Help, Need Advice.

[Napoliandy]

Hi everyone,
I presently have a 37 gallon cube reef with a 10 gallon sump. I recently purchased a 75gallon Internal Innovative Marine tank. I have a 29 gallon that will be fitted with a kit from Jaxracks. Trident setup.
My questions to you guys is how do I do the transfer. My present tank is up for 2 1/2 years and is finally at a good point. So much so, that I hate to disturb the chemistry. I have been told by a few people several different options to do the transfer. Some say just to transfer and do an instacycle, and others say to start fresh with DR. Tim's and wait a few weeks to put my present tank in. I am hoping that I can get some advice from you guys, because I have a lot of corals I bought in the tank on frag racks for the time being. I can move them to my frag tank for the time being, not to kill them all either. Also, if you have pics of your plumbing for an internal tank that would help. Please any advice would be welcomed. This the second time I posted and I haven't received too much response.
Thank you all in advance
Margherita

 

[blaxsun]

When I upgraded from a pair of 25-gallons to a 200-gallon, I cured the new rocks I was planning to add a few weeks prior. I then got the new tank running, added the new sand, rocks and saltwater, poured in an appropriate amount of Bio-Spira and then moved everything across - existing rocks, corals, fish and inverts (de-bristleworming as I went).

You will probably be ok to just add whatever new rocks you want along with your existing rocks when you get the new tank setup. Although you don't necessarily need to, I recommend adding whatever bacteria to insta-cycle the tank (just to be on the safe side).

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Hi everyone,
I presently have a 37 gallon cube reef with a 10 gallon sump. I recently purchased a 75gallon Internal Innovative Marine tank. I have a 29 gallon that will be fitted with a kit from Jaxracks. Trident setup.
My questions to you guys is how do I do the transfer. My present tank is up for 2 1/2 years and is finally at a good point. So much so, that I hate to disturb the chemistry. I have been told by a few people several different options to do the transfer. Some say just to transfer and do an instacycle, and others say to start fresh with DR. Tim's and wait a few weeks to put my present tank in. I am hoping that I can get some advice from you guys, because I have a lot of corals I bought in the tank on frag racks for the time being. I can move them to my frag tank for the time being, not to kill them all either. I am a little confused, to say the least. So please any advice would be welcomed. This the second time I posted and I haven't received too much response.
Thank you all in advance
Margherita

How much rock and/or biomedia is in the current tank? You can definitely use some of it to more quickly cycle the new system.

Do not attempt to reuse your sand! The only safe way to do so would be to rinse it completely clean (like, hours of work and lots of water); otherwise, you will release all kinds of stuff into the new tank and it will need a while to cycle/reduce the bad stuff (sorry, I know "stuff" is overly technical, lol). Plus, you'd release the bad stuff into your current tank when you remove it... Please don't make the mistake I did and try to save a few bucks... New sand is totally worth it! (You can add a cupful of your old sand if you want)

Having said all that, my advice is fill the new tank with saltwater, add sand and any new rock, and move as much rock and media from the old tank to the new (making sure you still have biomedia in the old tank for now). I'd then add a bottle of Dr.Tims or similar, and then test the tank in a week. If there's 0 ammo and more than 0 nitrates, you're good to go! Move the remaining rock and your livestock to the new tank.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Ok, @blaxsun's advice is good too. I am a little more cautious, probably because I did NOT have a very successful move like he did

 

[blaxsun]

Ok, @blaxsun's advice is good too. I am a little more cautious, probably because I did NOT have a very successful move like he did

I didn't re-use my old sand (it was that black Hawaiian replete with magnetic particles) and I used CaribSea live Oolite in the new tank (messy stuff and took a day to clear up).

Curing the rocks definitely helped, as I basically cycled a tub of rocks (Microbacter 7, used filter floss, old tankwater from water changes and ghost feeding) - so a lot of the beneficial bacteria was already present in the rocks when they went in.

I haven't tried Dr. Tim's - instead opting for Instant Ocean Bio-Spira (there's some interesting background reading on this product).

 

[Napoliandy]

When I upgraded from a pair of 25-gallons to a 200-gallon, I cured the new rocks I was planning to add a few weeks prior. I then got the new tank running, added the new sand, rocks and saltwater, poured in an appropriate amount of Bio-Spira and then moved everything across - existing rocks, corals, fish and inverts (de-bristleworming as I went).

You will probably be ok to just add whatever new rocks you want along with your existing rocks when you get the new tank setup. Although you don't necessarily need to, I recommend adding whatever bacteria to insta-cycle the tank (just to be on the safe side).

So your saying, setup and wait a few weeks and then move. I have dr. Tim’s. Is that good?

 

[blaxsun]

So your saying, setup and wait a few weeks and then move. I have dr. Tim’s. Is that good?

I'm saying setup, do your water leak test, add your sand, saltwater, new rock and let the temperature acclimate and any cloudiness/dust settle. Then add the bacteria for insta-cycling and move your existing rock, corals, fish and inverts in whatever order you prefer - although I found it easier to catch the fish without the rocks and then I could strain the sand in the old tanks for any invert stragglers.

I had two tanks so I moved one tank one evening and the second in the afternoon the next day.