New sump old tank

[JONAFIN]

I'm in the process of planning and gathering all the supplies to redo the plumbing and replace the sump on my 135g. The tank has been running for 6 yrs mostly fowlr but currently with a few softies. I'm looking to expand on the corals when the work is completed. I was looking for advice or tips on keeping the tank stable while i do the work. Roughly a week. I'll keep the powerheads going and point them at the surface while the filtration is down. Should I do a large water change prior to shutting down? Should I set up the new sump and run it with some bacteria additive and water from the tank? I'll be removing a lot of surface area for bacteria from the old equipment taken out. Is that going to be significant enough to harm anything? I've been pretty fortunate in this hobby so far. Hoping to avoid disaster by making a major change to the system. Thanks

 

[blaxsun]

It would probably be helpful to know what you're all running in your existing sump, ie: refugium, filtration, bio media, etc. Yes, a water change prior wouldn't be a bad idea if it's going to be offline for a week. A HOB filter might be a good investment as I assume you'll lose most (all?) of your current filtration and skimming ability.

Myself, I wouldn't necessarily worry about running the new sump with bacteria, etc. You can move any bio media into a pail of saltwater and toss in a heater and small powerhead to keep any beneficial bacteria.

 

[dadnjesse]

Like

Myself, I wouldn't necessarily worry about running the new sump with bacteria, etc. You can move any bio media into a pail of saltwater and toss in a heater and small powerhead to keep any beneficial bacteria.

+2

 

[FSP]

Just curious, but why is it going to take a week?

 

[JONAFIN]

Just curious, but why is it going to take a week?

I decided to build the tank into the wall, Which surprisingly hasn't been problematic decision over the last 6 yrs. Need to do some reconfiguring in the compartment. It's going to require recaulking and a few coats of waterproof sealer under there. Then Im going to do some hard plumbing to a new sump. I think I've got all the parts covered but I'm sure I'll be missing a critical piece at some point to delay me and the paints gotta dry. Seems like a lot for a weekend and I stay busy during the week. A curtain covers the lights in the photo Don't judge too harshly for the poorly maintained exploded skimmer and primitive set-up. A I'm working on it.

 

[JONAFIN]

It would probably be helpful to know what you're all running in your existing sump, ie: refugium, filtration, bio media, etc. Yes, a water change prior wouldn't be a bad idea if it's going to be offline for a week. A HOB filter might be a good investment as I assume you'll lose most (all?) of your current filtration and skimming ability.

Myself, I wouldn't necessarily worry about running the new sump with bacteria, etc. You can move any bio media into a pail of saltwater and toss in a heater and small powerhead to keep any beneficial bacteria.

Fairly basic set-up currently. Yes all filtration down in that time. See photo below.