upgrading tanks

jdl

jdl

Member
I currently have a 90g. Next week, i am getting a 120 and building it into my wall. Has anyone ever moved rock/fish/sand from one tank to another? What is the best way to do this?
I did buy new sand and 100lbs of base rock that i planned to put into the new tank. Then add my rock from my current tank.
Do i get everything setup in the new tank. Move all the rock and fish at once into the new tank? Do i move the stuff over slowly? DO i totally cycle the new tank?
I do have bioballs in my current tank (which is being replace by 100lbs of base rock in the new tank). Should i slowly move rock over, then once the rock is all over, move the fish?
I have a sargassum trigger which i dont want to lose.
another small twist. I need to move my lights and skimmer at some point too. I have a few softies in the tank as well.

thanks for any suggestions
 
E

eric b 125

Guest
what i did was take everything out (water, fish, rocks), then i finally took all the sand out of old tank and put it in new tank. i then replaced water, fish, rocks, into old tank. i filled the new tank up and purposely stirred the sandbed. essentially, stirring the sandbed accidentally is what you should avoid, because it could release detritus, nitrites, nitrates, causing a spike. i would stir the sand bed one day, do a water change the next, then stir, etc. it took about a week. then once all my parameters were in the right place, i did a 50% water change, adding the water from the tank with the fish in it, and moved everything else over. it would be a good idea to have a few pieces of LR or at least base rock in the 'sand tank' so when you move your LR over, you still have pieces on the bottom glass. you could always just go buy live sand and toss the old out. i'm doing stuff to my tank this spring that will require it being emptied, and i'm still going to 'rinse out' my old sandbed, rather than buying new. you'll need to toss a bag or two in anyways, since you're upgrading, and i would suggest you mix it in with the old sand so there's no difference.
 
jdl

jdl

Member
near hershey pa.
I bought new sand, and planned on getting a cup or 2 of my live sand to seed the new sand. Plus with 100lbs base rock, adding my current live rock should seed everything. Probably have 100lbs live rock in the current tank.
I just wasnt sure if i should do it all at once, or a slow process. Plus i have to move my lights and skimmer..
what it sounds like i should do is get my new tank setup with sand and base rock. Place a few pieces of LR from current tank in there and let it cycle like normal. then move the rest of the rocks, and fish.
just not sure when to move the light/shrooms over.
 
sean48183

sean48183

Member
Do you have an old hob filter you can put on it temporarily. That way you can let it sit for a couple weeks with the base rock and few peices of live rock. You will need some kind of light for the live rock. Not much but a little something. I always keep a NO fixture with a 50/50 bulb just for something like this.
Obviouly you want your parameters the same such as temp and salinity but you should still reacclimate your fish. When I went from 20g to my 55g I just tossed the fish in because the parameters were the same. Well I lost a couple fish. Next time I went from my 55g to my 150g I reacclimated and lost nothing.
Good luck because it is pain in the a$$
 
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