down sizing

[thresher9]

I've decided to down size my 65 gallon to a 46 gallon. I left for college and came back to a horrible mess and most of my coral dead, so this year I want to take the tank with me! My first problem is getting water. Would it be better to buy it, get some filter to do r/o, or are there chemicals that treat the water right away? Which would be cheapest and the best? Next, what size water pump should I get? And for moving all the animals, do I need to let the new tank cycle even though I'm using the live rock and sand from my old tank? The fish, coral, and other creature will be in bags and can't really be in them too long.
Can a yellow tang be in a 46 gallon tank or is that too small? I'm afraid everything will be too crowded. I have a pair of clowns, a damsel, dwarf angel, and the tang. And on top of them, my coral banned shrimp is huge.
Any advice will be helpful!

 

[heymybigfish]

Mmm, I. A rookie, but I'd guess it'd be ok, if you dump the damsel. Just because you're already pushing it right? So dump the cheapest fish. In my, inexperienced, opinion.

 

[bang guy]

I would suggest giving away the Tang.
If it were me I would reuse only the top 1/2" of sand and buy new sand for the rest, dry is fine. Place the old sand on top of the new sand.
Disrupting the tank will cause some amount of disturbance with the nitrogen cycle. The degree of disturbance is difficult to predict. Have some Amquel on hand and monitor ammonia very closely. IMO you'll be fine but no guarantee.