100% Water change?!?!?

[otolith]

So I have another tank that I'm setting up temporarlily...I have salt mixing, and some cured LR in there...My current tank looks like crap, for a myriad of reasons--basically a ton of algae and aptasia starting to take over--and I'm sure the Ca and Alk are out of whack... But I digress. So, I'm thinking I'm going to just move my current rock with all my corals into this tank, and not use any water from my current tank. Is this a bad idea?!?!? Am I crazy to think this? If not, do you think letting the water "age" for a couple days is enough? If this doesn't sound that bad, I'm going to do the move on Sunday or Monday, after the water has a good 24-48 hrs to "age." So whaddya think?

 

[nmprisons]

you would need to slowly acclimate the stuff from your old tank into the new water conditions.

 

[reefD]

well basiically you would be starting over.....plus side less nutrients in water for algea/problems to cause issues. the bad side is that you will experience a cycle and could lose stock. after that your in the clear but that cycle / spike could kill lots of stock . very possible to be done without issue as long as u use old lr and a few scoops of old sand/substrate in new setup and be very careful about feeding...less is best.. good luck.

 

[otolith]

I should mention that most of my corals are attached to the rocks, so there are some rocks in the current tank that will be making the trip over. I don't think I'll have to worry about a cycle, except for a little die-off from moving the rock from one tank to another. I then plan on tearing down my current tank, and resetting it back up with some "fresh" rock. I know it may stress some of my SPS, just wondering about the "shock" of moving to fresh/clean water.

 

[nmprisons]

there should be no die off is the rock simply goes from one tank to another (assuming no sponges or gorgonians)

 

[TKByrnes]

I just did the exact same thing that you are tanking about doing. mine has been running for about 1 week now. no cycle. I added new substrate and transfered all my lr and coral over. just acclimate like you would if you just recieved the coral and fish in the mail you should be ok