When upgrading a tank, what would be the best way to move the live rock, corals, and fish? Do you try to aquascape the new tank or do you just keep you old aquascape and add rocks. I'm planning on upgrading my tank in the near future, and would like to know how others have handled this. FYI this would be from a 40 breeder to hopefully a tank that is 4 to 5 feet long, 20 winches wide, and 22 inches high.
Moving Aquascape
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Rick's Reviews
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I just moved a 15 gallon to a 40 gallon two weeks ago. The 15 was 2 years old.
Went in this order:
1-filled up new tank with base rocks, sand, water, and got it to temp
2-moved rock (keepers) with corals, got them arranged how I wanted, put light on new tank
3-lowered light intensity for about a week.
when I moved the rock, I did a quick shake to get detritus out. Did NOT disturb the sand. About a week in I started actively seeing pods in the new tank. In my opinion, if youre moving live rock, and you’re not drying it out you shouldn’t see a cycle at all.
A note though, if your tank is new <6 months or so treat the new tank as a “new tank”.
Went in this order:
1-filled up new tank with base rocks, sand, water, and got it to temp
2-moved rock (keepers) with corals, got them arranged how I wanted, put light on new tank
3-lowered light intensity for about a week.
when I moved the rock, I did a quick shake to get detritus out. Did NOT disturb the sand. About a week in I started actively seeing pods in the new tank. In my opinion, if youre moving live rock, and you’re not drying it out you shouldn’t see a cycle at all.
A note though, if your tank is new <6 months or so treat the new tank as a “new tank”.
Upgrading to a different tank is the perfect opportunity to change your aquascape should you desire. If you like your aquascape, you can also keep it and add to it as well, or add a standalone island or whatnot in the extra space you have.
Over the years and moves, unless it’s a build from scratch, I tend to keep the aquascape after breaking the tank down for a move or upgrade. I would take a photo of the aquascape before starting and label/number the rocks in the photo. Remove them one by one and note the number and order you removed them, from top rocks to bottom most. If you have anything cemented, try not to break the cement and keep the cemented pieces as one. Then refer to your photo and numbers when you rebuild the aquascape piece by piece in the new tank. It won’t be perfectly identical to the original but will be quite close. No need to keep the live rock submerged during the move but definitely keep it wet with tank water and minimize the time it’s out of the water.
For fish and corals I normally prepare a bunch of coolers and place the animals in the coolers during the time it takes to move the rock and prepare the new tank. If moving over distance, plastic cooler liners + rubber bands + oxygen might be in order especially for fish, but a simple move to a new tank in your home won’t need that. Just don’t let your animals get too cold as you prepare the new tank. I keep the fish covered as well to minimize stress. Once temperature and salinity are stable in the new tank, I usually move them right in. I usually use as much old tank water in the new tank as possible while keeping the old water detritus free. Testing alkalinity in the new tank and getting it at a similar level to the old tank wouldn’t be a bad idea.
Of course if you have corals encrusted on your rocks and want to keep it that way, use a bit extra care with those.
Agree with @ahiggins as well, good tips and agree as long as you don’t dry out your live rock you should basically be fine.
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