Transferring Tank - Need Advice

[TheReefDiary]

okay so I just pulled the trigger and bought my upgraded tank. moving from the fluval Evo to a 40 gallon long by innovative marine. wish I would've just bought the bigger tank originally, but what's done is done.

the tank comes in the next week or so. in that time I'm going to try and build a stand for the tank and order up some dry rock to start my NSA.

I plan to use all the of equipment from my existing tank on my new tank. however, I have a few questions?

can/should I transfer my sand to the new tank? there are no large detritus deposits in the sand as I constantly stir and clean the sandbed (it's a small tank and Ive been battling dinos so I have to clean it regularly anyway.

can I transfer my rock over? it's carib sea dry rock but it's been in the tank for 5 months by the time I switch everything over. it's purple vs the white but I feel like the extra bacteria on the rock will be helpful and I don't really want to buy 20lbw of live rock to potentially only use like 10lbs worth.

my main concern I guess is keeping the fish and coral happy during the transfer. if using the sand would be beneficial to bacteria development in the new tank that would be great, but I also don't want to/can't just remove everything from the existing tank and leave it empty for weeks while the new tank settles.

essentially I want the cleanest and easiest transfer from one tank to another. any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Using the same sand is perfectly OK. Whenever I do it, I wash it first. Put it in a big bucket, take your garden hose and turn the water on. stick the hose into the bucket and flush it until the water at the top of the bucket is clean. Then ever so slowly tip the bucket over on it's side so the water can drain out of the sand. Then it's really clean!

As long as the rock doesn't have any unwanted hitchhikers, it should be fine.

I pull the rocks out of the tank and put it CAREFULLY in a 32g Brute garbage can full of almost new saltwater that will go into the new tank. I also have a pump moving water in the Brute. Then pull water from the old tank into another Brute. Then I move the sand from old to new tank. Then add water. I put a dinner plate on the sand and let the new water spill out on the plate. You get way, way less cloudy water this way. Then add the rock and finally the other critters. I get this accomplished in one day with anything smaller than 100g and over two days on bigger tanks.

Watch for ammonia over the next few days, but by moving rock from the old tank to the new tank, you should be OK. I've done this a dozen times and I've had no issues other than some broken coral colonies.

 

[EricR]

I vote:
- new sand so you can rinse the heck out of it in advance and not deal with that on transfer day
- use your existing rock and should be sufficient

*I did 37g to 40g transfer a little over a year ago with half old vs new rock and had no issues,,, other than I wouldn't use dry rock again (like I did for half) but whatever

 

[TheReefDiary]

Using the same sand is perfectly OK. Whenever I do it, I wash it first. Put it in a big bucket, take your garden hose and turn the water on. stick the hose into the bucket and flush it until the water at the top of the bucket is clean. Then ever so slowly tip the bucket over on it's side so the water can drain out of the sand. Then it's really clean!

As long as the rock doesn't have any unwanted hitchhikers, it should be fine.

I pull the rocks out of the tank and put it CAREFULLY in a 32g Brute garbage can full of almost new saltwater that will go into the new tank. I also have a pump moving water in the Brute. Then pull water from the old tank into another Brute. Then I move the sand from old to new tank. Then add water. I put a dinner plate on the sand and let the new water spill out on the plate. You get way, way less cloudy water this way. Then add the rock and finally the other critters. I get this accomplished in one day with anything smaller than 100g and over two days on bigger tanks.

Watch for ammonia over the next few days, but by moving rock from the old tank to the new tank, you should be OK. I've done this a dozen times and I've had no issues other than some broken coral colonies.

thanks for your quick reply ron! when transferring everything is it okay to essentially take all of the rock and sand out put that in the new tank and leave the fish in the existing system while the tank cycles? there won't be an issue with filtration in the existing tank once I remove all the rock and sand will there?

 

[TheReefDiary]

I vote:
- new sand so you can rinse the heck out of it in advance and not deal with that on transfer day
- use your existing rock and should be sufficient

*I did 37g to 40g transfer a little over a year ago with half old vs new rock and had no issues,,, other than I wouldn't use dry rock again (like I did for half) but whatever

my only issue is I just hate the stacking of live rock. I really like being able to come up with an aquascape. I also barely have any rock transferring since my current tank is so small.

 

[Ron Reefman]

thanks for your quick reply ron! when transferring everything is it okay to essentially take all of the rock and sand out put that in the new tank and leave the fish in the existing system while the tank cycles? there won't be an issue with filtration in the existing tank once I remove all the rock and sand will there?

You really won't need to cycle the new tank unless you are moving a lot of fish. If you are adding more than 50% new rock, you might cure it for a couple of weeks in some saltwater. I'd suggest you do a water change and use the old water to cure the new rock.

Getting the old sand out of the old tank is a messy job even with the fish, rock and all the water already out of the tank. A 32g Brute trash can can really be helpful as a transfer station. I suggest removal from the old tank as rock and coral, then fish and other critters, then water and finally sand. Then into the new tank is, sand first, then water and rock (you want enough water to keep corals on the rock underwater), then fish and other critters.

