Moving - Transferring 6 year old tank - Help!

[Jmunk]

So I'm going to be moving about an hour and a half away in around 3 weeks. I currently have a 90G reef that's been running for around 6 years now. I have 6 fish. I don't even want to bother with trying to take down the tank and then move the tank and the inhabitants to the new home, so I'm going to be buying a new 120G tank and sump for the new house. Here's my outline and plan and wanted to see if you guys could offer any suggestions or advice.

• I don't have to be out of my current house by any date (first home, living with parents), so I can be a little flexible with taking my time.
• I plan on getting the 120G tank, sump, and stand setup on the first day that I close (Friday)
• I'm going to be adding a couple pieces of live rock from my current tank (I want to be careful about adding too much, as I think some are leaching phosphates, but I also can't really deal with a cycle in the new tank so I need to add enough beneficial bacteria. I plan on adding maybe 3-4 pieces.
• I'm going to be taking a full cup or so of sand from this tank and adding it to the new tank, again for the bacteria. The rest will be new live sand.
• Possibly adding in a bottle of Dr. Tim's just to be extra sure the tank is ready to go. Let me know what you guys think about this.
• Monitor the tank's ammonia and nitrite levels the following day (Saturday).
• If both zero, by either Sunday or Monday, start transferring inhabitants.
• I was planning on putting the fish and coral in 5 gallon buckets, with the fish buckets having battery air stones and heaters (it's cold in NJ now). Let me know if you guys have any better ways/suggestions with this.
• Transfer all coral and fish from buckets to new tank, monitor, prepare new saltwater for emergencies, hope for the best?

What do you guys think?

 

[Dkmoo]

imo adding all 6 fish at the same time with only a couple of the old rocks is risky b/c we don't have a good handle on estimating how much of the dinitrifying bacteria is enough to suddenly handle the waste. I'd either add them slower to the new tank, or put more of your old rocks in the sump - Po4 in my mind is less of an issue than ammonia spikes. Plus, your PO4 cycle and nitrate cycle may already be unbalanced depending what was in the 6 year old sand that you are not bringing along. If that sand is fully mature with a ton of worms/pods etc.. these play a big role in keeping N and P balanced so since you are just moving a small amount to "reseed" the new tank, you probably will end up dealing with a short term No3/PO4 issue anyway.

 

[NaturalBrnHeathen]

A fews steps I might do differently
- Wait 1-2 weeks for levels to stabilize instead of a few days. Ammonia reading low might not be enough. It could spike when you add livestock
- I like the idea of adding Dr Tims or other nitrifying bacteria. Would suggest adding a food source like flakes to keep them in good numbers

 

[F i s h y]

Need more details to help.
What kind and what size fish?
How much live rock do you have?
Do you have a sump or refugium currently?

In my opinion 6 fish in a 125 is lightly stocked. Unless we are talking huge fish. If you are working with 50 to 70 lbs of live rock, I see no issues with an all at once transfer.

Additionally you can get some filter media (floss or sponge) and put them in your current sump to allow bacteria to colonize them. This will give you added bacteria while you make the transfer.

If you keep all your rock submerged you will avoid die off.

The main issue you may run into is if your coral are used to say 10 nitrate and .1 phosphates then your new tank may actually be lacking enough nutrients to begin with and they may brown (sps) or not open fully lps and softies. I would be more concerned with that.

I would also have enough saltwater on hand to do at least a 20% water change in the event of any ammonia spikes but I really do not think it will be a problem.

@fishguy242 any thoughts?

 

[fishguy242]

hi,how is condition of current tank? thriving? poss pics of ,and your equipment ? large enough to handle upgrade?pics?

 

[Uncle99]

First I added the bacteria all corals at once + 2 least aggressive fish, then day two, the other four, and added 10% bacteria each day till bottle done.

I was watching ammonia, but never left zero.

 

[Jmunk]

Need more details to help.
What kind and what size fish?
How much live rock do you have?
Do you have a sump or refugium currently?

In my opinion 6 fish in a 125 is lightly stocked. Unless we are talking huge fish. If you are working with 50 to 70 lbs of live rock, I see no issues with an all at once transfer.

Additionally you can get some filter media (floss or sponge) and put them in your current sump to allow bacteria to colonize them. This will give you added bacteria while you make the transfer.

If you keep all your rock submerged you will avoid die off.

The main issue you may run into is if your coral are used to say 10 nitrate and .1 phosphates then your new tank may actually be lacking enough nutrients to begin with and they may brown (sps) or not open fully lps and softies. I would be more concerned with that.

I would also have enough saltwater on hand to do at least a 20% water change in the event of any ammonia spikes but I really do not think it will be a problem.

@fishguy242 any thoughts?

Need more details to help.
What kind and what size fish?
How much live rock do you have?
Do you have a sump or refugium currently?

