Connecting Established Reef To New Tank

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Tuffloud1

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Dude I envy you, not bc you got sick... we all got sick this year too. Ugh... but bc you pulled it off... hahah. I'm finally past the uglies, no more acro losses, they're finally starting to color back up and I had to turn my cal/rx back up yesterday. So I'm moving in the right direction haha. Well atleast I know for next time what to expect and hopfully I'll have better results like you.

Good job btw!

Thanks Motor, I think the trick for me was to cut off nutrient export entirely and that 1 dose of nitrate in the beginning. No skimmer, no changing filter socks.

My only fish in the 90 for the last 5 years are:

Tomini Tang
Flame Angel
Pair of Ocellaris Clowns
Spotted Mandarin (big)
Fire Shrimp

So the question now is, once everything is transferred to the new 262 gallon, how fast do I add more fish?
 
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ScottB

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In a tank that size you could go pretty fast; easily 2 per week depending on size/appetite.

I would load the wrasses (pest control) in first and then some big herbivores. Algae blenny and then a bunch of tangs all at once so aggression is spread out. Good you have the tomini in there already; mine are all pretty passive. Purple and ich magnet PBTs being the dominant fishes in my house.
 
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In a tank that size you could go pretty fast; easily 2 per week depending on size/appetite.

I would load the wrasses (pest control) in first and then some big herbivores. Algae blenny and then a bunch of tangs all at once so aggression is spread out. Good you have the tomini in there already; mine are all pretty passive. Purple and ich magnet PBTs being the dominant fishes in my house.

Since I don’t have a quarantine (haven’t added any livestock for the last 5 years), I was thinking of using the 90 as a quarantine for the new livestock before I end up breaking it down. I would leave some live rock in there that I don’t need for bio filtration.

What do you think of that idea? It would still have the old sand too.
 

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Since I don’t have a quarantine (haven’t added any livestock for the last 5 years), I was thinking of using the 90 as a quarantine for the new livestock before I end up breaking it down. I would leave some live rock in there that I don’t need for bio filtration.

What do you think of that idea? It would still have the old sand too.
This would work. But if you plan on using medications I would remove the sand and rock if you ever plan on using it again. If not go for it. :)
 
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This would work. But if you plan on using medications I would remove the sand and rock if you ever plan on using it again. If not go for it. :)

My approach is, observe and if no issues manifest after a month, I won’t use any meds.
 

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Thanks Motor, I think the trick for me was to cut off nutrient export entirely and that 1 dose of nitrate in the beginning. No skimmer, no changing filter socks
I agree, that's my plan for next time, I didnt have the nitrates on hand so that was a 4 day delay after I realized the mistake which took about 2 weeks.. so I was 3 weeks behind the 8 ball, I also turned the new skimmer on from day 1. and my skimmer was easily double the size and efficiency of the original. And I should have left the new socks out of the sump for a few weeks. But I was stuck on my normal routine of changing them out every couple days... I havent had to dose. Nitrates in about a week, they have steadied off at 4ppm now but my po4 is still being consumed I tested yesterday and I was down to .03(I've been keeping it at about 0.10 by dosing 3ml a day) so I had to up that dose since I started the red sea nutrition. I also had to up my ca/rx bc it's been holding steady at 8dkh for the last week and a half when I tested yesterday I was down to 7.7dkh(not substantial, but it means I'm headed the right direction)
 

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My approach is, observe and if no issues manifest after a month, I won’t use any meds.
This has always been my personal way of doing anything with fish, I feel that of a fish is healthy y put them through a world of meds for no reason. You wouldnt take antibiotics when your not sick (it only makes you more susceptible to infections in the future bc your body becomes resistant) so I do the same for my fish, i observe, If sick, I treat. If not off you go..
 
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I agree, that's my plan for next time, I didnt have the nitrates on hand so that was a 4 day delay after I realized the mistake which took about 2 weeks.. so I was 3 weeks behind the 8 ball, I also turned the new skimmer on from day 1. and my skimmer was easily double the size and efficiency of the original. And I should have left the new socks out of the sump for a few weeks. But I was stuck on my normal routine of changing them out every couple days... I havent had to dose. Nitrates in about a week, they have steadied off at 4ppm now but my po4 is still being consumed I tested yesterday and I was down to .03(I've been keeping it at about 0.10 by dosing 3ml a day) so I had to up that dose since I started the red sea nutrition. I also had to up my ca/rx bc it's been holding steady at 8dkh for the last week and a half when I tested yesterday I was down to 7.7dkh(not substantial, but it means I'm headed the right direction)

Yeah man, I always tend to underestimate how “dirty” water can be ran to the benefit of the corals. Stripping the water and depriving them is so much more detrimental than letting things go. That’s my experience anyway.

When I was new to this hobby, it was a standard to “run gfo and carbon”. I was actually told to get gfo running before the tank even cycled to”get a head start on the phosphates”.

Wait a minute, but my PO4 and NO3 read 0. Ah yes, that is because you are getting a “false negative” and the “algae is consuming the PO4 before you get a reading”...... NONESENSE! What does that leave for the corals!

After a year of struggling with SPS, I stopped running GFO and carbon. Guess what happened? ;Facepalm

I was dumping money on starving my corals.
 

