Tank Leaking - Bought new one - Need advice!

krypton74

krypton74

Member
Hi everybody! It's been a while since I've posted. Tank has had no problems in the past year (thank goodness). Now it is leaking (DH cleaned and scraped off a piece of the caulk). We've been debating about a tank upgrade anyway, so now is the time.
We've got a 35 hex up and running for 4 years. Biowheel emporer filter. No skimmer. Tons of rock, live sand, two 4 year old percs (been with us since the beg.), a yellow tang, a diamond goby, a cranky royal gramma, and a clown goby.
Now is the tricky part. The plan is to use the existing water/sand/rock for the new tank. DO I need to let the new tank cycle if we do this? I've never had to do a complete overhaul like this before. The new system we are getting has a different filter. We were thinking of floating our old bio wheel in the new tank too for a while.
ANy advice would be truly helpful. I don't want to mess anything up this far in the game!
Beck
 
robdog696

robdog696

Member
The ideal method would be to cycle the new tank, but if you're leaking I see where that may not be possible. The biggest problem you are going to have is the sand. It will need time to settle in your new tank, and I'm not sure if your fish can handle the water until it does. I suppose I would scoop out ALL of the sand and transfer it to the new tank first. Then I would move over HALF of the water; then ALL BUT THE LARGEST PIECE of the liverock. I would NOT float the biowheel filter. That's all the stuff you're trying to get out of your tank, including nitrates. Sure, it has some good bacteria on it, but if you have enough liverock it's not worth moving detritus from your old house to your new house. I would probably top off BOTH tanks with fresh mixed saltwater. This would be the equivalent of doing a 50% water change. And without forsaking your current DT. I would closely monitor your new tank (Nitrates, ammonia, ph) for 24 hours before adding fish. If you see any increase in nitrates and ammonia or decrease in PH I would not move the fish until they stabilize again. You probably will have a minicycle. This is because the water will leach harmful silicates from your new tank. Perfectly normal. Just make sure you have about half of the water volume of both tanks in fresh saltwater ready. This will allow you to keep your current tank up and running while you monitor your new one. This may or may not work in your new tank. But it's your best bet without ruining your current tank. I'm sure more experienced people (cough, cough sepulation) will jump in and agree or disagree.
 
kellenr

kellenr

Member
I would try to keep as much of your 'old water' as possible. To do this I'd first rearrange the tank so you can access the sand bed and I'd use like a plastic hand shovel or the like to transport most of the sand to the new tank. Next remove all of the live rock and and set it up in the new tank. Then get the rest of your sand out of the old tank and put in the new one. Then you should be able to 'directly syphon' the water out of the old tank into the new one. If not, then syphon out the water into as many big buckets as it takes. (Go to Home Depot etc. and purchase 6 5-gallon buckets). Keep all of your 'old' water. Remove your old tank and place your new tank where you want it. Then fill it up with all of your old water and start all the pumps, powerheads etc.. Keep your fish in one of the 5-gallon buckets while the tank runs for a few hours. Then you can go ahead and transport in the livestock.
Your sand won't take long to settle if you add it first. Put down a plate or plastic bag to pour the water on to minimize displacement. If you run your system for a few hours (4-8hrs) everything will be fine and your sand will settle. Go ahead and top-off your tank with fresh mix saltwater. There's no need to let your tank cycle if you do it this way. Pretty much everything is the same except the new bio-wheel. And honestly, that bio-wheel is basically nothing compared to all the live rock and live sand you have. If they're the same size then use your old one, if not then don't worry about just start up the new one, you'll be fine.
It's not as tough as you think. I've done it before and it's fine. As long as you transport everything over and use all of your old water you'll do just fine, no need to cycle anything. If you'd like you can always add some "Nutrafin Cycle" to your tank after you set it up. 'Cycle' just has tons of beneficial bacteria that won't hurt if your tank is ok and will be there to correct anything before your levels spike slightly. It's about $8 at your LFS or DeathCo. The least it'll do is give you peace of mind.
Go ahead and Get 'R Done, it won't be as big of task as you imagine. Good luck!
 
afboundguy

afboundguy

Member
+1 KellenR...
My dad's 55 gal tank started leaking one day while he was working and I had the great pleasure of swapping everything into his new 55 gal. I put all the livestock in a spare 29 gal with as much live rock as possible. Then I put the rest of the tank water/liverock/sand into 5 gal buckets until the old tank was empty then just placed everything into the new tank. There was no re-cycle at all.
Think of it as the same as when you move your tank to a new house except that it will be much faster. You'll be fine.
 
krypton74

krypton74

Member
Update - Ok - we bought a 46 bowfront - yay! It's got two new bags of sand, plus new live rock along with most of the old live rock too. I still have the old tank running/filtering with all critters. I took 1/2 the water out and syphened into new tank. then I was able to move both all by myself! (I was proud can you tell?). Then topped off the old tank with new water as well to mix everything together.
After 15 gallons of water were in new tank, I added 15 of new water. NOw its has the least amount of water in it to get the filter to work. I'll add more old tank water to that later today. Added some bio-spyra stuff. That's filtering as well. No lights yet on that sucker.
When I get back home from work today, I'll seed the sand bed with some of the old sand and start moving some crabs.
I just don't know which fish will be the first to move because I love them all. I guess the gramma is a PITA though.
I'll update in a few days on survival rate! Thanks for all your help!
 
krypton74

krypton74

Member
Well, i finally transferred the fish Friday night. The yellow tank didn't make it. the gramma was breathing heavy, but seems to be doing better now. we thought we were going to lose that one too.
sad transfer, but the new tank looks great...
 
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