Chemistry management of moving a mixed reef aquarium

[CEReefer]

Hi all! In 6 month I will be moving 7 hours away (8 hours if you include gas stops), I have a plan to move my 25g total volume aquarium, but I would like your opinion on it. I will reuse the same tank (at least until the new one comes in, it will be a 200g)

0) Slowly reduce temperature in the reef tank over 1 month down to 75°F (from the current 78°F)
1) move fishes (a pair of clownfishes, 1 cardinal and 1 mandarin goby) into 3 separate fishstore bags (1 for the pair), adding ClorAm-X and Seachem Stress Guard.
2) move rocks with corals in a separate tote with water, use filter floss to "pack the rocks" so that the corals on them don't get damaged
3) remove rest of the water/sand (keeping a small cup of sand in a container, to seed the new sand)
4) transport with battery operated bubblers
5) unpack the aquarium/stand and rebuild it.
6) put the rocks and corals in it
7) introduce fishes

My shopping list includes:

- Salt to produce more saltwater once in the new house
- New sand
- I will get 25g of RODI from a LFS once arrived (won't have time to make it and don't want to transport it)

My questions are:

1) Do you think I should get an inverter for a small heater during transport?
2) Does anyone have any suggestion on leakproof totes/containers?
3) Do you think I should reintroduce fishes over 3 days (1/2 per day) to minimize ammonia spikes?
4) I know that ClorAm-X will lead to falsely increased ammonia results with some tests, is there a test that can recognize between what's bound to ClorAm-X and what's not?
5) Shall I add ClorAm-X to the container with the rocks too?
6) I know that I should get a mini-cycle, obviously ClorAm-X could prevent that but then there is no free ammonia for the bacteria. I would like to be able to control this, accurately dosing/removing (with water changes) the ClorAm-X and make the bacteria start processing ammonia again without an ammonia spike. Anyone has an idea on what's the best approach to do that?
7) Am I missing something?

 

[blasterman]

If you aren't keeping the existing substrate here's a killer tip. Start removing it slowly before the move which will force any biological filter onto your rocks. Nitrifying bacteria are lazy. They will propagate areas of your tank that have the most direct areas of flow / oxygen and direct exposure to ammonia (fish). This is exposed rock faces and open surface areas of substrate that get a lot of flow. I could go into a side rant here about bio media in cannister filters, brain damage caused by sniffing glue, etc, but I'm trying to keep my blood pressure in check

If you pull the substrate ahead of time and give bacteria a chance to repopulate you minimize change of a mini cycle. It then becomes a bare bottom ecology with healthy live rock, and there should be no need to re-acclimate other than put your fish back in.

There is always a mini cycle of some sort when moving tanks, but it should be negligible and not even worth testing for. Nitrifying bacteria being lazy also populate aquarium glass / plexi to some extent, which is why you see bare glass tanks in reef fish store with zillions of feeder fish. You might see some diatoms, but that's it.

 

[CEReefer]

If you aren't keeping the existing substrate here's a killer tip. Start removing it slowly before the move which will force any biological filter onto your rocks. Nitrifying bacteria are lazy. They will propagate areas of your tank that have the most direct areas of flow / oxygen and direct exposure to ammonia (fish). This is exposed rock faces and open surface areas of substrate that get a lot of flow. I could go into a side rant here about bio media in cannister filters, brain damage caused by sniffing glue, etc, but I'm trying to keep my blood pressure in check

If you pull the substrate ahead of time and give bacteria a chance to repopulate you minimize change of a mini cycle. It then becomes a bare bottom ecology with healthy live rock, and there should be no need to re-acclimate other than put your fish back in.

There is always a mini cycle of some sort when moving tanks, but it should be negligible and not even worth testing for. Nitrifying bacteria being lazy also populate aquarium glass / plexi to some extent, which is why you see bare glass tanks in reef fish store with zillions of feeder fish. You might see some diatoms, but that's it.

By substrate you mean sand, correct?

What I am wondering though is, how does the ClorAm-X impact the mini-cycle? Technically, assuming you don't dry your rocks and biomedia (I have ceramic rings and also a marinepure slab), a mini-cycle happens because of stirring detritus (hence your suggestion) and the ammonia levels increase while the bacteria aren't enough to keep up with it, correct?

What I don't want to happen is that my bacteria may starve.. The ClorAm-X prevents the bad effects of an ammonia spike (binding it, so it doesn't kill live forms), but also some of the unbound ClorAm-X will stay around and for a bit leading my bacteria to starvation because each ammonia produced would be bound by ClorAm-X.

How do you increase/decrease the concentration (with water changes) of ClorAm-X accurately enough to prevent harmful effects of an ammonia spike, without leading to starvation of nitrifying bacteria?

