New aquarium

[shobby]

Just wondering if anyone has experience and may help me. I have a 55 gallon reef, getting a used 120. I want to put the bigger one in the spot that I have the 55 now. How do I go about doing this? You know, pulling fish, setting up new one, replacing everything in the new aquarium without killing them. I know that the aquarium should sit for a few days so I am confused as to how to do it. Any ideas?
Thanks Shelley

 

[btldreef]

Quote:
Originally Posted by shobby http:///t/396730/new-aquarium#post_3534810
Just wondering if anyone has experience and may help me. I have a 55 gallon reef, getting a used 120. I want to put the bigger one in the spot that I have the 55 now. How do I go about doing this? You know, pulling fish, setting up new one, replacing everything in the new aquarium without killing them. I know that the aquarium should sit for a few days so I am confused as to how to do it. Any ideas?
Thanks Shelley

I had a similar scenario a few years ago, I was putting a 155 where a 40 was...

I made salt water in advance for the 155. Once I had the full amount:
I put all the fish in buckets and pulled the corals and rocks put them in buckets as well. I added a little Prime to the buckets and kept them heated and the water moving with a small powerhead.

I moved my 40 out of the spot, put in the 155, added sand, took some sand from the 40 to seed the new sand in the 155, added rock (rock really should be added before sand but I didn't do it with this tank). Then I filled it up with water. I added some prime, let it run for half the day and then did a small water change. Then I added in all the corals. Let it run for a little while (few hours) and then added the fish and a little more prime. The next day I did another water change. I kept on top of water changes for the first two weeks, doing one small one each day at first, then every other day. I slowly added more rock to the tank over the next few weeks/months. All the rock I added was fully cured. Increased my cleaning crew as well.

It can be done, just have amquel or prime on hand and lots of pre made saltwater.

 

[shobby]

So you did all of it within one day, other than the water changes and the prime, that is? I wanted to use the rocks I currently have minus the ones with the corals since they will have to wait.
Shelley

 

[flower]

Quote:
Originally Posted by shobby http:///t/396730/new-aquarium#post_3534814
So you did all of it within one day, other than the water changes and the prime, that is? I wanted to use the rocks I currently have minus the ones with the corals since they will have to wait.
Shelley


Hi,

By having everything all set and ready before you begin...it took me 3 hours to remove everything from the old tank, set up the new, and place the critters into the new digs. I always acclimated the corals and fish, just like they were first purchased from the store. I did that by removing a cup at a time from the bucket, and replacing that cup with water from the new tank... The hardest part is getting the fish and CUC out of the old tank.

The corals, just like the fish, are acclimated to the new digs...I don't understand, why would they have to wait? As long as the newly added rock you put into the tank is cured, you won't have any problems. You are adding nothing new except water as far as the livestock. There is very little good bacteria in the water. By using the same rocks and sand, and adding no new fish or coral...it will still equal the right amount of good bacteria that had everything balanced in the smaller tank.

I have done the "replace a small tank with a larger one" as well, several times. You do need the extra premixed water on hand, that's really all you need. Prime in the buckets is a good idea...This is important, do NOT rinse anything the good bacteria needs to be up as much as possible, that includes any filter media, this is not the time to replace media or clean up the filter. If it's a new filter...use all the old material from the other.

If you are not sure of the new rock...keep it in a separate tub and cure it...set up the new tank without the added rock...You can rearrange the rock work later when the new rock is safe to use. Fish in the buckets with a heater...but I used an airline not a power head, it's too much flow in a little bucket (unless it's a small a nano power head) it will cause the water to be too turbulent on the already stressed fish.

 

[shobby]

I never thought of it as being the same aquarium stuff, just thought of it as new. So as long as I add everything back in it should be good. Thanks. How long should I acclimate in the buckets before adding to the aquarium?
Thanks or the help, this has been troubling me thinking of how to do it.
Selley

 

[flower]

Quote:
Originally Posted by shobby http:///t/396730/new-aquarium#post_3534834
I never thought of it as being the same aquarium stuff, just thought of it as new. So as long as I add everything back in it should be good. Thanks. How long should I acclimate in the buckets before adding to the aquarium?
Thanks or the help, this has been troubling me thinking of how to do it.
Selley


Hi,

How long do you normally acclimate your fish when you first get them? Remember the new rock must be cured to be able to use it right away. If you scrub stuff up, and/or replace the rock and sand, it would be "new". The new sand should be live reef (BEST) or at least live aragonite sand in bags loaded with good bacteria. You only need to add enough new sand to make it overall 2 inches deep with the old sand. Also, run carbon a while (2 hours maybe) before you begin to acclimate the fish, just in case the old sand had toxins in the under layers. If your old sand was very deep, you may want to replace it with live reef sand and not take any chances.

I remove 1 cup of water from the bucket, then add 1 cup from the display every 20 minutes. I would do that for an hour for fish, and 2 hours for starfish or shrimp...then net them out, and release into the larger new digs. Like I said, I've done this about 2Xs over the years. I started with a 55g, then upgraded to a 75g, then upgrated to a 90g and I never lost a coral, invert or fish.

 

[shobby]

I usually acclimate for a couple of hours, I just add a little water at a time until I finally release them into the water.