buying used tank with fish... HOW?

[tang_man_montreal]

Hey guys..
I've been offered an incredible deal here locally that I don't want to pass up.
The only problem is that I don't know how to go about aquiring it.
I've been offered a 108g tank with livestock (Blue Tang, Yellow Tang, another fish, some inverts), LS and LR. How would I go about bringing this all home? I would have to somehow bring some (or all?) of his water home so that I can set up the tank without having to cycle it.
Or try to see if my local LFS will let me house some fish there until my tank is cycled?
How do you all do it?
I do have an empty 29g tank at home, could it help me in this situation? how?
Thanks

 

[carrie1429]

I would have the LFS keep the fish until you get your tank ready for them. I think if you use some of the water from the tank it should be ok and you wouldn't have to cycle it again, maybe use half of the water already in the tank and just use half new water. Also I wouldn't put the fish in a 29 gallon because that would have to cycle before you add the fish and they would probably not have too much room especially wih two tangs. Just my opinion.

 

[virginia reef]

Beg, buy, or steal a bunch of large containers-several molded plastic trashcans with lids would be a good start. You will need some sort of cart or dolly to save your back. Several large buckets in the 5-10 gallon range will help.
You should make up a bunch of saltwater ahead of time. Match temp, salinity, and pH as closely as possible to the current tank. Use your 29g for the livestock while you move and set up the new tank. Fish should be transported in individual plastic bags placed in a cooler. This will minimize heat loss and the darkness will reduce stress. The inverts can also be moved this way. Coral should be placed in some type of covered container so that different species are not placed in direct contact with each other.
Remove and save as much clean water as you can before you stir up the tank. Remove coral first. Easy to catch fish/inverts can also be removed at this time. Next remove LR and stack in containers. You can either move this with or without water. If the LR is moved underwater, there should be virtually no die-off. Be sure the containers do not get too heavy to handle them. You can use the buckets to haul water to your truck (hope you don't have to do this in a car) and top off the LR if you choose. If you don't submerge the LR, place newspaper or towels on it and keep these wet.
Be careful about fish/inverts hiding out in the LR when you do this. You may pick out a piece of LR or two that have fish hiding in them and move these separately. Sand can be scooped out with just about anything. An empty gallon jug works well if you have one with a screw-on lid-just cut out the bottom. Place the sand in another container with just enough water to cover the surface.
Load it up and drive like heck.
Actually, you should do a couple of things to keep the livestock live. Have your 29g ready to go for the fish/inverts. Buy a couple of extra powerheads to use in some of the holding containers. Circulating water will do a lot to keep things healthy. This will be all that the corals and LR need for a while. Manage temperature with heaters and/or room temp.
Plan the electrical and plumbing scheme so that you can handle the tear down and set up in a reasonable time. Try to understand how all of the connections need to be made.
When the tank has been move, add sand first. Then add LR or water depending on your preference. The water should be added by pouring it onto something (casserole dish?) that will keep the sand from getting too stirred up. Take as much care as possible to arrange the LR in a VERY stable way. It's much easier to do this without livestock/coral in the way.
Hire lots of friends (usual cost is a six pack and pizza each). This scheme worked very well for me recently. Good Luck.

 

[tang_man_montreal]

Virginia Reef,
Thanks for the in depth response.
Carrie, thanks for yours as well.. I havn't decided how I will do this yet, But will let you all know how it goes when I do it.

 

[marty]

Depending on the type of fish currently and possible future additions, you might want to put some rock down first (base rock?) and then add the sand. I have read here that some fish will burrow and possibly dig under the rock and cause it to collapse.
Just a thought for you.
Good luck!

 

[tang_man_montreal]

Virginia Reef,
I was re-reading your post... Wow.. it sounds like a difficult undertaking. Especially for someone like myself, this is my first venture into aquaria.
Should I even consider trying this, and hope that I don't lose many fish/livestock? or start off new?
Also, The current owner is using CC with LR instead of a DSB. I would like to put playsand instead of the CC and create a 4" DSB as well as add some sort of detrivore kit. Will there be a cycle issue with new playsand even if I try to use most of his cycled water with LR?
It is a good deal, such that losing some fish would not make a difference (financially). Ofcoarse, I'd rather not lose the fish.
Included, there is:
50lbs live rock, corals, 70 hermits, serpent star, fluval 403, powerheads, trickle filter, 20G sump, 6 40watt neons, air pump, protein skimmer, starfish, books, test kits (ph, alkaline, etc)
Yellow Tang, Blue Regal Tang, flame hawk

 

[mb4000]

If the tank is close, see if you can take more than one trip or days. If it isn't cold outside then you could move the fish and inverts 1 or 2 five gallon buckets from their house to yours. Don't fill the buckets more than 2/3 and use a lid if it has one. If it is cold them put a 1-liter bottle of pretty warm water in the five gallon bucket with the fish to prevent a chill Bring 10 or so more gallons from their tank with a few rocks in those same buckets and put the fish in a rubbermaid container at your place with a powerhead and small heater. The rock will prevent an ammonia spike. Your fish will be fine for a few days. Feed garlic soaked food to boost the fish immune system during the ordeal. When you decide to move the sand and remainder of rock then take out about 15 more gallons of water to keep. I personally would take as much water as I could without exposing the rock and corals with me the first trip to put in the tub holding your fish. now remove the rock into some buckets. As long as the rock stay damp then you will have virtualy no die off. Stir the tank up and remove all but about 3 inches of water above the sand. Make sure that all of the critters are out and just siphon out the rest of the sand into some buckets. Then move the tank and set it up at your place. I would put in your fish once the tank was filled with the original water and the sand and rock was in. Then slowly add in new water over a day or to to acclimate the fish and you are done. I bought a shallow but long thick rubbermade tub to hold my fish. They did just fine for two weeks with just powerheads, heater and some rocks. This also alows you to use buckets for transporting only and not holding stuff also.

 

[tang_man_montreal]

Thanks for the reply..
I like hearing that the fish can stay that long in rubbermaids should they need to..
Although, you probably misread my post regarding the sand.
The current owner currently has CC as a substrate. I want to replace that with playsand and create a 4-5" DSB when I install the tank at my place.
Will the tank go through a cycle if I put in NEW unused playsand with HIS LR and as much of HIS cycled water that I can?
Or will I be ok putting new sand, adding his LR, his water, and adding the fish, coral, and inverts?

 

[mb4000]

You should not have to recycle. Do you like the look of the DSB. The reason why I ask is because if the person has not had nitrate problems then you could go with a shallow sand bed and let the rock take care of nitrates. A dsb is only use full if the bioload is to high for the live rock to handle. Make sure if you keep the fish in the tub to monitor the tub the same as if they were in the tank ( top off water, temp,circulation ). The expierience will be much better on the fish if you take your time and not try and do it all in one day.

 

[sinner's girl]

Just a note: only let a lfs keep your fish if you trust them. even then be careful. we let a lfs that we trusted keep our fish while we were out of town and HE SOLD THEM!!!! granted they were only damsels, but I liked those damsels. he forgot he was watching them for us.

 

[rockster]

LOL, Sinner's Girl, I hope your LFS gave you the money