How to upgrade to my new tank

[Tim'sReef]

Hi all!

I just got back from a holiday and as always went straight to my tanks to see how they where doing. From the pictures of the tank sitter I already saw some of my corals looked not too well. My birdsnest have bleached, the candy cane is on the brink of dying and all others look not the happiest.

This is a problem that was already happening before I went on holiday because I saw my birds birdsnest struggling before I left. I think there is something in my water that is causing this. In previous ICP test there where some metals i think of the old stand rusting. However I removed this with water changes and polyfilter but have not done a new ICP for a while so it could be back. Also I suspect flow is an issue since my other corals (toadstools, leathers and montipora have overgrown some area's). The corals that now are struggling also have grown a lot in the past so they were happy before.

Now I already was going to upgrade to a new tank. A little bit bigger than I have now. This tank is scaped and set up for almost 2 months and I was ghost feeding it a bit every day. It's all new dry rock, but seeded with a biobrick that was in my old tank since it started. I'm thinking about transferring my lifestock to the new tank since then I won't have to deal with the old problems and stand. But I'm afraid of causing harm to my fish and corals. If I put in some of the old rock (or a lot) in the sump would you guys suspect I will get an ammonia spike. Or would the old bacteria handle the produced ammonia?

Do you think this will give my parameters a reset and not have to deal with the issues I currently face?

Any other suggestions very welcome.

 

[Tim'sReef]

Forgot to mention the current tank is a blue marine 200 (200 liters) and the new tank is a waterbox marine x 90.3.

The higher lifeforms I will be transferring are 2 bangai cardinals, 2 clowns, a yellow coris wrasse, Nemateleotris. 3 cleaner shrimp and an pom pom crab.

 

[brandon429]

A thread specializing on this exact job

Please take a lot of tank transfer pics

Official Sand Rinse and Tank Transfer thread

If you are reading this thread to cure a tank invasion from a link I sent you, we do not need to identify your type of invasion here we do not need you to test anything at anytime regarding nitrate, phosphate etc Above all, we do not need to see a microscope slide picture of your invasion at...

www.reef2reef.com

There are specific steps you take with your sand and lighting before you move the life over

And all bacteria are fine in each job

We never tested for anything, we didn't have to. There's a pattern of steps if you copy any reef tank can be relocated or moved etc

We didn't use any bottled bacteria either those are pure tank transfer jobs

Study the thread for a day, read each jobs similar order

 

[Tim'sReef]

A thread specializing on this exact job

Please take a lot of tank transfer pics

Official Sand Rinse and Tank Transfer thread

If you are reading this thread to cure a tank invasion from a link I sent you, we do not need to identify your type of invasion here we do not need you to test anything at anytime regarding nitrate, phosphate etc Above all, we do not need to see a microscope slide picture of your invasion at...

www.reef2reef.com

There are specific steps you take with your sand and lighting before you move the life over

And all bacteria are fine in each job

We never tested for anything, we didn't have to. There's a pattern of steps if you copy any reef tank can be relocated or moved etc

We didn't use any bottled bacteria either those are pure tank transfer jobs

Study the thread for a day, read each jobs similar order

Hi Brandon I don't want to keep the old sand, new sand is already in the new reef, would my old now life rock be enough to handle it?

 

[brandon429]

Yes agreed it will, you already have 80% of the job done if the sand is all settled in the new tank and salinity and temp match current water

By rule of surface area the live rock always brings enough, that's the takeaway from all jobs in the thread where the sand is neutralized via tap water rinsing

It's still relevant for our thread any tank transfer is what we like to see

Lift over the animals and rocks, be sure and wash off live rock in saltwater to jet off any stuck areas on the bottom of the live rock where its sitting on the sand

Moving over clean items into a cloudless new tank is all that's left, with a light re ramping on the new tank over ten days

 

[Tim'sReef]

Yes agreed it will, you already have 80% of the job done if the sand is all settled in the new tank and salinity and temp match current water

By rule of surface area the live rock always brings enough, that's the takeaway from all jobs in the thread where the sand is neutralized via tap water rinsing

It's still relevant for our thread any tank transfer is what we like to see

Lift over the animals and rocks, be sure and wash off live rock in saltwater to jet off any stuck areas on the bottom of the live rock where its sitting on the sand

Moving over clean items into a cloudless new tank is all that's left, with a light re ramping on the new tank over ten days

Thanks for the help. Will start tomorrow.

Thanks for the tip on ramping up the lights didn't think about that. I'm using the same lights only one more unit so I should be able to match the spectrum and intensity.

Right now this is how the old tank looks. Only cleaned the front glass since I came back. Some of the birdsnest are goners sadly.

Hopefully the Duncan and candy cane (transfered to my frag tank) will pull through since I have grown them from single polyps an would hate to lose them. My Elegance still looks good but kind of scared for that one since I bought it the day Jake Adams died as an memoriam to him (since he liked big corals I wanted something I could not frag and am not experienced enough for acros )

It will be transferred to this. The 2 gyres from the old tank will be added to this to help with some extra flow.

I will keep this thread updated once I have gone through with the transfer.