Tank Upgrade

[jimmypencil]

Hey everyone,

Currently have a IM 50 Lagoon and I’m upgrading to a water box infinia frag 125.4 this week. I’m very excited but also very nervous. I want to share my plan with you guys - please poke holes in my plan or share your thoughts. Ive added like 20 acros in the past couple month so I know it’s gonna be tricky to minimize losses during the move. The current tank has been established for about 3 years. I actually just moved into a new house in May and had to move the tank - that went well with no casualties!

- planning on using all of my existing rock, livestock, maybe a couple cups of sand.
- I got 80lb of new Carib sea live sand
- I got 50lb of new Carib sea life rock (dry rock)
- new tank is going in same spot of current tank
- I will break down my tank and use these bins to store fish coral and rocks. Power head and heater in each bin. https://www.homedepot.com/p/HDX-27-Gal-Tough-Storage-Tote-in-Black-and-Yellow-999-27G-HDX/327528802
- I will fill up the new tank with new sand and a couple cups of old sand.
- I will build scape in new tank with mixture of new and old rock.
- I will then fill up the new tank with the old tank water (whatever is clean) and top off the rest with fresh salt water.
- I will ramp up my lights for 5 days starting at 50 percent of current intensity.
- I’ll do 10%-20% water changes daily for the next few days - week.
- I have live stock orders on hold (battle corals, fish) : I guess I will wait a couple weeks and make sure everything’s doing ok before adding new live stock.
- I will pause all reef moonshiners dosing and wait to take an icp until maybe a month after I set up the new tank?

My main concern is the order of operations for filling new tank. I just really think I should build the scape before I add water so I don’t have to deal with clouding everything up everytime I move a rock. But this will be tricky because I have lots of rocks where removing corals will be very tough.

Also see a ton of conflicting info on rinsing sand or reusing sand. I read a thread where there were 2 camps : absolutely rinse the crap out of everything or don’t rinse anything at all. Either preserve everything with no Die off or nuke the sand. I’ve seen countless examples of people claiming success with both so I don’t plan on rinsing any of the sand (especially because it’s gonna be 90% new live sand). When I moved my current tank recently I didn’t rinse the sand and obviously it got stirred up like crazy and I saw ZERO issues.

 

[edsbeaker]

Hey everyone,

Currently have a IM 50 Lagoon and I’m upgrading to a water box infinia frag 125.4 this week. I’m very excited but also very nervous. I want to share my plan with you guys - please poke holes in my plan or share your thoughts. Ive added like 20 acros in the past couple month so I know it’s gonna be tricky to minimize losses during the move. The current tank has been established for about 3 years. I actually just moved into a new house in May and had to move the tank - that went well with no casualties!

- planning on using all of my existing rock, livestock, maybe a couple cups of sand.
- I got 80lb of new Carib sea live sand
- I got 50lb of new Carib sea life rock (dry rock)
- new tank is going in same spot of current tank
- I will break down my tank and use these bins to store fish coral and rocks. Power head and heater in each bin. https://www.homedepot.com/p/HDX-27-Gal-Tough-Storage-Tote-in-Black-and-Yellow-999-27G-HDX/327528802
- I will fill up the new tank with new sand and a couple cups of old sand.
- I will build scape in new tank with mixture of new and old rock.
- I will then fill up the new tank with the old tank water (whatever is clean) and top off the rest with fresh salt water.
- I will ramp up my lights for 5 days starting at 50 percent of current intensity.
- I’ll do 10%-20% water changes daily for the next few days - week.
- I have live stock orders on hold (battle corals, fish) : I guess I will wait a couple weeks and make sure everything’s doing ok before adding new live stock.
- I will pause all reef moonshiners dosing and wait to take an icp until maybe a month after I set up the new tank?

My main concern is the order of operations for filling new tank. I just really think I should build the scape before I add water so I don’t have to deal with clouding everything up everytime I move a rock. But this will be tricky because I have lots of rocks where removing corals will be very tough.

Also see a ton of conflicting info on rinsing sand or reusing sand. I read a thread where there were 2 camps : absolutely rinse the crap out of everything or don’t rinse anything at all. Either preserve everything with no Die off or nuke the sand. I’ve seen countless examples of people claiming success with both so I don’t plan on rinsing any of the sand (especially because it’s gonna be 90% new live sand). When I moved my current tank recently I didn’t rinse the sand and obviously it got stirred up like crazy and I saw ZERO issues.

Hi,
I just did the same in January. I went from a 75 gallon to a 170 gallon that was placed in the same spot. Let me just say, I feel your pain of this move, especially since you just did one a couple of months ago.

I think your plan is a solid one and will work well! I don’t think there is anything in it that I would change.

I also went with totally new sand. Yes, I was concerned about unleashing a ton of ammonia, but I was more concerned with just the mess and cloudy water that I would have. I just didn’t feel like dealing with that, so it was an easy choice for me.

