Adopting a new aquarium

[phlyer]

Hi everyone,

Im trying to get into salt water tanks and from everything ive heard and read its go big. So to ease the stress on my budget i have found a lady that is getting rid of hers cause she has to move. So is it a big hassle setting up and maintaining an already estabilished tank? And any tips or pointers for moving it?

The tank is 115g with 80lbs of live rock and 10 fish

Thanks

[BlueTang<3]

First of all welcome to canreef, next you posted in the featured tank of the months forum :wink:. From my experiences, they only say its easier to start big as the levels are a lot more stable. But I strongly recommend starting smaller like 30-50, use it as a stepping stone and grow from there. If you keep up with your maintenance you wont have issues. Keep your bio load down and start with easier corals. With the technology out now you could easily buy an led module to light the tank and keep it with you as you grow. All you will really need is a tank, stand, light, heaters and powerheads. Taking on a 110 with limited experience will be a big leap for you to make, not saying it cant be done but there is a steppe learning cure in this hobby. I personally would watch for a used tank and pick up some dry rock and or used live rock from here and start and read up keeping everything smaller will be easier on you and your wallet. This is a good place to learn and ask questions. I also found going out and looking at other peoples set ups and talking to them was a big help in our learning.

[jtbadco]

I am fairly new to SW but there are a few things I have heard that you should be careful about.

Transporting the aquarium contents.
I have read that you can stir up alot of bad stuff from the substrate when you move the tank. Check with some of the more experienced reefers on the best way to move the sand, LR and livestock.

You may go thru a mini-cycle and/or get some die-off of your biological filter. Be prepared to keep a close watch on salinity, Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates and pH. Also have lots of pre-mixed SW ready in case water changes are needed.

Do lots of reading (from different sources) on all of the fish and critters you will be keeping. Make yourself familiar with their ongoing care and feeding requirements.

I also suggest looking up the make/model, etc of the equipment...ie skimmer, lights, etc that you will have in this set up. If any of the equipment is damaged or should be upgraded, now is the time to do it.

What will you be using for water? I think RO/DI is the most recommended source for SW tanks. Check with forum members near you to find the best source if you don't have a system yourself.

Do lots of reading on SW fish/reef keeping. Make sure that you understand the workings of the biological filtration process in SW and read up on 'SW aquarium cycling'

Whew!!! That's it.
Sorry for the novel but being new myself these are some of the things I found important. I know there are probably more but I'm sure the really experienced ones will chime in.

HTH
Blaine

[MKLKT]

When I moved established tanks in the past I brought the water level down to just above the substrate and did my best not to disturb it, however a 115 is likely too heavy to do that I'd imagine. Live rock should be transported wet, best results is submerged but you can bag the pieces wrapped in tank-soaked paper.

[mike31154]

I purchased my current 77 gal setup from a lady in Richmond & transported the whole works here to Vernon in a station wagon during the winter. Total aquarium newb at the time, except for some online research before making the purchase. With the teardown, transport & setup I'd say at least 10 hours or more elapsed. Wrapped live rock in newspaper soaked with tank water & placed in containers for the trip. Tank was drained down to the sandbed with a little water left in. I did not transport any fish or livestock since the lady only had a small clownfish that she transferred to her smaller tank.

I assume your move will be a lot shorter than mine, so should be a little easier other than the fact that it's a larger tank. Best advice I can come up with is get as much info from the person selling the system as you can, have plenty of containers, buckets etc. on hand and a few very strong individuals. Pretty much everything in the tank except for the substrate will have to be removed for the move. That's where the containers come in. Use them to move the livestock & rockwork. Keep some of the old water but have a ton of fresh saltwater ready to go for setting up again once the move is complete. Have twice as much water ready actually, if you can. You may want to keep the fish in a container for a few days after setting up so you'll need extra powerheads & heaters. Get the appropriate test kits and test the water after the move. There's bound to be at least a small cycle, so testing is imperative before transferring the fish back in there. Once the numbers are good, you can start putting the livestock back into the tank.

Does the system come with a sump? A few more details about the set up would be good to see if there's any additional advice to aid in the move.

[Doug]

:welcome:

to Canreef

I will move it to the reef forum for you.

[phlyer]

This is a 5 foot display tank made of a combination of acrylic and glass. The tank has rounded corners giving a clear view of the occupanc The acrylic is in great shape and does not have any scratches that I am aware of. The trim matches the cabinet it sits on. It has the option to use a built in filter system incorporated in the lid ( this is only good enough for fresh water fish),also has T5 lighting, consisting of 4 bulbs.

.This sits on a glossy wood finished cabinet that matches the trim on the tank. It has 4 cupboards for storing supplies.
.
Filters tank is set up to use a canister filter but I am using two Aqua clear #100 hang on filters original cost $100.00 each

I am running 3 heaters just to be sure if one fails the heat runs constant

1 korolla #6 water mover If I recall this retails for $200.00 plus.

Live rock about 80 lbs of fuji live rock none is flat, all is premium retails at $9.00 a lb

Livestock 6 mature Pajama Cardinals, 2 tomato clowns, 1 bi colored damsel and a few snails.

[fishoholic]

The bad thing about acrylic tanks is that they are a pain to clean. You have to use a special acrylic cleaning pad or mag float and be willing to clean the tank every other day to keep the algae from building up. If you don't clean it fairly often the algae will build up and be next to impossible to scrub off.

Also throw out any used sand and buy new sand, or if you want to use the old sand bed rinse it very very very throughly before reusing it. During the move the old sand will get stirred up and release bad bacteria and nitrates into your system more then likely causing the whole system to crash and you'd end up loosing everything.

Canister filters or aquaclear filters are only good for running carbon in otherwise they just cause problems and become nitrate factories. To clean/filter the water in the tank you will need a skimmer.

[Wayne]

You might want to consider selling the Damsel and not include him in your new system... Needless to say they are hard to remove if you find that he's a PITA later on :)

They can be aggressive and depending on what you want to do with your system in the future...

[ReefOcean]

Transport as much water as you can and re-use it. Keep as much of the LR submerged as you can during the move. Have pre-made salt water made in buckets a couple days before the move. It you make the saltwater the day of, freshly mixed saltwater can be caustic.

[sgreen]

Rubber maid containers work very well. transfer as much as you can, keep the rock submerged. Do it as fast as possible. And yes the damsel should go, he will cause problems in the future.