Help: Suggestions on moving contents from a 45 to 90 Gallon

[fish1219]

Hello,
Have both tanks setup (45 and 90). Any suggestions on moving my contents from the 45 to the 90. Do I move some Live Rock let it cycle and then move the rest? Another idea is to move all of the stuff at the same time. I have a Mandarin and need to ensure I have the proper pod populatoin in one of the tanks. Once moved, I plan to use the 45 as a QT tank for a few weeks to issolate a tank I would like to purchase. To the tank police, can I place both a Yellow and Powder Blue tank in a 90 gal tank?

Thanks

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

Tang police- not tank police.
You can do whatever you'd like. Personally, I would not recommend placing a Yellow and Powder Blue Tang in a 90 gallon aquarium.
What exactly are you moving into the bigger aquarium? Are you using the same LR that's in your 45?

 

[moriartiholmes]

If you mean a yellow and Powder Blue Tang, I doubt they will get along. Both of those species are pretty aggressive. Maybe it would work but I doubt it. If you try it I would add them together, or the smaller specimen first.
As far as the move, I have always done it all at once. I would try and drip acclimate everything, and shake off your rock before moving it to the new tank to get rid of any detritus. The drip acclimation should help more of the pods survive the move.

 

[drbronx]

take a peek at the "Reef Fishes" forum on RC. The fourth thread down captioned "What tangs for my 30G" contained a response from the RC staff and moderators in which they provide a suggested listing of tangs and the appropriate minimum size aquaria. they did this in the attempt to minimize squabbling on that forum about tangs and tank size. Keep in mind, thjey are posing suggestions and it is not absolute rule of law. Keep in mind also, the listing is only considering the presence of one tang. When contemplating more than one, one needs to leave much more room. Generally, multiple tangs are not recommended for less than a 125. Of course it is still done and sometimes succesfully but the chances of problems escalate dramatically. In your case, even a powder blue alone in a 90g is not a great idea. Perhaps you might consider a powder brown since they are a bit smaller and not as aggressive, yet still a beautiful tang with loads of personality (just ask John aka zanclus).

 

[fish1219]

I'm moving:
Live Rock - I think approx 30-60 lbs
4 clown fish
1 coral beauty
1 lawn mower blenny
1 mandrin
1 cleaner shrimp
Misc corals (Soft, LPS, SPS)
Misc Crabs & Snails.
Also if a tang is not a good suggestion what do you recommend as a showpiece (Fish) for a 90 gal tank.

 

[bosborn1]

How about a Yellow Eye Kole Tang. Or even a Chevron Tang. Both are pretty and do get exceptionally big. The Chevron is pretty expensive but worth it IMO

Scott

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

The best way to minimize cycling is to move the entire contents immediately from one aquarium to the other. You don't want to leave liverock (or livestock!) exposed for any length of time- have the 90 up and running with the proper water parameters, then get the LR into it immediately after removing it from the smaller aquarium. There will be all sorts of cycles, but none should be lethal as long as you're adding (only) the contents of one aquarium to another. (It's similar to doing a 100% water change if you do the move right.)
IME SPS and/or fishes display the most stress during a move.
If you're introducing a larger/more aggressive "showpiece" fish, I wouldn't do it at the time of the move. Add it at a later date.