all. You don't have to worry about adding the sand right away. You can set up the tank, rinse out the sand & then turn off all the flow before adding in a sandbed. I used a long funnel type contraption to pour the sand in, but you can just scoop it in. The bacteria in your LR will make the sand live again, soon enough.