Tank transferring - what should I worry?

[Elite]

In a month or so I will transfer all my stuff from a 100G to my 210G. I have only 2" of sandbed in the tank and about 40lbs in a fuge. They are a little bit dirty. I'm thinking about saving some and wash/clean the rest. I will try to save as much as water as I can but that is still only fill up about 1/2 of the new tank. I can't have both tanks running at the sametime because I don't have enough room in the family room. What should I do so I won't kill my fish. For coral I only worry about the two RBTAs. The rest I can't kill even if I want to ..

 

[Dyngoe]

Wow!

Honestly if you are doing a tank-to-tank move in the same room there isn't much to worry about. Plus, it sounds like you will be moving alot of the seasoned pieces ove (sand, rock, water). I think your biggest concern is the extra 100G of water you will be adding. If it were me, I'd try to syphon off some of my water each week during water changes and store it in a separate tank. However, I only have 46G total. So, I'd be concerned about doubling the water volume with all new water. Also, when thinking about your existing 100G, you won't be able to keep all of it anyway. You'll want to use some to rinse out your sand which you will want to dump at least that if not more "dirty" water. So, you're looking at even less water carry over.

The final think I think you will encounter is LAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGG. Getting a new tank up and running ALWAYS takes longer than you think. I hope you have a good container for your livestock. You'll need to keep that temp stable while you put the new one together. Plan ahead for all of your rock placement and buy extra supplies from Home Depot. Adding 45 minutes to a build is much more frustrating then spending 45 min returning unused crap.

 

[Elite]

When I moved my 100G tank from one house to another, I saved about 80% of the water. At the time, the tank was pretty new so I didn't worry about messing with sandbed. I did 95% work by myself and I finished everything in one day. At that time I didn't have many fish so I didn't have to worry much. I have 2 angels, 2 tangs, 2 clowns, a manderin, fire fish, chromis and two other fish that won't go into the new tank. I don't think I can put them all in a 45G container too long.
One thing I worry most is the new water and washing the sandbed. I'm going to wash it with FW because I won't have enough SW to rinse them.

 

[Ibn]

Just a reality check here, but wouldn't washing the sand w/FW would nuke quite a bit of life in there?

Why not just take the good stuff from your current sandbed and then pile some fresh sand on top of it?

 

[Elite]

Yup that's the reason why I save some to reseed the sandbed. The sand is 2 years old. There are a lot of junks in there that I don't want. Cleaning it is the only way you can remove those crap.

The additional "new sand" I will be using are dead sands. If you put dead sand on top of live sand, you kill most of the stuff in the live sand. The live sand you buy from the store is not really live IMO. Those are sand in water. Who knows who long they have been sitting on the shelf.

 

[sid700]

Hi Elite. I would set up a temp tank in the garage (if you have the room). it doesn't have to be fish tank, it can be rubbermaid stuff. I'd use that until the 210 is ready.

You're gonna have to park that Honda outside.

BTW, I have a 45 gal glass tank (48"x12"x19"?) you can borrow, if you like.

 

[Elite]

Thanks Sid!! I can't setup the tank in the garage. I don't park my car in there and I still don't have any room in there .. Also the temp in there is very low at night.

Do you guy think I will have problem washing the sand and reuse it right away??

 

[bareefers]

one of my friends moved a tank with a dsb, was careful to remove all livestock and most of the water, then scooped out top 1" of ls and kept it aside too. took the rest out and washed down with freshwater.. then put everything back when got to new place.

been over 8 months now, he had a small cycling issue (algae mainly), other than that no problems. all corals, etc. look fine..

may want to do final rinse with RODI or declorinated water? just a thought..

 

[Dyngoe]

I'll second the concern with washing the sandbed in freshwater. There really isn't any need to do this unless you have parasites or "bad" bacteria you want to nuke. Just use a little of the current saltwater in a tub with the sand and slosh it around. So what if you don't get it OxyClean, it will get "dirty" soon enough anyway. Why waste a good amount of bacterial filtration? If you are worried about losing your current water, then you could use NSW from your LFS to rinse the sand. Besides, once you put it in the tank it will stir up again and any detrius/dirt will be suspended in the water. It will be EASY for your skimmer to remove it.

 

[Elite]

The last time I washed some sand, I used about 100-150G of water before it looked good enough to use. I will see how dirty it is when I remove it from the tank.

 

[Raddogz]

Phong - check out the recent episode of Reefcast -

http://www.melevsreef.com/moving_a_tank.html

http://www.reefcast.com/rinsing_sand.html

 

[Elite]

Dang.. the one I need the most is not working.. rinsing sand
Thanks Eileen

 

[Raddogz]

[quote author=Elite link=topic=2031.msg19893#msg19893 date=1178316248]
Dang.. the one I need the most is not working.. rinsing sand
Thanks Eileen
[/quote]

Hang on: http://melevsreef.com/rinsing_sand.html

 

[bareefers]

nice link eileen.. melev says 'okay' to freshwater rinsing with a garden hose.. good to know for future reference!

 

[Raddogz]

Marc aka Melev was washing out the sand in the refugium portion of the sump. He still has plenty of sand and live rock in the main display to re-seed the sand in the refugium.

 

[Elite]

I'm going to save the sand in my refugium to reseed the sandbed. Cool link.. Thanks Eileen