Brain Trust Advice - Tank Transition-ish

[WirelessMike]

Alright my reefer gurus I have a question to pose for all of you. I currently have a 65 gallon Deep Blue tank which I love. However, I’m not in love with the original stand I built and also the aquascape. The stand is too small to remove my sump and after a year in the hobby I have decided that reefing and saltwater are going to be a long term addiction. My wife just got me an AIO 24 gallon for my home office and I’m thinking about using it as a temporary hotel for my current livestock so I can really make the 65 the way I want it. Current stock listed below.

2 - clowns
1 - Coral Beauty (still very young and small)
1 - bicolor blenny (he’s kind of a duffel bag so he might make a trip to the lfs if he doesn’t straighten up)
Decent CUC of hermits and snails
Small amount of zoas (that I enjoy and want to keep)
1 - leather
1 - green sinularia
1 - RBTA

Do you think it would be viable to hotel them in the AIO using the ocean revive that’s on the 65 now and water from current tank? I don’t see them being in that tank for more than a month or so as I would get the stand built fairly quickly and rebuild a solid scape that I actually like now that I have experience. Let’s hear your thoughts and thanks in advance!

 

[Tiki Reef Joshua]

Can’t you build the stand in advance?

 

[Tiki Reef Joshua]

But I think you will be fine for a few weeks.

 

[WirelessMike]

Can’t you build the stand in advance?

Probably could build it in advance, but I would still have to empty and hit reset. I think the bigger challenge is going to be the aquascape. I want to make sure I get it right this time and it would be nice to have the space open where the tank sits now to make sure that I get all of the dimensions of the stand perfect so I’m not kicking myself in the butt again in a year if that makes sense.

 

[Tiki Reef Joshua]

I think you can use the new tank. It’s always a risk but I would do it.

 

[WirelessMike]

I think you can use the new tank. It’s always a risk but I would do it.

Yeah it’s a risk for sure, but I was thinking if I start with water and rock from the current DT it might limit the risk. Let it run for a bit before I make the transition. Can’t way to see what either a have to say

 

[blasterman]

Not a lot of livestock and nothing i see fighting in the smaller tank.

A lot depends on the depth of your existing substrate and amount of existing rock.

If you are running bare bottom now you can forklift all the rock to the temp tank and most of the biological filter goes with it. Easy mode.

Substrate is the nasty variable here. Sucking out 50lbs of crushed coral or sand ain't fun. Another problem is you can't leave the substrate in a standing tank or buckets without circulation and heaters. Bonus question is where can you store it and keep it healthy.. Deitrus will rapidly turn to hydrogen sulfide and poison stuff if it sits in a shut down tank or 5gal buckets. You either have to move it to another live tank and then move it back. Joy. Love that sweet smell of reef tank substrate. Or, nuke from orbit and start with fresh substrate.

What I've done in tank moves is just replace the substrate, but how do you avoid a potential cycle? What you do is remove a portion of the substrate each week before the move. This will force your biological filter into the rock, and when you are left with just rock you are set. You have to move the substrate anways, so its not extra work. Then just move your rock and critters to the temp tank. Biological filter will follow along.

 

[WirelessMike]

Not a lot of livestock and nothing i see fighting in the smaller tank.

A lot depends on the depth of your existing substrate and amount of existing rock.

If you are running bare bottom now you can forklift all the rock to the temp tank and most of the biological filter goes with it. Easy mode.

Substrate is the nasty variable here. Sucking out 50lbs of crushed coral or sand ain't fun. Another problem is you can't leave the substrate in a standing tank or buckets without circulation and heaters. Bonus question is where can you store it and keep it healthy.. Deitrus will rapidly turn to hydrogen sulfide and poison stuff if it sits in a shut down tank or 5gal buckets. You either have to move it to another live tank and then move it back. Joy. Love that sweet smell of reef tank substrate. Or, nuke from orbit and start with fresh substrate.

What I've done in tank moves is just replace the substrate, but how do you avoid a potential cycle? What you do is remove a portion of the substrate each week before the move. This will force your biological filter into the rock, and when you are left with just rock you are set. You have to move the substrate anways, so its not extra work. Then just move your rock and critters to the temp tank. Biological filter will follow along.

Gotcha. Ideally I will start with new substrate when I get the 65 back up and running on the new stand with, wait for it, enough room to remove and service my sump. That’s the end goal, and of course an aquascape I will enjoy looking at for a long time to come.

so what you are saying is remove small portions of substrate from the 65 until I reach “near bare bottom” and then move everyone to the hotel with some of the rock from that is now bacterially covered? Correct? So for the fun question, what’s the best way to remove parts of the sand bed now? I only have a couple inches of substrate in the 65 and the connected sump’s refugium, but I don’t want to stir up a nasty spike that makes this a futile effort.

I do appreciate all of the help and advice you can spare!