In my opinion 6 fish in a 125 is lightly stocked. Unless we are talking huge fish. If you are working with 50 to 70 lbs of live rock, I see no issues with an all at once transfer.

Additionally you can get some filter media (floss or sponge) and put them in your current sump to allow bacteria to colonize them. This will give you added bacteria while you make the transfer.

If you keep all your rock submerged you will avoid die off.

The main issue you may run into is if your coral are used to say 10 nitrate and .1 phosphates then your new tank may actually be lacking enough nutrients to begin with and they may brown (sps) or not open fully lps and softies. I would be more concerned with that.

I would also have enough saltwater on hand to do at least a 20% water change in the event of any ammonia spikes but I really do not think it will be a problem.

@fishguy242 any thoughts?

Two clownfish
Scopas Tang
Mag Foxface
Red Tail Trigger
1 Chromis

Biggest is foxface at maybe 5-6 inches, but they're all a good size and nice and fat. It's hard to say exactly how much live rock I have in the tank. I originally bought around 90 pounds when I started it, but I've removed some throughout the years for a more minimalistic look. Yes, I have a sump, but with no refugium.

I actually have a ceramic block sitting in my sump that I put in over a year and a half ago. Probably should bring that over too, yeah?

Plan was to keep live rock being transferred completely submerged in water in 5 gallon buckets.

 

[Jmunk]

hi,how is condition of current tank? thriving? poss pics of ,and your equipment ? large enough to handle upgrade?pics?

Conditions are "ok". I've always struggled keeping phosphates low. Algae has always been some sort of factor in the tank's life, but usually never to the point where it's detrimental. As of now, I'm using Phosphate RX weekly to keep them down, and even then, they hover around .10 - .20. Nitrates are always 0.

I'll post some pics of the tank tomorrow.

Equipment should all transfer over fine as they're oversized, including the skimmer, at least for the time being.

Lights: Aquatic life T5 hybrid with 2 Kessil A360x's.
Skimmer: Reef Octopus Classic 200 Int.

My one upgrade this time is to purchase a sump big enough and add a refugium. My current sump never had the room.

 

[Skynyrd Fish]

This is easy. Congratulations on your new house. I did the same thing 21 years ago. Keep rock submerged in buckets. Take a bunch of sand, but rinse it clean in some salt water. I would get the tank set up as you have posted. Then get the transfer done in one day. Fish And all. Also I would skip the live sand, as you’ll be bringing a bunch. I highly recommend scrubbing the rocks clean with a brush in a bucket of old salt water if you are having hair algae issues. Cleaning the sand with a small strainer. Good luck.

 

[Jmunk]

This is easy. Congratulations on your new house. I did the same thing 21 years ago. Keep rock submerged in buckets. Take a bunch of sand, but rinse it clean in some salt water. I would get the tank set up as you have posted. Then get the transfer done in one day. Fish And all. Also I would skip the live sand, as you’ll be bringing a bunch. I highly recommend scrubbing the rocks clean with a brush in a bucket of old salt water if you are having hair algae issues. Cleaning the sand with a small strainer. Good luck.

Thanks! So you're thinking I should take all of or most of my sand in my current tank? I was under the impression it was a good balance to take a cup or two to seed and then use brand new sand for the new tank.

I'll probably scrub rocks either way, but I actually have zero hair algae in the tank. Just aptasia and majano.

 

[Skynyrd Fish]

Aptasia and majano need to go. I have no advice on how to rid your tank off these two. Maybe place the affected rocks in hypo-salinity? Maybe someone can chime in on this. I would think hypo for a few days should kill them.

 

[Jmunk]

Aptasia and majano need to go. I have no advice on how to rid your tank off these two. Maybe place the affected rocks in hypo-salinity? Maybe someone can chime in on this. I would think hypo for a few days should kill them.

Yeah I'm not too worried about the aptasia and majano for right now at least. Wanna just make sure all living things go transferred safely with no casualties and minimal snags.

 

[Skynyrd Fish]

I came up with a slightly sinister plan. Burn them out with a soldering iron. Then scrub the area with a brush then place in tank.

 

[WallyB]

I think the more live rock you get over to the new tank the Better. If they leach phosphates it doesn't really matter (they will leach and clean out faster in the New water).
Certainly a few fish fish if you can, since Lifeless Tanks don't really cycle.
Corals a bit later if sensitive (SPS), but any rock you can trasnsfer will help establish the new biology.

 

[Jmunk]

I think the more live rock you get over to the new tank the Better. If they leach phosphates it doesn't really matter (they will leach and clean out faster in the New water).
Certainly a few fish fish if you can, since Lifeless Tanks don't really cycle.
Corals a bit later if sensitive (SPS), but any rock you can trasnsfer will help establish the new biology.

