225 Old Tank Move and Re-Set

[Fourdoras]

I have a 225 Reef Aquarium that has been set up for almost 20 years. Long ago I had one of the first Reef Aquarium Specialty stores in the Midwest. 25 years ago, we were selling (attempting time sell) coral frags, and worked with many of the folks who paved the way for aquaculture corals and captive-raised fish. I have coral in this tank from way back then, despite a couple tank crashes that occurred with a prolonged power outage, and a busted seam.
We recently downsized our home, and I was asked to post a thread as remove and upgrade some old equipment, and follow the progress of the tank. So that’s what I’ll try to do in this thread....discuss how an old, well-established reef aquarium responds to a move, and how things progress with new equipment.

 

[hdsoftail1065]

Im really looking forward to following along on your journey. How far is the move?

 

[Fourdoras]

Im really looking forward to following along on your journey. How far is the move?

So far it has gone well. It was a move from the basement of your last house to the great room on main floor of the new house. About 25 mile move across town. I hired the local company to do it all this time. They did a great job of breaking the tank down, moving it across town to the new location, and setting it back up all in same day. I had them remove the old sand and replace with all new live sand to decrease likelihood of an ammonia or nitrite spike, which worked very successfully. I have, however, had a significant Nitrate spike, all the way to 80ppm. Thus I removed my old DIY Coil Denitrator, and converted and old Calcium Reactor in to a Sulfur Denitrator. I have started a thread about that as well.