ant
Member
Thanks to everyone who responded to my posts about upgrading and transfering tanks. It took about 2 1/2 hours total. I was on a roll and worked as quick and carefully as possible. My husband helped a lot and my 2 1/2 year old son helped too. It worked out well and everyone is doing great tonight.
Swimming, eating, and moving sand(pistol shrimp).
Warning, a detail message on transfer. Pictures to follow if you don't want to read.
First I checked the tank for leaks through the night. When we started today we painted the back black first and let that dry. Meanwhile I mixed some new water and got my buckets ready. I was only moving to a 29gal from a 20 so it was not a huge endever as some I've seen. (Boy do I feel for those who have done big transfers).
Once the tank was dry and cleaned out with vinegar I started siphoning water from the old tank into the bucket for my fish and shrimp. I carefully removed the rock that I could get with no hitchikers and put them in one bucket with little to no water. The rocks I had critters on and couldn't get out or off I put in the bucket full of water for the fish. Once I got all of the rock out I cought all of my fish, even the six line, and put them in the bucket. I was amazed. Oh I forgot that I got as many crabs as I could and put them in a little tupaware bowl with tank water before I took the rock out.
While I was doing all of that my hubby put the new sand in the bottom of the new tank. We took down the old tank from the, obviously too big of a cabinet, cabinet, and put it on the old stand. Then put the new tank up. We scooped out the old sand and added it to the new sand. Then I used a huge plastic bowl and scooped out most of the water until we could lift the old tank and dump the rest. I added the new water, that was warm from sitting outstid, to the tank and hooked up the filter and skimmer. Once I did that I kept exchanging water from the buckets with the water from the fish tank about every 30 min's to keep the acclimation going throughout. I made sure the SG matched the old water. Once the water settled some I put the rock back. I let the dust settle until I could see enough to set the rock up. The whole time doing water exchanges with the buckets and the tank.
I tested the water and everything was great. PH 8.2, SG 1.024, sal-32, amm-0, nitrite-0, nitrate-0. So I added the crabs back, then the feather duster, then the fish, then the shrimp. I poured the remainder of the water from the buckets and then just waited until the dust settled. Everyone did really well. I left the lights off for about an hour. Didn't have a choice because my husband had to rig them up under the canopy and that took a while.
So there you have it. I hope this helps others. It was not bad. I will post how things are tomorrow but as of now I'm thrilled and just love the new set up. I have seen all fish and shrimp moving around. The crabs are non-stop. The green stars are coming out and so is the feather duster. Yea!! :jumping:
Ant.
Warning, a detail message on transfer. Pictures to follow if you don't want to read.
First I checked the tank for leaks through the night. When we started today we painted the back black first and let that dry. Meanwhile I mixed some new water and got my buckets ready. I was only moving to a 29gal from a 20 so it was not a huge endever as some I've seen. (Boy do I feel for those who have done big transfers).
Once the tank was dry and cleaned out with vinegar I started siphoning water from the old tank into the bucket for my fish and shrimp. I carefully removed the rock that I could get with no hitchikers and put them in one bucket with little to no water. The rocks I had critters on and couldn't get out or off I put in the bucket full of water for the fish. Once I got all of the rock out I cought all of my fish, even the six line, and put them in the bucket. I was amazed. Oh I forgot that I got as many crabs as I could and put them in a little tupaware bowl with tank water before I took the rock out.
While I was doing all of that my hubby put the new sand in the bottom of the new tank. We took down the old tank from the, obviously too big of a cabinet, cabinet, and put it on the old stand. Then put the new tank up. We scooped out the old sand and added it to the new sand. Then I used a huge plastic bowl and scooped out most of the water until we could lift the old tank and dump the rest. I added the new water, that was warm from sitting outstid, to the tank and hooked up the filter and skimmer. Once I did that I kept exchanging water from the buckets with the water from the fish tank about every 30 min's to keep the acclimation going throughout. I made sure the SG matched the old water. Once the water settled some I put the rock back. I let the dust settle until I could see enough to set the rock up. The whole time doing water exchanges with the buckets and the tank.
I tested the water and everything was great. PH 8.2, SG 1.024, sal-32, amm-0, nitrite-0, nitrate-0. So I added the crabs back, then the feather duster, then the fish, then the shrimp. I poured the remainder of the water from the buckets and then just waited until the dust settled. Everyone did really well. I left the lights off for about an hour. Didn't have a choice because my husband had to rig them up under the canopy and that took a while.
So there you have it. I hope this helps others. It was not bad. I will post how things are tomorrow but as of now I'm thrilled and just love the new set up. I have seen all fish and shrimp moving around. The crabs are non-stop. The green stars are coming out and so is the feather duster. Yea!! :jumping:
Ant.