I suppose you're right. Maybe I should just add most of the rock. I can deal with phosphates later with the refugium and that's a better problem to have than dead fish.

 

[WallyB]

I suppose you're right. Maybe I should just add most of the rock. I can deal with phosphates later with the refugium and that's a better problem to have than dead fish.

I did something similar. Not between houses, but From a 90 Gallon Tank, to upgraded 110G (both in basement)

This was the 65 Gal Tank just before the move. I removed all corals from rocks where possible. LIght brush scrubbing and powerhead power wash of Exposed Surfaces. (In the Old Tank)

I took out all rocks and scrubbed (all sides of rock) in bins. Cleaned sand when I removed it. Soaked/Rinsed everything in bins for a couple days (Never kept that OLD dirty rinse water)

Then they went back into the Same 65 Gallon Tank (temp location) for a brief Holding, till I got the 110G ready.

They cleaned up nice before the move.

Then when the 110G was ready, and running on new setup. (ALL NEW WATER)
I put all rocks into the new system. All at once. Remounted all corals.

One (Test Fish) went in for a day A two days later ALL FISH Got Transferd.

It was the best clarification of the Rocks (Nussaince Algae, Muck, Sediment) I ever did.
No nusiance algae ever came back. It's been two+ Years.
I did have a couple of Cyano outbreak, but were are manageble with Patience.

I also decided to go Sand Bottom. Best thing I ever did. Sand looks great when clean, but really hard to maintain, and alway the start of all problems (Cyano, Algae, etc). (I did keep some sand for the sump Refuge, and even that I'm thinking of removing)

 

[Tacticool-Reefer]

Found this, hope it helps.

Are you Moving???

Moving... Moving your reef aquarium can be a daunting task. Like that meeting or test you have tomorrow that you didn’t prepare for – but you know if you buckle down for the evening and work hard, you’ll be ready to go in the morning. Either...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[brandon429]

I’d never seen that article before, relocating sand is the most important part and it’s missing from the advice set.

relocate sand the wrong way, tank dies.


relocate the sand using skip cycle methodology, or not at all as above - always works out fine. A very stark contrasting outcome based on sand handling methods. So impactful that to have it missing from the move article means the article as a template is a risk. I hadn’t seen that till now, in 2015 sand rinsing was not popular admittedly.

 

[Tacticool-Reefer]

I’d never seen that article before, relocating sand is the most important part and it’s missing from the advice set.

relocate sand the wrong way, tank dies.


relocate the sand using skip cycle methodology, always works out fine.

Personally, I would never reallocate old sand, IMHO it's way too risky.

 

[brandon429]

Agreed we should make this the new fifty page moving tanks thread packed with examples. Let’s do

new rules- 1. if you want to move no sand to new tank, all at once, that’s fine your live rock will handle it. Old rules said they’d lack bacteria, new rules know that’s not true. You need to ramp down lighting in the new tank and ramp back up slowly, lighting is your issue on the new tank not the bacteria. How the article advises live rock handing is correct. Post #16 is beautiful.

2. if you are moving old sand- tap water rinse it for two hours in bucket sections until it’s 1000% clean before you place in new tank. Final rinse in ro, now it’s clean as a snowglobe. You can move that sand and use it in the tank without cloud, therefore it’s skip cycle. Cloud equals cycle, loss of bacteria is not the risk.

3. if you are getting new sand, still do step 2 but for different reasons. Always be cloudless, ABC= skip cycle tank moves for pages. Rinse your new sand. Rinse your old sand, say the word cloudless ten times.

4. I’m scared. Tap water kills bacteria. See step 1. If having no sand was an option, why does your pre rinsing matter

ok go. any tank transfer ran that way will skip cycle just fine, using no bottle bacteria. Your live rock is always enough unless you plan on removing all sand, and all live rock for dry, in which case it’s not enough. Moving your existing live rock will handle all the bioload your rock and sand used to carry, the old rules could not fathom that being case and only fifteen pages of work here will convince 90% of readers that statement is true.

in all new setups re ramp your lighting, this is bleach protection for having robbed all the organics...which means you transferred no risk to the new tank. The cause of a recycle loss is never, ever, lack of bacteria in the new setup-it’s either light bleaching or the moving of waste in the name of bacteria protection, which is the most dangerous way to move a reef tank. failure to rinse the sand correctly and moving waste will kill about 10% of the reefs that use the method. There are a few setups where live rock sat for decades on sand, absorbed packed detritus in bottom channels, moves to new tank now inverted, casts off *clouding* in the new tank and kills fish.


that’s why the article is right on live rock preps, rinse the live rock in tank water then move it wet, on top of pure sand, in all new water, re ramp lights.


forget a cup of old sand, don’t do that, it’s a cup of risk with zero benefit. Forget any of the old rules, they kill 10% of entrants.

if you move clean you will not recycle.