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I dont run gfo myself. Hate it actually, anytime my po4 got high for whatever reason if I used it my corals would fade. Same with vibrant coral fade. (When I say coral I'm basically talking acros, bc we know they're the real coral hahhaha) I do run carbon from time to time, but not all the time. Years ago I used import and sell alot of acros locally(2010-2014ish) and I always chased that zero, zero and used to fight my systems and fight for color.. but I started to notice after fragged a piece and put it in the frag tank from the grow tank, that I'd get more color.. first I attributed it to the lighting (both were t5, but frags saw more blue amd purple) then I started to realize that I spent less time on that system as far as maintenance. I didnt run gfo or carbon, just a basic skimmer. And when I did a water change on the main system the water I removed (which was basically stripped clean water anyway) went to the frag tank as the new water change water and I hardly ever tested for anything but alk.. then that's when I realized I had nitrates(oh noo!) Of about 5ppm-ish and phosphates(oh I'm in trouble now!!) Of about .08ppm but yet I had no algae, no dinos and my frags were super colorful... it took a while for me to get it.. and after a bit of an internal struggle I allowed the main tank to get "dirty" and by god, the colonies grew faster, had more color and I wasnt struggling with keeping the tank clean. My point (sorry i rant and talk too much sometimes) is, less is more sometimes. And a sterile environment is never a good one. And yet we still chase numbers Haha. Every system is different and can be happy at higher numbers some with slightly lower... and I think after all these years were all finally getting it as a collective.
 

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I only noticed that my Gorgonian looked upset when using Vibrant. It did eradicate my bubble algae which was an issue for 2 years.

How bad was the color fade?
Wasnt insane but certain corals that had greens and yellows on the body with a different color coralite would loose the coralite color and would fade the body to a light brownish. Keep In mind in my system I was carbon dosing (vodka) for a long time. So I believe this was a contributing factor.. I've heard people have great success with it. just not me. Where I've had great success with fluconazole for algae issues, with zero coral change, where others havent.
 

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My approach is, observe and if no issues manifest after a month, I won’t use any meds.

Yeah, I also follow the @Paul B philosophy of high nutrition and no prophylactic copper/Prazi chemo unless there is a problem. I do admire those of the other school; just never convinced myself that the trade-offs were worth it. (please don't flame me QT people!)

I think your big 90 is a great spot to observe. If you want to err on the safe side, I guess you could segregate the water systems initially in case they stress allowing parasites to spool up.

Plenty big to avoid the small QT stress. Fatten 'em up!
 

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Yeah, I also follow the @Paul B philosophy of high nutrition and no prophylactic copper/Prazi chemo unless there is a problem. I do admire those of the other school; just never convinced myself that the trade-offs were worth it. (please don't flame me QT people!)

I think your big 90 is a great spot to observe. If you want to err on the safe side, I guess you could segregate the water systems initially in case they stress allowing parasites to spool up.

Plenty big to avoid the small QT stress. Fatten 'em up!
Love paul b, were actually having a club meet and swap at my home at the end of the month and we good ol paul will be there... we had to bribe him with some fresh clams and linguini. And someone may have told him Christy Brinkley was coming Haha.
 

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I dont run gfo myself. Hate it actually, anytime my po4 got high for whatever reason if I used it my corals would fade. Same with vibrant coral fade. (When I say coral I'm basically talking acros, bc we know they're the real coral hahhaha) I do run carbon from time to time, but not all the time. Years ago I used import and sell alot of acros locally(2010-2014ish) and I always chased that zero, zero and used to fight my systems and fight for color.. but I started to notice after fragged a piece and put it in the frag tank from the grow tank, that I'd get more color.. first I attributed it to the lighting (both were t5, but frags saw more blue amd purple) then I started to realize that I spent less time on that system as far as maintenance. I didnt run gfo or carbon, just a basic skimmer. And when I did a water change on the main system the water I removed (which was basically stripped clean water anyway) went to the frag tank as the new water change water and I hardly ever tested for anything but alk.. then that's when I realized I had nitrates(oh noo!) Of about 5ppm-ish and phosphates(oh I'm in trouble now!!) Of about .08ppm but yet I had no algae, no dinos and my frags were super colorful... it took a while for me to get it.. and after a bit of an internal struggle I allowed the main tank to get "dirty" and by god, the colonies grew faster, had more color and I wasnt struggling with keeping the tank clean. My point (sorry i rant and talk too much sometimes) is, less is more sometimes. And a sterile environment is never a good one. And yet we still chase numbers Haha. Every system is different and can be happy at higher numbers some with slightly lower... and I think after all these years were all finally getting it as a collective.

I dose my frag systems daily and feed super heavy to boot.

But my display runs GFO about 4 hours a day. I swap out GFO when PO4 bumps .15. Every tank is different -- even under the same roof.
 

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I dose my frag systems daily and feed super heavy to boot.

But my display runs GFO about 4 hours a day. I swap out GFO when PO4 bumps .15. Every tank is different -- even under the same roof.
So true. Every system is it's own ecosystem. And even when tied together theres differences in the way coral color up and grow, even if the measurable nutrients are shared.
 
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I’m sorry for the lack of updates, it has been a rough cold/flu season for my family.

My established reef is doing great!

I decided it’s time to disconnect the tanks and see what happens!

Dosed ammonia to the new tank.

Will test again in the morning.

Before ammonia dosed:


2E7A2C6E-D202-47E8-BAE9-030C26B8592E.jpeg



After ammonia dosed

70474F2D-65E3-4B28-97C9-6F84ECC649F2.jpeg
 

brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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blessings to fam on flu season :(

you have really stuck through this connection and test event, one of my favorite threads! I do not recall this getting tested in reefing, Ill update some stuff.

if you wanted to test it at a solid 1 ppm or slightly higher Im sure it can handle it with all this inoculated surface area, ergo it can handle your fish.
 
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