Originally Posted by
ajroc31
http:///forum/post/3298957
Here is the plan, the get new tank ready, stain it, buff it and so on.
1. Starting today, I will bring in some of the live rock and put it in my tank, only pieces with corals on it. The other live rock, i will put it in a tote, let it sit there. Do I need a heater for it? I know a powerhead will work. (no need to heat it unless it gets down past 75)2. Every three days or so, I will take 20 gal of water from my 125, and store it, meanwhile I will start preparing saltwater for the new tank. Same salt and parameters of course. (not necessary)
3. Once I have enough water, I will start taking down the old tank. Take the lr out, put in totes with a ph and a heater, should I put the corals with the lr? Some of them are attached, so its a no brainer there. (no, put rocks w/corals to themselves...coral shrink up and it's hard enough to find them on rocks...or you will be hunting for them and may miss some)
4. Drain most of the water 125 so that I could catch the fish easier, put them in totes with lr, ph, heater. (store the water)
5. Replace the tanks, will my refugium be ok without a heater for 24 hrs or so? (yes as long as it does not get too cold, below 75)
6. Take the top 2 inches of my sand, his sand (washed a little bit in RO, or saltwater?) and add 2 40lbs bags or new sand? Or should I try to get all my sand out? (rinse sand in saltwater if you must, it has good bacteria in it.)
7. Put some of my water into the tank, add lr ( will not add the lr with corals just yet, and do some scaping.
8. Add more water, take my fuge, and add his fuge (terribly designed, need to make some corrections, does not fully utilize its size).
9. Wait to stabilize the tank, test it every 3 hrs or so, and slowly start adding remaining corals, and fish.
Did I miss anything? Please let me know how the steps look. I really want this to be as perfect as possible. He has a canister filter, should I run it for the time being? You think its safe with the die off he had? Should I leave the filter permamently? (no)
Should I add some kick start bacteria? (won't hurt)
Should I add some anti-ammonia media? He has given me so many filter pads, the aqua-pure brand, but i am reluctant to put any of this in. I am not sure, but does that anti-ammonia kind of gets in the way of establishing of a healthy bio filter?
Would this be a good idea to introduce another tang? I have a regal, brown, cholocate, yellow, all relatively small for tangs, they get along fine, would adding a Kole be too much? Its a 30 inch tall 250.
Should I buy some sand sifting fish now, to help me prepare the sand before the move? (one good sized sand sifting goby is all you would need)
Sorry guys for all this, I really appreciate all your help, but you know how crappy it feels to lose something because of something you did, or did not do.
One last thing, would 8X80 wat t5s be sufficent for a tank this tall, or do I have to go with MHs, I have 3 400s, but thats a lot of heat, and I really dont want to fork up more money for a chiller. My basement is really cold, but I am still worried, the 400s are monsters. I have mostly softies, some lps liek hammer, torch and frogspawn, some acans, a duncan,, only thing i am concerned about is my montipora and 2 chalice corals ( no idea what they are, all I get in lfs "there are so many, I dont know what they are"). I dont want to go very high with scaping, would love to have all that open water for them to swim in, they are tangs after all.
Again, thank you so much, for all your input, you guys rock!
I think you should mix new saltwater, very little bacteria is in the actual water and storing it could create more problems. When you do the actual change save some of that water…Make more water than you will need in case an emergency water change should come up. I made some comments at the end of your questions, many I couldn’t answer. Sorry, I don't know about the bio balls either.
