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[littlefish]

75 gal reef tank, leaking...emergency invert/fish removal...new tank set up tomorrow. Questions: If I move a cucumber into a mini tank with crush coral base will he try to eat it and die? I was thinking about cleaning the gunk out of the bottom of the sump before moving it to the new tank. Is that a bad idea? This has been traumatic for us all any help will be much appreciated.

 

[whipple]

If you save as much water as you can like 3/4 you can pull the whole thing off as good cleaning and large water change in reguards to shock to the fish,the cucumber wont eat anything he cant handle as far as ive known of them,and clean the sump as long as you have enough replacement water to fill in with (live) water i'd say atleast 3/4 of beggining amount including the sump. If you have enough water you can get thru it with minimal stress on your fish-n-verts.

 

[fish]

I agree. Saving as much water (75% or greater) as possible will be your best chance for the least impact when converting. Maintain your water temps. Cleaning the sump is not a bad thing but don't use anything but water. I had to do mine because a pump went out and blew oil into my sump. What a mess!
Take your time and don't panic.
I wish you luck!
Fish

 

[littlefish]

Thanks for your help. I have saved most of the water from the old tank.
The peppermint shrimp that were hiding in rocks are now in buckets. I have then in a warm room but how long can they last like that?

 

[cyn]

I think that if you put powerheads in the buckets you should be ok. As far as a warm room, that depends on the size of the buckets. Smaller buckets will reach room temperature faster than larger ones. Most people do not keep their houses at 78 degrees. You could go to Home Depot and get one of those rubbermaid tubs that hold 50/70/90 gallons and put your stuff in them, add the heater and powerheads and be ok for a while.
HTH,
cyn