Moving tank, need help!!! I have questions!

[grubsnaek]

in a couple months from now, i am going to be redoing the inside of my house. in order to redo the living room, my tank of 2 years has to come down. its a 125DT. should be fun. not all negative though. when the tank is down electritian will be in here rewiring some things so the tank is on its own breaker. i am upgrading my skimmer also, and adding custom overflow boxes, along with a new sump.
but heres my problem, my tank is well established, and i am very affraid of losing corals. this may happen or may not happen...i have several totes and other things to accomodate things such as the fuge, and the sand from the display. i also have a spare (yes spare) 125 tank. my plan is this.
tank the spare 125 and place it into a small room. i then siphon water out of the 125DT to the spare 125. i will take all the live rock from the DT (do some fragging) and place in the other 125 tank. i then scoop out the sand, place that into a tote with water, heater, powerhead. when the DT is done i remove the canopy and place ontop of the other 125. so that way the corals will have normal lite cycle. in the 125 i will also have a heater and my koralia #4s. the sump i will drain into a tote and move everything from the fuge into this tote. again heater and powerhead in this tote also.
i know that this can be done, and i also know i have a pritty good game plan down. but the SAND is bothering me. when its time to put everything back together. how bad is the cycle going to be. basically what scale should i expect to lose things. is it a high chance or low chance.
im not a newbie, meaning every situation is different but im looking for more experienced people to chime in, or for that matter anyone that has done a big move like this.....
what are your thoughts and what would you do, any helpful hints or suggestions are greatly greatly wanted and apprecitated......

 

[saltfan]

Looks good from here, but. If its possible, remove what LR you can, that would shift around. Remove half the water, get a 4 wheeler, furniture dolly, and an appliance dolly (2 wheeler ). Put the appliance dolly under one end, and lift with all you have, have someone else put the 4 wheeler under the tank in the middle, and boom, just move the whole tank. I have done it this way with my 125gDT 3 times, and have only lost one fish, no loss of corals.

 

[grubsnaek]

i feel good about the fish, only fish i could see perish is the flame angel. but i have several fish that went through a move once b4. i think they can handle it...

 

[grubsnaek]

my thing is with everything going into totes for a couple days then back to the tank. how devastating is this going to be. anybody with experience in this please post....
thanx saltfan....

 

[saltfan]

Ok, well all in all, when I had a tank leak on me once, and I had to tear it down, I put everything possible in to the bathtub, along with heaters and powerheads. Don't put the stuff into totes, no telling what will happen without heat and water flow. Put it into your tub if possible or go out and buy a very large plasic tub for the interim. Put what rock you can and all the sand in there, with a heater and powerheads. You should be ok with that.

 

[ilovemytank]

Sounds like you have a good plan. I had to do mine for two days before and used totes and powerheads for movement but I didn't have alot of corals at risk. If it were my tank I would completely rinse the sand or ditch it. I know you get rid of alot of established bacteria that way but I wouldn't risk the cycle or what can be released by the sand. The bacteria will re-establish. Good luck, its always kind of fun to rebuild the design.

 

[nebraska reef]

I helped my pops(dad) move his 150 before. It is a freshwater but still not a piece of cake. He rented piano movers(about $20) from the local Time Tool. What they are, are two, two wheel dollies with a lever and a strap. They only lift it about three to four inches off the floor. We drained the water down to about a quarter, lifted one end up at a time stand and all, slid the piano movers in strapped it and rolled it across the room with gravel and fish still in it. Easy does it though. Worked pretty slick.
Saltwater is a little more complicated though. Maybe you could go this route use the tubs to save the water and temporarally place some of the rocks and coral during the move. That is if you have maybe a spare room or someware on the same floor to roll your tank to.
Your corals and rock would only be in the tubs for a short period of time and you wouldn't have to mess with your sand. Bacterial die off would be a minimum. Good Luck! Let me know how it goes.

 

[grubsnaek]

any tote would have a heater and a powerhead. and for the sand..not sure how to rinse it. and on top of that putting new sand in there would only cause a bigger cycle. that would defeat the purpose of this thread..90% of the rock has some type of coral on it. were talking 250lbs of rock....so thats why i want to put everything except the sand in my spare 125(rock,coral,fish,water). the sand from the DT will go in a tote, and the whole fuge are will go in another tote....

 

[ilovemytank]

Putting new sand doesn't start a cycle. A cycle is from die off of live rock. Purchased sand in the bag can be added in any amount and not cause a cycle. The problem with moving the sand comes from the release of all the nitrites and nitrates that is trapped and in the process of being brocken down by the bacteria. The only other way that adding new sand is harmfull is if you add it to the tank while everything is in it and you cause a sand storm that will get into the gills of the fish and can be deadly. This is prevented by rinsing the sand and then adding it through a PVC pipe so that it doesn't get caught up in the water flow. You will not have any cycle from new sand.

 

[grubsnaek]

only question i got is. how do you rinse the sand????....what do you rinse it in????

 

[grubsnaek]

Originally Posted by Ilovemytank
http:///forum/post/2913133
Putting new sand doesn't start a cycle. A cycle is from die off of live rock. Purchased sand in the bag can be added in any amount and not cause a cycle. The problem with moving the sand comes from the release of all the nitrites and nitrates that is trapped and in the process of being brocken down by the bacteria. The only other way that adding new sand is harmfull is if you add it to the tank while everything is in it and you cause a sand storm that will get into the gills of the fish and can be deadly. This is prevented by rinsing the sand and then adding it through a PVC pipe so that it doesn't get caught up in the water flow. You will not have any cycle from new sand.
haha sorry buddy, just reread my post. and your rite new sand or dead rock wont cause a cycle. it only becomes live. hence nothing dieing to cause a cycle. i was doing a couple things at once. couple thoughts at one time. i was also giving help to some one about live rock and shipping, plus had my girl in my ear bout having dinner....combination equaled aggrivation hahaha.. i got alittle ahead of my self with my reply....i should have realized, i know better than that...

