HELP...emergency tank setup

metone

New member
long story short...need to setup a home for a niger and clown trigger by sat. I am lucky to have a couple tanks lying around. I set up a 55 with 40lbs carib stlye live sand, 15 lbs live rock,and 15 lbs dead rock. live rock came from a mature system and dead rock i had in storage. Filled tank with instant ocean salt and added two fluval 301's for flow. THE PLAN: remove wet/dry on a mature set up/ install on emergency tank. remove two triggers and place in e-tank saturday.
Obviously not ideal. Can it/will it work? Desperate times desper..yeah yeah you know. Thanx
-Met
 
It really maters how big these fish are. I think you have a good plan. I would keep an eye on parameters and have a plan B.
How long was the lr out of water? You may have a mini cycle.
 
how long will they be in the emergency tank?

if its not that long ( <= 1 week) I"d ditch the old rock for now and just keep good water movement and water changes
 
the fish are about 4 1/2--5". The rock was out of water for about 1/2 hour-hour. I am definitly getting a mini cycle, i can smell it. not bad tho ,but,noticable. I used "Stability" and "Prime" during set up and dosed today as per instructions. also dusted off a rio prism skimmer and hooked it on to the tank earlier....should help. i was wondering if you had any advice for carbon?
I think i should hold off a least till fri. that way the mini cycle will have a chance, albiet a small one,to recede on its own. oh, the fish will be in the tank at least 4 weeks. but could be in as long a 8. thanks again for you interest and help. any advice welcome. -met
 
So - let me get this straight:

You have set up a 55 gal tank, put in 15lbs LR & 15 lbs "dead" LR, along with 40lbs of live (bacteria seeded) sand, and two no, fluval 301 canisters. On Saturday, you intend to take the wet/dry filter (mature) from another set and connect it to this "new" set up. and then you are putting 2 no. 4-5" triggers in the 55.

Comemnts:
1. Biologically you should be ok. If you don't have an ammomia and nitrite test kit, go get them, and test daily. Have plenty (at least 30gals) of salt water mixed and ready to go, so if need be you can do water changes. Before you put teh fish into the 55, do a 50% water change, using water from their "old" tank. THat way you will minimise shock to both the fish and the wet/dry filter.

2. Fish aggression - this is likely to be the biggest problem - hard to say how they'll get on in a 55 gal tank. should be ok but have an eggcrate divider ready just in case.

3. Carbon - never hurts..... polyfilter is better.

4. Feed sparingly. If the animals are well fed and nice and fat, then feed sparingly while they are in the 55 gal. This will have the negative effect of increasing aggression, but it is easier to put in a divider than it is to deal with ammonia.

5. monitor everything - daily - and if necessary do large daily water changes...... 50% won't hurt so long as the water is made up well in advance and at the same parameters.

The whole thing is far from ideal, but if it is an emrergency, then what can you do only try..........

HTH

Matt
 
yeah, thats pretty much it. do you think the carbon will mask an ammonia problem if i run it b4 the tanks "mini cycle" has run its course?
 
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