 

[TheReefDiary]

You really won't need to cycle the new tank unless you are moving a lot of fish. If you are adding more than 50% new rock, you might cure it for a couple of weeks in some saltwater. I'd suggest you do a water change and use the old water to cure the new rock.

Getting the old sand out of the old tank is a messy job even with the fish, rock and all the water already out of the tank. A 32g Brute trash can can really be helpful as a transfer station. I suggest removal from the old tank as rock and coral, then fish and other critters, then water and finally sand. Then into the new tank is, sand first, then water and rock (you want enough water to keep corals on the rock underwater), then fish and other critters.

got ya! thanks! hope ya had a good Thanksgiving!

 

[EricR]

Is the new tank going in the same spot/location as the old tank?
For me, logistically, that would hugely influence how I'd approach it (FWIW)

 

[TheReefDiary]

Is the new tank going in the same spot/location as the old tank?
For me, logistically, that would hugely influence how I'd approach it (FWIW)

yeah it's literally going exact same spot. my main goal is least stress for fish and corals. buying new sand for $40 isn't an issue. my existing rock has some algae growth and I'm pretty sure a peanut worm in it. neither of those are reasons though that I shouldn't use the rock for.

I want new tank set up and then to just transfer everything in one day if possible. but I also want to ensure I don't kill anything in the process.

 

[EricR]

Exact spot is what I had to do also.
CaribSea "special grade" aragonite sand is nice texture (to me) at about $25 for 40 lbs right now at PetSmart/PetCo so, personally, I'd go that route.

You obviously want to move your existing rock over for the bacteria alone,,, at least to start.

TONS of reading here for same situation that others have gone through.

Here's mine if you're bored -- there's at least some pics of the temporary containers and stuff:

Tank Transfer

 

[TheReefDiary]

Exact spot is what I had to do also.
CaribSea "special grade" is nice texture (to me) at about $25 for 40 lbs right now at PetSmart/PetCo so, personally, I'd go that route.

You obviously want to move your existing rock over for the bacteria alone,,, at least to start.

TONS of reading here for same situation that others have gone through.

Here's mine if you're bored -- there's at least some pics of the temporary containers and stuff:

Tank Transfer

awesome thank you. yeah one of the issues with the site is that sometimes there's also too many threads on a topic it becomes overwhelming to look through everything.

definitely moving the rock. seems like new sand will be the way to go. would love to use some live rock from Tampa Bay but I honestly just can't stand the stacked rock look. guess I'll have to put up with the uglies again, but at least this time I know some ways to avoid what happened in my last tank.

also hopefully transferring over media from old tank will help with getting bacteria population established in the new tank.

 

[EricR]

Cool -- good luck with the project. I'm sure it'll work out well.

My only gripe about dry rock (just from my ONE experience) is that literally every algae/dino/etc "problem" I've had to deal with thrived on my dry rock pile while no traces ever showed up anywhere on my live rock.

 

[TheReefDiary]

Cool -- good luck with the project. I'm sure it'll work out well.

My only gripe about dry rock (just from my ONE experience) is that literally every algae/dino/etc "problem" I've had to deal with thrived on my dry rock pile while no traces ever showed up anywhere on my live rock.

yep definitely don't love the uglies but I can't get past coming up a cool aquascape set up exactly how I want for coral placement.

 

[TriggerCorals]

You really won't need to cycle the new tank unless you are moving a lot of fish. If you are adding more than 50% new rock, you might cure it for a couple of weeks in some saltwater. I'd suggest you do a water change and use the old water to cure the new rock.

Getting the old sand out of the old tank is a messy job even with the fish, rock and all the water already out of the tank. A 32g Brute trash can can really be helpful as a transfer station. I suggest removal from the old tank as rock and coral, then fish and other critters, then water and finally sand. Then into the new tank is, sand first, then water and rock (you want enough water to keep corals on the rock underwater), then fish and other critters.

Thanks for all the detail and tips! I'm upgrading from 75g to 180g the first of the year and looking for all the help I can get too. Will be using the old sand and well established rock since I don't have pests. (yet) I've got a diamond spot goby that obsessively stirs the sand for me all the way down to the glass. I'm hoping that, plus the population of various snails and copepods have kept all the dead spots non-existent. I've been obsessive about dipping and being overly selective with additions so far in the 75. Of course I'll have to add a ton of new rock and sand also. Plan on using brutes to house and transfer everything, obviously with heaters and circulation pumps.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Consider cleaning the sand to get out the detritus. Just put it in a big bucket and stick a garden hose with running water (no nozzle on the hose) into the sand. When it starts to over flow the bucket, move the hose up and down all around in the bucket (it's easy). When the overflow water starts to get clear, your done. Then dump as much water out of the bucket as you can. This will also help a lot with not having a cloudy tank when you add water to the new tank. I'd even wash the new sand.

Also put something like a dinner plate on the sand in the new tank and as you add your water have it run onto the plate. This also helps with keeping the new water clear.

I set up a new 40g aio cube just yesterday and the water was perfectly clear right from the start. I'm still working on rockscape for this tank.

Good luck, take your time and have fun!