Getting an established tank

[paul01]

I have a question to ask I'm getting an Established reef tank that has a couple of fish and a few corals. what's the best way to move it? How much water do I need to save? What's the best way to clean the crushed coral substrate and live rock? Any advice or comments are very much appreciated

 

[brandon429]

A full thread on that big job here :)

 

[brandon429]

http://reef2reef.com/threads/the-of...ead-aka-one-against-many.230281/#post-2681445

Please take pics and document your move!

 

[paul01]

Thank you and I have been taking pictures of my stand build and will take pictures of the move

 

[Humblefish]

I would ditch the crushed coral substrate and replace it with sand. It can be "dry sand" so long as the rock is live & wet. Everything else can be moved using brute trash cans or sterilite containers.

 

[brandon429]

Agreed

A summary of that read above regarding tank moves:

Nothing kills bacteria in this process, not even brief air exposure

Storing your sensitive fish and corals alongside hidden detritus, whether in rocks or in a dirty sandbed, is the risk

Number one we want to move zero waste, only clean items, so the take apart phase should be a cleaning phase where detritus and algae don't relocate, they carry the ammonia \cycle risk via protein association mid-breakdown

If you will use a new rinsed sandbed as HF mentioned it's better than the old, crushed coral catches lots of detritus vs smaller grain but the cleaning is the most important part

Reacclimate fish, start with all new water but use the same rocks and good to go