90% water change?

[moovinfast]

So Im purchasing a tank from someone and wanted to know how much of the water I need to take with me. Would it be bad if I just kept enough water to cover the live rocks in a bucket and the water the fish in containers will be in? Its a 72 gallon tank, but im going to set it all up in my 55 gallon. The tanks has lots of algae but has snails, and 3 fish alive in it. I was going to use RO water for the rest. Also, should I bother with the sand or just get new while im at it?

 

[BLKTANG]

Get rid of the rock with the HA IMHO.Is there coral?If not i would only take water to transport LR,& enough to set up a QT tank for the fish.And use all NSW in the 55,& let it go.Meanwhile your fish are in QT.HTH

Get new sand.

 

[beachgyrl0]

i agree with blktang..make sure you get new sand!

 

[jenglish]

I would be rid of the sand and look at cooking the rock or the HA problem is probably coming along for the ride. I have done 90% w/c during moves before, just be very mindful of params and acclimate everything like you ordered in through the mail

 

[sikpupy]

Whats up with you wasteful people? :eek1:

Okay, first off you need to ask yourself how much work you want to do. If you like the rock, keep it. Cook the wizz out of it in muriatric acid and bake/cook in a bucket. If it is real aragonite or coral sand, why throw it out? If it is the real deal, rinse rinse rinse your way to happiness, then rinse some more with reg water. Give the sand a final wash and rinse with some ro water and then cook away. Once cooked, you can use it all or store it for later.

Start your 55 in a sterile environment so you know what goes in there.

 

[sikpupy]

Oh, FYI, muriatric acid is good to make sure no nasties like anemonies come along on the rock, and, for the sand, you dont really need to cook it after you wash it if you want to use it but still, even with all that rinsing, it might give you a cycle in the tank. And, a final word. If it is just plain old silicate play sand, then yea, dump it.

 

[BLKTANG]

I cooked rock that was covered in HA before for a few hours.It was Bone white,i put it back in my reef,& it came back in a month.

 

[moovinfast]

So then what would I do with the fish and shrimp while Im cooking the rock in a bucket? Just put them in the 55g with a bare bottom and a few pieces of PVC? I can hook up the bioballs that are coming with the tank and are currently being used? Think a LFS would babysit my fish for a week or two?