So I have a seam leak.. ugh Tank transfer advice please.

[ColoredRock]

So, no fun... I have a seam that is expanding slowly (my own fault for letting the tank stay dry when I took a break) that will put a bathtub of water on my floor sooner than later.
My current plan is to set up the “new” tank in a not so ideal place.. Close to the existing tank. But I want the tank to be where the “old” old tank is.

It basically is a tank move.. 3 hours in the back of a truck. very nice setup Socal weather right now is friendly.
How detrimental would it be to basically move it again .. and how much time should I wait...
or should I just Brute the current tank the night before... about 15 varieties of differing frags and rock..also going bare bottom… it’s 2-month's-old, solid parameters, no fish 30 or so CUC Snails.

 

[ColoredRock]

I have been watching it "grow" each mark is 5 to 7 days

 

[brandon429]

I have an example work thread that will skip cycle you into the new tank pls take pics so we can use to help others pattern these emergency moves:

EMERGENCY - Help! 40 breeder leaked all over floor

I woke up at 2am to use the bathroom and heard the sound of water splashing. I went to look in my living room in horror and disbelief. Then I saw it, half the water gone! I think the stupid hob protein skimmer overflowed, because I dont see any cracks in the tank. But I had to drain the whole...

www.reef2reef.com

@hawk82 your thread is still helping others nice job on pics man

and that rinse…clean as a whistle

 

[brandon429]

Coloredrock


the single most important aspect is the tap water sandbed rinse, don’t short change it, perfect cloudless transfer is what makes these work


it may take 2 straight hours of rinsing to do it right, cloudless equals skip cycle don’t use bottle bac we don’t need it. All actions are covered well above

 

[dvgyfresh]

Transfer everything into brute / bin for the night with heater / air bubbler - buy new sand or rinse old sand and use all new water would be my rec

 

[ColoredRock]

not going back to sand.. as much as I like the look.. it really is a PITA.. and something I can do without after all it really is only a 1/6 of what we enjoy.. I do think over time I can populate that are of the tank with other pretty things.

 

[dvgyfresh]

even easier , just put everything into brute with heater and bubbler then transfer it’ll still cycle a bit due to new surface area

 

[brandon429]

You can leave it out and it will still skip cycle, the live rock carries the filtration alone just fine, still don’t add bottle bac the rocks are loaded and ready. Let’s see how much live rock you have post tank shot / curious to see

the sand rinse thread is fifty pages of sand removal the live rock will be fine, it’s still excess surface area for the fish at hand.

 

[ColoredRock]

my tank as of right now:

 

[ColoredRock]

will post a pic of the tank Im getting tomorrow before tear down

 

[mfinn]

I've swapped out tanks in the past. Putting a new one in the same place as the old one.
I've used everything from livestock water troughs, to kiddie plastic swimming pools.
As long as there is water movement, and heat you should have no problem.

 

[brandon429]

my gosh thats high quality live rock and a ton of it. certain to skip cycle. *detritus tends to stick even to live rocks, so swish-twist them around in tank water or clean saltwater before moving over. lack of bacteria is never the cycle risk, its always mud that rides over where problems happen so if those rocks are moved cleanly you have a guaranteed skip cycle setup, just like they do for all marine aquarium conventions. the sand commits a very small degree of filtration assistance/ammonia control to the overall setup its ok to completely forego it in the new setup.

 

[Pntbll687]

It's going to depend on how much space and bins you have or want to buy. If you have a spare container you drain water and put in habitants in that with some of the rock and a heater.

If you're really cramped for space, make some water change water, and then drain some tank water into that container and add some tank water and livestock. This is like doing a big water change. Then pump this back into the new tank once it's in place

 

[ColoredRock]

my gosh thats high quality live rock and a ton of it

what happens I guess when you might be a hoarder... lol... I am glad I kept it.. was a good base to start. I come from the stadium wall of rock/ DSB background... Rock in the back left was from an established tank.. to seed.