Red Sea Reefer 525XL Tank move help

[christopher.lauwers]

Hello everyone!

The wife and I are considering moving our 525XL RSR from our back room to our front room. We really like where the tank is at but want to remodel the room that its in. Remodeling the carpet(tank is sitting on it) replace some windows... pull paneling down bunch of stuff. The debate in the house hold is whether to move the tank or... buy a new one.

The tank is maybe 14 months old total I got it when it was 6 months old and a really good deal from a fellow local reefer.

Here are the few things I am considering.

1. Move the current tank from one room to the other... pretty plain and simple. Now with that I am worried about a cycle and the stress that can cause to my Fish and SPS.
2. Buy a new tank and maybe even down grade to a 350 or 450. I had a 350 before I made the jump to the 525. It's not that I'm not happy with the 525 its just a lot of tank. I had great success with my 350, I only upgraded because of the deal that I got.
3. Keep and move the 525.... and upgrade the sump to the v3. I have the v1 right now but I am really interested in having a refugium I've tried to use get one going in the past but it was in a skimz reactor and never had much luck with it.

Thanks for reading and any feedback you may have....

Happy Reefing

 

[JAC-]

Moving tanks is not fun at all, moved 4 of them 90 miles to the new house recently. I saved 50% of the water from each tank and was lucky to not loose any fish, coral, inverts, or crash my cycles. Packed all the livestock, rock, sand, and corals in coolers with water and the extra water in buckets. You may want to consider the same as it's a time consuming effort to move a reef.

If you don't like the tank, by all means get something that will make you happy. I think option 3, keep the tank and upgrade the sump to something that will serve you better, a good refugium is great to have. I'd be happy to lend a hand if you're near Douglasville GA.

If it were me, I'd go with option 4 where you leave the tank where it is, remodel around it, and get a new tank to put where you were thinking of moving it to.

Best of luck to you friend.

 

[christopher.lauwers]

Moving tanks is not fun at all, moved 4 of them 90 miles to the new house recently. I saved 50% of the water from each tank and was lucky to not loose any fish, coral, inverts, or crash my cycles. Packed all the livestock, rock, sand, and corals in coolers with water and the extra water in buckets. You may want to consider the same as it's a time consuming effort to move a reef.

If you don't like the tank, by all means get something that will make you happy. I think option 3, keep the tank and upgrade the sump to something that will serve you better, a good refugium is great to have. I'd be happy to lend a hand if you're near Douglasville GA.

If it were me, I'd go with option 4 where you leave the tank where it is, remodel around it, and get a new tank to put where you were thinking of moving it to.

Best of luck to you friend.

Thanks for the offer to help. I’m in Michigan sooo if you want to head out now we can do it this weekend

I like the tank I really do It’s just the idea of moving it. Even empty the tank is just heavy. My bother has a heavy duty dolly and the room I want to put it in is a straight shot down the hall way.
I was thinking to take out half the sand and replace it with new sand Just don’t know if that’s a bad idea. The new sand would be seeded the wet kind.

I like option 3 too. Like I said I have tried in the past just never had luck.

 

[JAC-]

Thanks for the offer to help. I’m in Michigan sooo if you want to head out now we can do it this weekend

I like the tank I really do It’s just the idea of moving it. Even empty the tank is just heavy. My bother has a heavy duty dolly and the room I want to put it in is a straight shot down the hall way.
I was thinking to take out half the sand and replace it with new sand Just don’t know if that’s a bad idea. The new sand would be seeded the wet kind.

I like option 3 too. Like I said I have tried in the past just never had luck.

Haha, I'll hop in the car.

Yeah the red sea tanks are extra heavy too and there isn't much room so two people are probably all you could get under it. I can definitely see where you are coming from.

You could certainly get as much of the sand out as you could and put it back in. It will stir up a lot of detritus though which will probably through your phosphates and nitrates out of wack for a bit. I'd be worried about replacing much of the sand because it will change the bacteria base that it already compatible with your tank, but half probably wouldn't be the end of the world. It would be a good idea to have some fresh bottled bacteria on hand either way and definitely some extra filter socks to pull the stuff that gets suspended out of the water.

It's a challenge either way, moving tanks is not fun at all.

You may be able to find some people on R2R in your area that can help out.

 

[christopher.lauwers]

Haha, I'll hop in the car.

Yeah the red sea tanks are extra heavy too and there isn't much room so two people are probably all you could get under it. I can definitely see where you are coming from.

You could certainly get as much of the sand out as you could and put it back in. It will stir up a lot of detritus though which will probably through your phosphates and nitrates out of wack for a bit. I'd be worried about replacing much of the sand because it will change the bacteria base that it already compatible with your tank, but half probably wouldn't be the end of the world. It would be a good idea to have some fresh bottled bacteria on hand either way and definitely some extra filter socks to pull the stuff that gets suspended out of the water.

It's a challenge either way, moving tanks is not fun at all.

You may be able to find some people on R2R in your area that can help out.

