Changing from having a maintenance company to DIY

CBSwanDVM

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Hi!

I currently have 3 tanks - a 250g reef tank, a 50g ish fish only tank, and a 40g ish decommissioned jelly tank. The fish only tank is at my home and the other two are at my office. They all have been and currently are being maintained by a company since I've had them (about 4 years). With the covid struggles and people no longer coming inside my office to enjoy the tanks, we gave up all the jellies and their tank has been empty for about 6 months. Now I'm considering breaking down the reef tank into two tanks - a very small reef tank and a fish only tank. To save (a little) money, I am also toying with the idea of transitioning from having a maintenance company at the office to moving it to my home and to doing it myself. I have a lot of questions! I've found a lot of articles on setting up a new tank and cycling it, etc., but I don't know how much of that applies to changing tanks. If I missed an article or a thread about this, please send me links!

A little about me - I'm a veterinarian for dogs, cats, and exotic animals. I very rarely work on fish, but I know the very basics. I do have education in basic chemistry and science, so I'm hoping that learning the necessities is possible with my somewhat limited schedule.

So here are my thoughts and questions:
1. The smaller reef tank I'm considering is one of the Red Sea Reefer tanks with their accessories - about 50 gallons. Are these worth it for the ease of setting it up? I'm not a plumber by any means and so would like something relatively easy for the construction part.

2. Because my large tank is established, can I and (if I can) how do I utilize the current sand/live rock/water? in the new tank? Transition it little by little? I would have enough of both to split between the tentative new tanks.

3. For the new fish only tank, I was going to go with something cheaper than the Red Sea. Can I modify the jelly tank for "normal" fish or is that just too much work?

4. A couple of the fish in my large tank are really too large to be downsized. Is there a general place that people rehome larger fish? I don't care about selling them if they go to a good home. The main one in my head is a 7ish inch blue tang.

Once I get past the transition phase, I feel like I can follow the directions that are here for water changes and testing, etc. I'm just having difficulty visualizing what I need to buy vs. what I already may have and the process of moving everyone and everything to their respective new homes.

Any ideas or help that you can offer would be much appreciated. I will also not be offended if you tell me I'm missing some huge piece of this puzzle since I will be new to doing it myself.

Thank you so much!
 

Dbichler

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Switching tanks is easy but labor intensive. Just move everything into new tank except sand wash that thoroughly. Add what you wish to keep but keep in mind size of fish like you stated and lights. You should post your fish that won’t fit on here in the sales and they will go fast. As for testing you’ll be fine in cut down trees for a living and I can manage so pretty sure you got this.
 
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CBSwanDVM

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Switching tanks is easy but labor intensive. Just move everything into new tank except sand wash that thoroughly. Add what you wish to keep but keep in mind size of fish like you stated and lights. You should post your fish that won’t fit on here in the sales and they will go fast. As for testing you’ll be fine in cut down trees for a living and I can manage so pretty sure you got this.
Thanks! I hope so!

Do you mean like literally wash the sand? Or just clean the existing tank and sand as normal?
 

Nick Steele

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If possible this is how I would do it.

#1 set up new tank/tanks up in your house with everything ready to go including filled with saltwater leaving some room for displacement from sand and rocks in step #4. Don’t add new sand or any dry rocks if using from established tank. I would start with new sand IMO and just wash it with tap until it runs clear. Then rinse in rodi

#2 take all fish/corals you want and separate into two buckets of half new and half old (from established tank) salt water, one for fish and one for corals.

#3 take what rock you want from your established tank and wash/scrub them down pretty good with saltwater and once cleaned place into your new tank/tanks at home.

#4 add fish and corals into their new tanks

#5 keep close eye on water as it should remain clear. If cloudy for long might have a mini cycle. I didn’t on my 20g tank though.
 

Super Fly

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Hi!

I currently have 3 tanks - a 250g reef tank, a 50g ish fish only tank, and a 40g ish decommissioned jelly tank. The fish only tank is at my home and the other two are at my office. They all have been and currently are being maintained by a company since I've had them (about 4 years). With the covid struggles and people no longer coming inside my office to enjoy the tanks, we gave up all the jellies and their tank has been empty for about 6 months. Now I'm considering breaking down the reef tank into two tanks - a very small reef tank and a fish only tank. To save (a little) money, I am also toying with the idea of transitioning from having a maintenance company at the office to moving it to my home and to doing it myself. I have a lot of questions! I've found a lot of articles on setting up a new tank and cycling it, etc., but I don't know how much of that applies to changing tanks. If I missed an article or a thread about this, please send me links!

A little about me - I'm a veterinarian for dogs, cats, and exotic animals. I very rarely work on fish, but I know the very basics. I do have education in basic chemistry and science, so I'm hoping that learning the necessities is possible with my somewhat limited schedule.

So here are my thoughts and questions:
1. The smaller reef tank I'm considering is one of the Red Sea Reefer tanks with their accessories - about 50 gallons. Are these worth it for the ease of setting it up? I'm not a plumber by any means and so would like something relatively easy for the construction part.

2. Because my large tank is established, can I and (if I can) how do I utilize the current sand/live rock/water? in the new tank? Transition it little by little? I would have enough of both to split between the tentative new tanks.

3. For the new fish only tank, I was going to go with something cheaper than the Red Sea. Can I modify the jelly tank for "normal" fish or is that just too much work?

4. A couple of the fish in my large tank are really too large to be downsized. Is there a general place that people rehome larger fish? I don't care about selling them if they go to a good home. The main one in my head is a 7ish inch blue tang.

Once I get past the transition phase, I feel like I can follow the directions that are here for water changes and testing, etc. I'm just having difficulty visualizing what I need to buy vs. what I already may have and the process of moving everyone and everything to their respective new homes.

Any ideas or help that you can offer would be much appreciated. I will also not be offended if you tell me I'm missing some huge piece of this puzzle since I will be new to doing it myself.

Thank you so much!
as long as the old rocks are not full of nuisance algae, I'd reuse them w/o scrubbing as they contain tons of beneficial bacteria. Test the tanks for NO3 & PO4, these levels will reveal condition of tank/water - if they are higher then 5-10 for NO3 and 0.10 PO4 then tank is probably in bad condition.
Here's a link on how to clean old sand, be sure to save 1-2 cups of old sand to help seed cleaned sand.
 

NaturalBrnHeathen

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Mastering the art of locking and unlocking water pathways: What type of valves do you have on your aquarium plumbing?

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