Tips on moving/upgrading my tank.

[Olbensen]

Bought a new house and with that a new tank. Upgrading my 60g cube to a 180g dual overflow. I’ve purchased the plumbing and more sand and rock. I’ve got questions on how to go about some of this.

Id like to use the rock and sand in my cube in the new tank. However pulling the rock out to set up the new rig would obviously stress my livestock, and I’d need to empty it to get the sand out. So moving them out will have to come first.

I’ve got a custom 55g sump that’s currently running my cube and I’d like to move this to the 180. The 180 came with a small Eshopps sump and Syncra pump that I could use in the transition if needed. But I’m struggling to come up with a good step by step plan. Do I need a third tank and a canister filter to move livestock to during the setup process?

My cube is only 6 months old so I’d like to keep the sand but is it not worth it? Ive also got a fuge with a basketball of chaeto that I need to keep alive. I’ve purchased some portable air pumps to assist in the move.

Help me plan this out, and give me some tips on parts of this that I may not be thinking of.
Thanks!
Ben

 

[Utubereefer]

What’s your current livestock?

 

[Olbensen]

What’s your current livestock?

Dimond goby
2x Mandarin dragonets
Bicolor blenny
Tomini tang
2x clowns
6 line wrasse
Long tentacle nem
Pistol shrimp
Pin cushion urchin
Half a dozen zoa frags
Frogspawn
Torches
Mushrooms
Monti
Cleanup crew

 

[kyreefville]

What’s the time line you have to work with?

 

[Utubereefer]

Dimond goby
2x Mandarin dragonets
Bicolor blenny
Tomini tang
2x clowns
6 line wrasse
Long tentacle nem
Pistol shrimp
Pin cushion urchin
Half a dozen zoa frags
Frogspawn
Torches
Mushrooms
Monti
Cleanup crew

That’s a big list. Any chance an LFS near your new house could hold your livestock for you?

 

[Olbensen]

Dimond goby
2x Mandarin dragonets
Bicolor blenny
Tomini tang
2x clowns
6 line wrasse
Long tentacle nem
Pistol shrimp
Pin cushion urchin
Half a dozen zoa frags
Frogspawn
Torches
Mushrooms
Monti
Cleanup crew

That’s a big list. Any chance an LFS near your new house could hold your livestock for you?

I’ve got reefer friends who could help.

 

[Olbensen]

What’s the time line you have to work with?

No specific time line. We’re keeping our current house and not renting it for awhile. Obviously I’m eager to get things up and running, but I can move slowly if need be.

 

[braaap]

It's easy. Get the new tank setup. Filled with water and sand. Move the rock over. Then move the livestock over. You should not experience a cycle or if you do it will be minimal. What you are doing isn't a very big task.

Do not reuse your sand. It isn't worth the effort and will cause a massive nutrient spike. One thing you could do is buy some Matrix and fill filter bags with it and put it in your current tank for a couple of weeks. That stuff is the best for instant starting a tank because it will be loaded with bacteria. I always keep a large filter bag full of it in my sump.

I just moved my tank 3 miles down the road. 50 lagoon. I just drained it to the sand. Packed the rocks with towels so they couldn't tip over. Put all livestock I could catch in buckets. Carried everything to the back of the uhaul. At my new house I had water made. Moving it took less than an hour. Dialing everything back in took the rest of the day.

 

[kyreefville]

It's easy. Get the new tank setup. Filled with water and sand. Move the rock over. Then move the livestock over. You should not experience a cycle or if you do it will be minimal. What you are doing isn't a very big task.

Do not reuse your sand. It isn't worth the effort and will cause a massive nutrient spike. One thing you could do is buy some Matrix and fill filter bags with it and put it in your current tank for a couple of weeks. That stuff is the best for instant starting a tank because it will be loaded with bacteria. I always keep a large filter bag full of it in my sump.

what he said is what I was thinking.

Ima novice so tank the rest with grain of salt.
You could incorporate a small scoop of existing sand with the new.

I’d get tank set up and running smoothly and then plan a day to move life. Do you have a plan for new rock scape? Or just put it together and see.

If your adding more rock you could ahead of time put it in container with water power head and seed it with a couple pieces.

Of course then you have to find a nook to piut the existing tank

 

[Olbensen]

It's easy. Get the new tank setup. Filled with water and sand. Move the rock over. Then move the livestock over. You should not experience a cycle or if you do it will be minimal. What you are doing isn't a very big task.

Do not reuse your sand. It isn't worth the effort and will cause a massive nutrient spike. One thing you could do is buy some Matrix and fill filter bags with it and put it in your current tank for a couple of weeks. That stuff is the best for instant starting a tank because it will be loaded with bacteria. I always keep a large filter bag full of it in my sump.

I just moved my tank 3 miles down the road. 50 lagoon. I just drained it to the sand. Packed the rocks with towels so they couldn't tip over. Put all livestock I could catch in buckets. Carried everything to the back of the uhaul. At my new house I had water made. Moving it took less than an hour. Dialing everything back in took the rest of the day.

I’ve actually got 2 gallons of matrix in my sump that’s been there since the beginning. Good to go.

 

[bradreef]

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/official-sand-rinse-and-tank-transfer-thread.230281/

 

[Dgunn]

If you would like to keep the sand just rinse it well with the old tank water. I've done this several times.
Put about 3 inches of old sand in a 5 gallon bucket, add the old salt water that your probably throwing away anyhow and swish it about, then pour off the dirty water.
Continue this until the water is mostly clear, set it aside then start over with another batch of dirty sand.

It's very time consuming but would be far better than buying "live" sand in a bag.

You might get some cloudiness in the new tank but filter socks will pull it out right away.