 

[maryg]

I bought dry aragonite. I rinsed 1/2 bag at a time with the water hose until it ran clear. When I added it to my tank it was hardly cloudy at all.
I also helped my sister in law transfer sand from an existing tank to her new (bigger) tank and used her old sand. I rinsed it out until it ran clear as well.
If it were me I would buy new sand, rinse it and seed it with some old sand. There would not be much of a cycle with all your LR and stuff.
I would also get the "back up" 125 and have it drilled and ready and have the new sand settle in that and transfer over the rock and water from the other tank. I don't know what is going on in your house and how much time frame you have, but good luck!

 

[ilovemytank]

Put the sand in a bucket and pour water on it. Let it settle and then pour the water out. repeat pouring water in and physically stir up the sand with your hand. Let it settle again. then pour the water out. Each time you do it the water will be cleaner. There is no set amount of times that you have to do it. Its almost like running media ( like phospure or charcoal ) under running water to rinse the dust off. Good luck !

 

[grubsnaek]

maryg, not meaning to sound harsh, but im not paying or doing any type of drilling of the spare tank....this will only be a couple days time. so not wasting money on drilling, or on new bulkeheads, pvc, etc etc....
let me make this clear. i am not transfering everything from one tank to another and be done. my 125DT is drilled now, and when this remodeling is done im setting up the same 125. i just happen to have another tank that i can use to hold the live rock, corals, fish. so in the spare 125 it will only hold what i just wrote.
really thats it, just put sand into bucket, pour water in. let it settle, then put more water in, stir it and empty water...just wondering, why do i stir it up, let it settle then pour the water out. if i stir it up, then let it settle, pour the water out. doesnt everything just settle on top of the sand. meaning nothing is coming out except water. haha im confused with this

 

[grubsnaek]

if i was to get new sand. can i add it all at once since it would be dead sand. or do i have to go little by little.....
and do i have to do the same with the sand in the sump. should i also replace this too.....

 

[grubsnaek]

Originally Posted by Ilovemytank
http:///forum/post/2913173
Put the sand in a bucket and pour water on it. Let it settle and then pour the water out. repeat pouring water in and physically stir up the sand with your hand. Let it settle again. then pour the water out. Each time you do it the water will be cleaner. There is no set amount of times that you have to do it. Its almost like running media ( like phospure or charcoal ) under running water to rinse the dust off. Good luck !
ill be honest here. i DO NOT want to buy new sand. with the main tank and the sump im looking at buying about 250-300lbs of sand. not wanting to do it. so say i take a big tote. place all the sand into it. place the tote in the bathtub. then i run water in the tote so it overflow. can i just keep mixing the sand up till the water runs clear. would this be considered "rinsing"?!?

 

[ilovemytank]

Originally Posted by grubsnaek
http:///forum/post/2914425
ill be honest here. i DO NOT want to buy new sand. with the main tank and the sump im looking at buying about 250-300lbs of sand. not wanting to do it. so say i take a big tote. place all the sand into it. place the tote in the bathtub. then i run water in the tote so it overflow. can i just keep mixing the sand up till the water runs clear. would this be considered "rinsing"?!?
Yes. The only reason for the new sand is so that everything that is being held back and broken down by the sand isn't released to cause a spike that could kill the fish. If you remove everything first into totes without disturbing the sand then you'll be ok. get rid of the water rinse and rinse the sand. The bit about stirring up the sand and pouring out the water: you pour out the water before everything settles. This gets rid of all the miniscule loose particles. After a couple of times you'll have almost clear water and nothing floating. It will work with your old sand too. I'm just partial to never using the same sand because before I knew any better I caused a total tank wipe out with moving all my sand and now I'm over caucious. Good Luck !!

 

[grubsnaek]

i was thinking just put the tote in the tub. let the water just keep running stir, stir, stir, stir, etc etc....with enough water running through it and stirring, i think this would clean this sand pritty good. or i can spend $120 on 120lbs of new sand........either way i go. after its rinsed or just bought and rinsed. can i add all of the sand to my tank at one time. or should i go in portions over how long...?

 

[ilovemytank]

You can add it all at once. best to put in before rplacing the water though. That way you don't have the storm cloud ! Have fun aquascaping the tank !!!
Why you are at it check out my new thread under "reef tanks" I just posted a couple of pictures and am looking for advice myself ! You are a good canidate to give me some in this thread !

 

[maryg]

Originally Posted by grubsnaek
http:///forum/post/2914321
maryg, not meaning to sound harsh, but im not paying or doing any type of drilling of the spare tank....this will only be a couple days time. so not wasting money on drilling, or on new bulkeheads, pvc, etc etc....
let me make this clear. i am not transfering everything from one tank to another and be done. my 125DT is drilled now, and when this remodeling is done im setting up the same 125. i just happen to have another tank that i can use to hold the live rock, corals, fish. so in the spare 125 it will only hold what i just wrote.
really thats it, just put sand into bucket, pour water in. let it settle, then put more water in, stir it and empty water...just wondering, why do i stir it up, let it settle then pour the water out. if i stir it up, then let it settle, pour the water out. doesnt everything just settle on top of the sand. meaning nothing is coming out except water. haha im confused with this
OH, I misunderstood your game plan. If you are going to keep using the existing tank and are just moving it out of the way, I would just leave the sand (try not to disturb it) and a couple inches of water, remove all the rock, and get a couple of buddies to help you move it. If it ain't broke then don't fix it I guess.