Tank Transfer

[shanedag]

Looking for some advice on a tank transfer. I have a 180 gallon currently that's been running for about a year. Current tank has a mix of fish, lps, sps and a couple anemones. I have a new 320 gallon tank being delivered this week. Going to take me a while to figure out how to get it into the house but in the meantime, trying to plan the transfer.

My plan is to place my corals and rock in one very large tub with old water and place the fish in another very large tub also with old water. Each tub would have heater and powerhead to hopefully buy me some time.

New tank is going exactly where the current tank is. Once I get the current tank emptied, I plan to put the new tank/stand in it's place and start getting it up and running.

Not sure what to do about sand. When I set this tank up, I purchased the live sand and live rock from Tampa Bay Saltwater. Should I try to save and reuse the live sand or just buy new Special Grade sand?

Also, does my transfer method make sense or any recommendations on how to do it better? I'm hoping to avoid an ammonia/nitrite spike. I will obviously ensure that I have plenty of new saltwater already mixed and on hand.

Thanks!!!

 

[blaxsun]

Sand you could go either way, but if you reuse it I'd take the opportunity to thoroughly clean and rinse it. If you're under time constraints, new sand may be the way to go.

I think your transfer method is solid - I've seen many upgrades where they do just that (and I did this for my new rock when getting everything ready for an upgrade; my new tank went in a different location so I could just move everything across - otherwise the fish and coral would also have gone into tubs).

 

[SlugSnorter]

keep biomedia, and rocks (go with Blaxsun on the sand). The bacteria on them will seed the new tank and continue to eat ammonia. The fish in those big bins will survive a few hours maybe longer, (depending on fish and livestock, in addition to filteration), but the faster they are in the new tank the better (only if you keep the old materials, otherwise the tank will need to fully cycle again. Keep ammonia stopping products on hand for emergencies.

also, maybe an air powed sponge filter (really cheap on amazon) on the surface of the bins could be good for a bit of filtration while the tanks are being changed out

 

[shanedag]

Thanks for the advice. I do have a new HOB filter I was planning to use for a Quarantine, but never ended up needing it. I guess I could use that for additional filtration in the tub while I complete the transfer.

Just super worried about losing my fish. The cowfish stresses me the most.

Do you think it would be better to move the old aquarium to it's new location (my son is taking it over from me) and get it back up and running then add the fish back to it while I get the new tank stood up and ensure it's fully cycled? Or would that just add more stress to the fish when I then transfer them to the new tank (2 moves instead of 1)?

 

[SlugSnorter]

Thanks for the advice. I do have a new HOB filter I was planning to use for a Quarantine, but never ended up needing it. I guess I could use that for additional filtration in the tub while I complete the transfer.

Just super worried about losing my fish. The cowfish stresses me the most.

Do you think it would be better to move the old aquarium to it's new location (my son is taking it over from me) and get it back up and running then add the fish back to it while I get the new tank stood up and ensure it's fully cycled? Or would that just add more stress to the fish when I then transfer them to the new tank (2 moves instead of 1)?

Better one move, maybe have some ruby reef really, metroplex or something else reef safe that can help with infections that can show up from stress, the key to this should be having the fish stay in a calm area with stable enough params

 

[Schraufabagel]

With a tank your size and the amount of effort for the transfer, it would probably be much easier to opt for new sand. My 25 gallon tank, two 6 gallon tanks, and 10 gallon tank were a lot of work to move

 

[malacoda]

I just tranferred the contents of my 65g over to a new 120g. Here's what I did:

• 3 weeks earlier I put a few pieces of rock rubble from my sump into a tub with new saltwater and the new dry rock I would be using just to help seed the new rock a bit (probably not necessary, but I had the time, so, why not...?)
• I moved all rock, fish and critters into a 100g livestock tub along with:
  • tank water — I filled the tub 3/4 of the way with fresh saltwater then transferred the other 1/4 over from my 65g to ensure there was some PO4 and NO3 present
  • a heater
  • my powerheads
  • my skimmer without the overflow cup to help oxygenate the tub (make sure no fish will be able to enter the skimmer)
  • a small tupperware container of sand for my wrasse
  • and set up my lights over the tub
• Used a shop vac to vacuum up my sand into a couple of 5g buckets

I think it's very important to keep the rock and fish in the SAME tub to endure you maintain a biofilter for processing the ammonia your fish will produce ... especially if you think it will take more than 1-2 days to complete the swap.

Then, over the course of 1.5 weeks...

• Modified my stand to work with the larger tank
• Set up, plumbed, filled and tested the new tank
• Rinsed my sand out really well with a garden hose — same as you would rinse new sand
• put in the new rock as a base foundation
• added my sand back in + some new, rinsed sand
• moved my original rock + coral over to the new tank
• moved over the fish and other critters
• replaced 20% of the new water in the new tank with old water from the tub (again to avoid a zero PO4/NO3 situation)
• dialed in my flow and lighting for the new tank
• DONE

 

[shanedag]

Wow, thanks @malacoda. For some reason, I hadn't considered keeping the rocks and fish in the same tub, but that makes total sense now. I am hoping I can complete all this in one day. Hoping this isn't overly ambitious, but I'm upgrading Waterbox tanks and there wasn't a whole lot of assembly required so my 180 went up rather quickly.

Also hadn't considered adding my skimmer to the tub so appreciate that suggestion also. Makes sense for oxygenation.

 

[DJF]

Save some time and use new sand. You can reuse it if you rinse but that time is better used setting up your new tank.

 

[shanedag]

Would you guys buy dry sand or live sand? I was thinking dry to save some money since I'm using my existing live rock.

 

[SlugSnorter]

Would you guys buy dry sand or live sand? I was thinking dry to save some money since I'm using my existing live rock.

Either or, Live can help a bit but if it ends up taking budget away from other things just go dry (remember to rinse dry)

 

[malacoda]

Wow, thanks @malacoda. For some reason, I hadn't considered keeping the rocks and fish in the same tub, but that makes total sense now. I am hoping I can complete all this in one day. Hoping this isn't overly ambitious, but I'm upgrading Waterbox tanks and there wasn't a whole lot of assembly required so my 180 went up rather quickly.

Also hadn't considered adding my skimmer to the tub so appreciate that suggestion also. Makes sense for oxygenation.

If it you can do it in a day and it's a fairly large tub with a few powerheads in it, you probably won't need to add the skimmer. In my case, I knew it would take me 1-2 weeks to get the new tank in place, so I wanted the added precaution.