I do vacuum my sand every 2 weeks during my water changes. I just hear under the rock work it gets bad.
I’ll have to check if I can get my hands on a version 3 sump.

 

[christopher.lauwers]

I do vacuum my sand every 2 weeks during my water changes. I just hear under the rock work it gets bad.
I’ll have to check if I can get my hands on a version 3 sump.

Well I ended up ordering a new tank...went with the 425XL. As I have said I had been debating going smaller for a bit.... just seems less work and more manageable. Same width and height as the 525 just not as long 47 vs 59.

 

[JAC-]

Well I ended up ordering a new tank...went with the 425XL. As I have said I had been debating going smaller for a bit.... just seems less work and more manageable. Same width and height as the 525 just not as long 47 vs 59.

Still a nice sized reef, that probably will be more manageable. I'll bet you'll have no problem finding someone to move the 525 now haha. Should be able to make a few bucks too.

Are you starting over or moving everything over to the 425?

 

[christopher.lauwers]

Still a nice sized reef, that probably will be more manageable. I'll bet you'll have no problem finding someone to move the 525 now haha. Should be able to make a few bucks too.

Are you starting over or moving everything over to the 425?

Fore sure going to sell the 525... just need to get everything shut down first.

My plan was to get new sand for 425 and seed it with my current sand taking a cup or 2 from my 525. Reuse the same rock. My current rock is 3 individual pieces ... just not sure if I can get them all into the new tank. worse case I would need to break one up and just re-scape a bit. I also need to break down the manifold that I have on the 525 and incorporate it into the 425.

And then sadly need to get rid of some of my fish. I have a yellow tang that is getting kind of of terrible and some wrasses that are picking on a divided wrasses to the point where I only see the divided at night when the other have went to bed.

 

[christopher.lauwers]

Getting back the scape...

I'm thinking I might need to redo some of it. I was thinking that I would take it into my basement and break it up to re-glue it... and just have a spray bottle on and to mist it... or does that even matter? Im just trying to preserve the bacteria on it. Now that being said I get I would have to get it done in a few hours at the most. Any thoughts?

I have the super glue with the quick hardening stuff.

 

[JAC-]

Getting back the scape...

I'm thinking I might need to redo some of it. I was thinking that I would take it into my basement and break it up to re-glue it... and just have a spray bottle on and to mist it... or does that even matter? Im just trying to preserve the bacteria on it. Now that being said I get I would have to get it done in a few hours at the most. Any thoughts?

I have the super glue with the quick hardening stuff.

Parting with fish is never fun, but I'll bet you'll be happy to see the divided wrasse more. Far too beautiful not to be seen.

Personally, I love aquascapeing. One of my favorite parts of a reef. I'd try and do it in tank if possible. The superglue won't affect much of anything and I've never had a problem with fish bothering it, but that's just me. If you use epoxies it'll be a fight with your skimmer for a day or two.

If you go the outside the tank method, the bacteria that is deep in your rock should be fine for days. I've heard that nitrobacteria will die when exposed to air but I've never believed it. It also exists in the terrestrial world so I don't see how that could be. I think exposure to DI water will kill it BTW. It may be easier to dip it in a tub of your old tank water occasionally as you go.

The good news is the bacteria will resupply itself rapidly, you could use a bit of carbon dosing to help it too and always supplement it. It'd be a good idea to have a bottle of turbo start or something of the like on hand.

I'd imagine the balance of your system will be thrown off either way, so you can take some small liberties without further consequence.

I would highly recommend saving and reusing as much of your waer as you can, that way all the conditions your system are used to will be basically the same. If you can go 100% with the old water that'll be ideal.

Those are my thoughts anyway friend, I wish you all the luck in the hobby.

 

[christopher.lauwers]

Parting with fish is never fun, but I'll bet you'll be happy to see the divided wrasse more. Far too beautiful not to be seen.

Personally, I love aquascapeing. One of my favorite parts of a reef. I'd try and do it in tank if possible. The superglue won't affect much of anything and I've never had a problem with fish bothering it, but that's just me. If you use epoxies it'll be a fight with your skimmer for a day or two.

If you go the outside the tank method, the bacteria that is deep in your rock should be fine for days. I've heard that nitrobacteria will die when exposed to air but I've never believed it. It also exists in the terrestrial world so I don't see how that could be. I think exposure to DI water will kill it BTW. It may be easier to dip it in a tub of your old tank water occasionally as you go.

The good news is the bacteria will resupply itself rapidly, you could use a bit of carbon dosing to help it too and always supplement it. It'd be a good idea to have a bottle of turbo start or something of the like on hand.

I'd imagine the balance of your system will be thrown off either way, so you can take some small liberties without further consequence.

I would highly recommend saving and reusing as much of your waer as you can, that way all the conditions your system are used to will be basically the same. If you can go 100% with the old water that'll be ideal.

Those are my thoughts anyway friend, I wish you all the luck in the hobby.

Thanks for the feedback. I’ll update the post as it’s coming along.

 

[JAC-]

I look forward to hearing and hope to see it friend