 

[CEReefer]

@Randy Holmes-Farley do you have any suggestion?

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

@brandon429 helped me move my tank. Here are some of the items I think you should consider.

Don't worry about bacteria and ammonia. It simply will not be as impactful as you think. Manca setups are done 12 hours and never skip a beat on cycles. Rinse the old sandbed out or do a full replacement and the rock will keep the bacteria you need.

Reintroduce fish ASAP unless you can have something to filter out the waste water in those tiny bags. You can use something to wedge the rock in place in a bucket so it can't move and put the fish in rock/buckets with the air stones. This provides the filtration and additional water to keep the fish more comfortable. Any large corals and rock structures you should do as you planned in a large tote. I suggest 1 fish and 2 lbs or liverock per 5 gallon bucket and make sure it is aerated and secure so it can't crush the fish.

Have twice the amount of water that you think you will need on hand. Have some help on hand if possible. Go slow and think through each action.

 

[brandon429]

omit step three, transfer over zero old sand (unrinsed). I have a thread where that killed a reef a few mos ago, not any benefit for the risk. we move clean sand to avoid a cycle, and adding back any of the old can cause one, even though you see most people adding a cup of old sand. don't risk being a % outlier, move clean surfaces and you will not cause a cycle.

if there's one undeniable pattern we see in our home move work threads its that cycles are caused by waste relocation, planned or not, and never a lack of bacteria. to move clean is ironically the safest mode, and life from the live rocks comes back down into new sand even if that sand is brand new/ or blasted clean with tap water then RO water/ in the new tank.


swish and twist your live rocks in old tank water before moving them, this ejects out detritus that otherwise might settle out in transport. this is a hidden source of cycle risk. its always where the whole waste mass goes

even if you buy new sand, rinse it for hours in tap water until clear, final rinse in ro, then its ready. snowglobe clean. that's for silt ejection/visual clouding prevention and not for waste detritus. same rinse, two diff reasons.

whether its old sand, or new sand, be this clean and thorough. you can't strip the bac off the live rocks and that's all the bac you need. sandbed bacteria are expendable in all reefs, instantly. the old rules said accustomed bacteria from sand had to have time to migrate onto rocks as makeup for removing sand, that's simply not the case.

live rock manages its bacterial counts with or without sand, independent, that's why ripping sand out is ok if thorough and its why bare bottom systems carry the same # fish that a sand system keeps. we are all using so much extra surface area per bioload, ripping down to rocks alone is simply ok/ we haven't seen a time where too little live rock was used in a display reef.

*total changeouts of rock between moves clearly would cause new approach

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hi all! In 6 month I will be moving 7 hours away (8 hours if you include gas stops), I have a plan to move my 25g total volume aquarium, but I would like your opinion on it. I will reuse the same tank (at least until the new one comes in, it will be a 200g)

0) Slowly reduce temperature in the reef tank over 1 month down to 75°F (from the current 78°F)
1) move fishes (a pair of clownfishes, 1 cardinal and 1 mandarin goby) into 3 separate fishstore bags (1 for the pair), adding ClorAm-X and Seachem Stress Guard.
2) move rocks with corals in a separate tote with water, use filter floss to "pack the rocks" so that the corals on them don't get damaged
3) remove rest of the water/sand (keeping a small cup of sand in a container, to seed the new sand)
4) transport with battery operated bubblers
5) unpack the aquarium/stand and rebuild it.
6) put the rocks and corals in it
7) introduce fishes

My shopping list includes:

- Salt to produce more saltwater once in the new house
- New sand
- I will get 25g of RODI from a LFS once arrived (won't have time to make it and don't want to transport it)

My questions are:

1) Do you think I should get an inverter for a small heater during transport?
2) Does anyone have any suggestion on leakproof totes/containers?
3) Do you think I should reintroduce fishes over 3 days (1/2 per day) to minimize ammonia spikes?
4) I know that ClorAm-X will lead to falsely increased ammonia results with some tests, is there a test that can recognize between what's bound to ClorAm-X and what's not?
5) Shall I add ClorAm-X to the container with the rocks too?
6) I know that I should get a mini-cycle, obviously ClorAm-X could prevent that but then there is no free ammonia for the bacteria. I would like to be able to control this, accurately dosing/removing (with water changes) the ClorAm-X and make the bacteria start processing ammonia again without an ammonia spike. Anyone has an idea on what's the best approach to do that?
7) Am I missing something?

Inverter not necessary. Emergency battery operated air pump with air stone adequate
Salvage water in buckets and place fish in thermos or similar cooler (always some cheap on Craigslist)
Acclimate fish to the tank once set up as if you just purchased them