I don’t think you will need to automatically do daily water changes those first few days. I wouldn’t expect any problems if you build the new rock work while keeping it all completely wet.

I think the hardest part may be moving all those beautiful monti caps! BTW…that’s a beautiful looking tank!

 

[jimmypencil]

Hi,
I just did the same in January. I went from a 75 gallon to a 170 gallon that was placed in the same spot. Let me just say, I feel your pain of this move, especially since you just did one a couple of months ago.

I think your plan is a solid one and will work well! I don’t think there is anything in it that I would change.

I also went with totally new sand. Yes, I was concerned about unleashing a ton of ammonia, but I was more concerned with just the mess and cloudy water that I would have. I just didn’t feel like dealing with that, so it was an easy choice for me.

I don’t think you will need to automatically do daily water changes those first few days. I wouldn’t expect any problems if you build the new rock work while keeping it all completely wet.

I think the hardest part may be moving all those beautiful monti caps! BTW…that’s a beautiful looking tank!

Thank you very much! Yeah I’m monti crazy haha. Did you use live sand on the new tank? If so did you rinse it?

 

[edsbeaker]

Thank you very much! Yeah I’m monti crazy haha. Did you use live sand on the new tank? If so did you rinse it?

I used dry sand that I rinsed like crazy, but I wouldn’t rinse your live sand. I think it would probably kill anything that is alive in it. Your water will probably be a bit cloudy for a day or so, but the particles should settle .

 

[jimmypencil]

I used dry sand that I rinsed like crazy, but I wouldn’t rinse your live sand. I think it would probably kill anything that is alive in it. Your water will probably be a bit cloudy for a day or so, but the particles should settle .

Yeah I guess there’s pros and cons. I feel like dry would’ve been a better move. This is also why I want to build the scape in the tank before I fill it up with water but that will also be tricky!

 

[edsbeaker]

Yeah I guess there’s pros and cons. I feel like dry would’ve been a better move. This is also why I want to build the scape in the tank before I fill it up with water but that will also be tricky!

It’s definitely a balancing act when upgrading. I had so much apprehension and worry, but it all works out in the end.

Are you going to try and glue the rock together, or just stack?

 

[jayteerq]

Do you have an extra heater & wave pump on hand? I transferred 130 to 250 last week and the tank had to go in the same spot as well. I emptied the water from the sump and display, leaving 6” of water in the display. Removed the sump and as much equipment as I could. Was then able to slide the tank a few feet over to make room for the new tank. Once out of the way, I was able to put the water back into the display and left the heater & wave pump running. That way you don’t stress out livestock from two moves. I think you can accomplish this same method as your tank size is smaller

 

[edsbeaker]

This is just my opinion, so take it with a grain of salt, but I would be concerned moving a 50 gallon aquarium with even just 6” of water. The sloshing against the tank walls, and the stress of the tank not staying level is a risk.

 

[jimmypencil]

It’s definitely a balancing act when upgrading. I had so much apprehension and worry, but it all works out in the end.

Are you going to try and glue the rock together, or just stack?

Definitely just stack. Planning on removing all coral from rocks and stacking new and old rock in tank. Then adding sand then adding water.

 

[jimmypencil]

This is just my opinion, so take it with a grain of salt, but I would be concerned moving a 50 gallon aquarium with even just 6” of water. The sloshing against the tank walls, and the stress of the tank not staying level is a risk.

Yeah definitely not moving anything with water in it. I’m fully breaking it down and then moving new tank in.

 

[jimmypencil]

Oh also another massive factor I forgot to mention. I was planning on adding a bottle of turbo start once the new tank is set up. Don’t see how it could hurt and maybe it will help me avoid a mini cycle.

It’s definitely a balancing act when upgrading. I had so much apprehension and worry, but it all works out in the end.

Are you going to try and glue the rock together, or just stack?

 

[edsbeaker]

Definitely just stack. Planning on removing all coral from rocks and stacking new and old rock in tank. Then adding sand then adding water.

If you can keep it wet all of the time and you should be good. The turbo is a great idea too.

 

[jimmypencil]

If you can keep it wet all of the time and you should be good. The turbo is a great idea too.

I was gonna fill a spray bottle with salt water and spray everything while i stack. Thanks for your help and ill let you know how it goes!

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Those montis look incredible!

 

[jimmypencil]

Those montis look incredible!

Thank you very much!

 

[PPBlimpy]

Plan sounds solid. I am doing the same next weekend hopefully, but I am going the opposite direction

Going with new sand is a good idea. Cleaning used sand takes a lot of time. I am cleaning 300 lbs of it currently.

i am going from 380G to 260G

 

[jimmypencil]

Tank came today. Im so pumped. Im building the stand right now. The tank is going on carpet - do I need to use these leveling feet still? I’m afraid that the leveling feet will concentrate the weight too much on those pressure points (the tank is on the second floor)