Preparing to upgrade tank

[ArchXIII]

So! I have a 36 gallon LPS dominated tank, with three fish (two clowns, one starry blenny) and a small mix of inverts. Next month, I'll be getting a 45 gallon tank upgrade, and going to drill it and finally have a sump, and I'm wanting to prepare and ready myself since I've never done this before, and have a couple potential issues.

Big issue, I can't have both set up at the same time, it's just sadly not an option at all. So my biggest question is.. How should I go about this? My current plan is to move about 50% of my tank water to jugs, and use the rest newly made water, I'll lay out my new sand first (getting dry sand, will wash it with rodi first), move my existing rocks over and add new rock, I'll very temporarily move my fish (clowns in one, blenny in another since he's grumpy), corals on another, inverts in another container while I do this, move over existing equiemt and set it up (all my current stuff will work, I have two kessil, a reef octopus hob rated up to 100 gallons lightly stocked, and a reef wave 25).

Once my temp is up ill acclimate everything to the water, then add them, as well as probably leave the lights off the first day so fish get settled.

Does this plan sound okay, and will I experience any kind of mini cycle?

Also I've been looking at sumps, and wondered about recommendations for my tank size? I'm wanting a pre-built one.

 

[vlangel]

Your plan sounds good and every tank move I have done was the same way. I used a brute container and 5 gallon buckets. I did add battery pumps to aerate the water for my fish.

I experienced small mini cycles that I controlled with water changes to dilute the ammonia and Seachem stability bottle bacteria. The mini cycles only lasted about 2 weeks at the most. I never lost anything the 3Xs I transferred.

You can do this!

 

[ArchXIII]

Your plan sounds good and every tank move I have done was the same way. I used a brute container and 5 gallon buckets. I did add battery pumps to aerate the water for my fish.

I experienced small mini cycles that I controlled with water changes to dilute the ammonia and Seachem stability bottle bacteria. The mini cycles only lasted about 2 weeks at the most. I never lost anything the 3Xs I transferred.

You can do this!

Nice! I had forgotten about aerating the buckets.. One of the reasons I asked! To make sure I'm not forgetting anything.

About what % of water were you changing during the mini cycles?

 

[vlangel]

Nice! I had forgotten about aerating the buckets.. One of the reasons I asked! To make sure I'm not forgetting anything.

About what % of water were you changing during the mini cycles?

If I remember correctly the highest my ammonia got was around .025ppm. I do not think that I ever changed more than 25% and did a WC every 3rd day or so.

One thing you have in your favor is that you only have 3 fish. Your bioload because of a light fish load should be fairly low and easily controlled. I am sure that I had more fish than that. I tend to stock pretty heavy with fish.

 

[ArchXIII]

If I remember correctly the highest my ammonia got was around .025ppm. I do not think that I ever changed more than 25% and did a WC every 3rd day or so.

One thing you have in your favor is that you only have 3 fish. Your bioload because of a light fish load should be fairly low and easily controlled. I am sure that I had more fish than that. I tend to stock pretty heavy with fish.

That's good to know! Thank you.

I was hoping to add a fourth fish rather quickly.. My blenny has gotten territorial, and I feel like this would give me the highest chance of success to add another since it'll be all new territory.

 

[don_chuwish]

Garden totes are cheap and hold quite a bit more water than 5g buckets. Easy to put a heater and small powerhead in to keep everything happy while you set up the new tank. Even for days/weeks. Coral would of course need some lighting too, if you want to go more than a few days.
One thing jumped out at me from what you posted - no sump picked out yet? Overflow? Get all that sorted, tank drilled, test run it all with tap water - long before you start taking the old tank down!

 

[ArchXIII]

Garden totes are cheap and hold quite a bit more water than 5g buckets. Easy to put a heater and small powerhead in to keep everything happy while you set up the new tank. Even for days/weeks. Coral would of course need some lighting too, if you want to go more than a few days.
One thing jumped out at me from what you posted - no sump picked out yet? Overflow? Get all that sorted, tank drilled, test run it all with tap water - long before you start taking the old tank down!

I was looking at trigger system sumps.. Orrrr my lfs sells aio systems, it'd be easier for my apartment I feel like, but I kinda want a sump, so I was thinking on a reefer, which would come with one, and after the expenses of a tank, overflow, and sump, would be like 400 more.. And I wouldn't have to drill it myself which terrifies me.

The totes are a good idea, but with limited space, a toddler, and a dog, I think the buckets are a more realistic approach for my situation.

 

[brandon429]

you'll want to change up the sand pre rinse to tap. the last rinse is ro

straight ro serves no benefit and will run out before its cloudless. estimated one hour rinse per bag before total clarity, from our sand rinse thread. tap then ro gets you a cloudless new tank vs cloudy for days

 

[ArchXIII]

you'll want to change up the sand pre rinse to tap. the last rinse is ro

straight ro serves no benefit and will run out before its cloudless. estimated one hour rinse per bag before total clarity, from our sand rinse thread. tap then ro gets you a cloudless new tank vs cloudy for days

For rinsing would I put them in filter socks / media bags and let it do its thing?

 

[brandon429]

No that will retain too much silt, it’s gotta be in buckets, direct water contact, separate rinses either in tub (fill swish dump bucket over and over ) or outside in the hose.

this works for all sand but oolite and is the best way for sure, it’s the main way our rinsers use in the sand rinse thread. 100% of them remark they’re shocked on how much direct rinsing it takes to get cloudless sand, from a bag marked live/no rinse needed. Forty pages, that’s how long the thread is of pure tap water rinse over, and over


the day a company makes truly rinse free sand, and people buy that sand, half our tank work will go out of business. Since unrinsed sand especially dry is a nightmare, we are in big time demand. Tap water is too low / brief dwell time to be harmful. It’s unlimited flush power, harmless to use. Of forty pages, at least thirty is us rinsing live, existing sandbeds back to clean to fix invasions. The sand that runs the reef, we rinse it in tap then put the sand back under rocks lol and all reefs do fine. We dont lightly rinse, we blast rinse the sand as clean as snow globe grains. Final rinse in RO to evacuate the brief tap work.

 

[ArchXIII]

No that will retain too much silt, it’s gotta be in buckets, direct water contact, separate rinses either in tub (fill swish dump bucket over and over ) or outside in the hose.

this works for all sand but oolite and is the best way for sure, it’s the main way our rinsers use in the sand rinse thread. 100% of them remark they’re shocked on how much direct rinsing it takes to get cloudless sand, from a bag marked live/no rinse needed. Forty pages, that’s how long the thread is of pure tap water rinse over, and over


the day a company makes truly rinse free sand, and people buy that sand, half our tank work will go out of business. Since unrinsed sand especially dry is a nightmare, we are in big time demand. Tap water is too low / brief dwell time to be harmful. It’s unlimited flush power, harmless to use. Of forty pages, at least thirty is us rinsing live, existing sandbeds back to clean to fix invasions. The sand that runs the reef, we rinse it in tap then put the sand back under rocks lol and all reefs do fine. We dont lightly rinse, we blast rinse the sand as clean as snow globe grains. Final rinse in RO to evacuate the brief tap work.

This is all super good to know, I would have still rinsed until clear, but all that rodi wasted would have irritated me, and I'm happy to know to use buckets. Thanks!

 

[brandon429]

Hey can you take pics of the takedown, cleaning, total prep for the sand and then the final assembly shot looking like a crystal clear ruby setup so clean it doesn’t even appear to have water in it

we collect these in our sand rinse thread