Adopting a used SW tank

[jus68]

I'm a newbie and I'm sooo excited as I'm 2 weeks away from getting a used SW tank.

It has a 75G Display with 25G Sump and a small refugium.

I've spoken with several staff from LFS and I'm getting different opinions regarding how to move the tank and its contents (live rock & water) and now more confuse then ever and would love some feedback on this.

Questions:

Should I keep the preexisting water or make new water? Should I cycle the tank all over again? There are 50lbs of live rock and some live sand, should I keep the live sand? (i've been told it could be contaminated) What are things I should look for before and after moving the tank? Any others tips...

Thanks in advance for your time and comments.
Alex

[ferret]

Mostlikely I will replace 50% of water at least and put a few snails + one damsel fish as trial to test the water condition and wait for a few weeks, when nothing happen then you may keep the live rocks and sand as to save some money for the future addition. ( This suggestion is only good for FOWLR only not reef tank )

[Midknight]

Hey Alex, The first thing to do is... Hey everybody, I moving a tank. free beer for those that help.
Then I would say when do you need the help.

But really, where are you moving it from and too?
How deep is the sandbed? A good rinse would be Ok if it not too deep.
Then borrow lots of buckets and move the live rock in the water you want to keep.
Also is there any livestock or corals that need to be dealt with?
Hopes this helps.

[wil0311]

When I moved my tank the biggest mistake i made was keeping the old sandbed. Once you disturb all the trapped crap the sandbed holds, my nitrates and who knows what else went through the roof. I would premix 50% of the water and fill the rest with the aged water you transfer the rock with. Really no need to worry about a cycle afterwards. Just add fish.

[mark]

I moved my 75g across town and had no problems but had the advantage of being able to have 80-90g of fresh heated SW available at the new house.

Drained about 25g of the original tank water into 5g pails (one for fish). Put the LR into large plastic tubs, covered with tank water. Caught the fish and placed into one of the 5g pails. Was going to scoop up the top inch of the DSB to re-establish a new DSB but decided to go BB so didn't bother. Drained the rest of the water, took out all the sand and gave the tank a good cleaning.

Once at the new place, set the tank back up, got it leveled then added the water from the pails, placed the LR (discarding the water from the tubs), topped up with the SW I had waiting. Drained quite of bit of the water from the one pail with the fish then added water from the tank to acclimatize. Once acclimatized, added fish to tank. Topped the tank back up with the remaining mix.

No losses, no problem.

[jus68]

Thanks for everyone's comments.

Ferret, my intension is to introduce some corals once the tank is stable... so could you please elaborate on why your suggestion is only for fish only with live rock?

One more week until I get this SW baby... can't wait..