Moving and combining tanks

[jarrod13]

Well I have to move out of my house and into a one bedroom apt. Current tanks are: 220 with macro algae, two condy anemones, and a big orange sponge, dog face puffer, two fire clowns, blue devil damsel, orange toadfish, and a Scorpaenopsis diabolus. Then a 37 with corals, mostly soft and lps, two azure damsels, green coris wrasse, and a yellow fuzzy. And last a 28 bowfront with a mantis shrimp and a Fu man chu.

So here's the plan, tell me what you think: I'm going to set up only one tank, a spare 60 cube I've had laying around. I'm going to keep all the corals, a bit of macro algae, and the orange sponge. For fish I'm keeping the yellow fuzzy, Fu man chu, green wrasse, azure damsels, blue devil damsel, mantis shrimp, and the fish I can't decide wether to keep or not is the diabolus. He's 4" from head to tip of tail and I'm worried the tank isn't big enough for him, especially when he starts getting some size on him. The tank is 24x24x24. Plus I think he would start picking off the smaller fish,
which he couldn't really do in the bigger tank because there was too much room, but it'd be easy to trap them in this small of a tank. The other fish and rock and equipment will go to the lfs for credit. I'm actually really bummed about the clowns because they host in the condy anemones. The orange toad has been with me the longest, got him at about 1.5" and now he's 6-7", I'm gonna really miss him :-( I hate giving up pets

As for filtration I'm going to use the wet/dry that is rated for a 75 and been on my reef tank for years, so it good and established. I'm also considering putting a 20h along side it with macro and rock, just for a little extra umph! Going to use as much existing water as I can, same rocks, and the sand will be from the 220, cleaned and dried, so do you think I'll have much of a cycle? Never done anything like this before so any problems you see or anything I'm overlooking please speak up, try not to be negative though as I'm already pretty upset about losing my big tank, helpful criticism only please.

Thank you in advance for your help, sorry if this is kind of scatter brained, I've got a million things to deal with right now.

Here's a pic of the 220 as it is now

Here's the 28 bowfront, I want to figure out a way to get as many pods out of here as possible, there's more in here than I've ever seen in one tank, I'm thinking a glass jar or dish of some sort with food in it then take the whole jar out once theyre all over it and keep doing it like that, whatcha think?

 

[rayn]

That sucks you have to move. More so that you loose the big tank.

I wouldn't think there would be a cycle as long as your rock doesn't dry out, which it sounds like it won't. Sand cleaned and dried, then maybe a rinse?

No chance of setting up the scorps tank again either?

 

[jarrod13]

Thanks rayn. In regards to your question about setting up another tank, I'm actually looking toward to only having one tank. I'm thinking it will be more of a scorp tank though, I'll probably start looking for some smaller ones like wasps and the smaller guys

 

[rayn]

One tank is cool, especially when it is what you want. Keep track along the way and update us as well.

 

[jarrod13]

The 220 is down and gone, have some stuff holding in the cube

 

[EdKruzel]

I've always recommended submersing buckets and putting the rock in so it doesn't touch air or very little. Have the new tank set up with new fresh (from dry) sand and transport the rock directly there and place in its new container. From the old tank you can skim off the top inch, a few cups of sand to help seed, but trying to transplant an established bed is more problems than it's worth.

 

[jarrod13]

Good idea, I didn't think about seeding the sand

 

[jarrod13]

Well the move went smoothly!! No deaths and nobody even seems stressed. Fish, corals, macros, rocks, everything in good condition

Everybody except the diabolus is in and getting along great, the two lions are actually hanging out together, guess they've been looking for a lion buddy. I'm holding off on the diabolus still because I'm not sure if I want to add him or not yet.

More updates to come soon, here are some pics in the mean time

Water testing

New buds

The ten gallon macro tank that's plumbed in. I drilled a hole and put a bulkhead in one corner, there is a small pump in the sump that feeds it and it gravity drains back into the sump.

And the final product (almost). I made one side of the stand swing open for easy access into the macro tank, I'm really glad I did it.

Comments welcome!

 

[rayn]

Dang that looks good! I like the macro tank underneath too.

 

[jarrod13]

Thanks!! Still have a good amount of work to do yet, have to hang the front door, mount my other power strip, and rig up something to hold the side door shut, but it's pretty much done.

The rock scape still has to be redone, I just threw everything in to settle and it doesn't look too bad so I'll leave it for a bit and not stress anybody out any more

More pics to come soon!

 

[StephLionfish]

Whoa, where'd you get that yellow Fuzzy?? I love the Fu, the bands on his fins are striking.
I'm still working on pics of the macro
But, the main tank I put it in looks more like a sump than a tank, and the other tank it's hard to see it, and well...my mantis seems to enjoy burying the macro in there so... I'll figure something out!

Aren't you afraid the Fuzz will eat the clown?

 

[jarrod13]

I've had my yellow girl for a while now, she's by far my favorite fish I've had! This is my first Fu because I was always worried it would hide and I'd never see it but this one is as active as a fuzzy. Obviously he doesn't swim much but he's always out in the front of the tank scurring around. I love the two of them together!

Not worried about the clown yet, the size difference is still good.

Give the macro some time, I've always found when you first throw it in it looks silly but after it starts growing and spreading it will look much more natural, just get it a spot you want it and let it be. Can't wait to see the pics ;-) is everything doing well?

 

[namxas]

Nice job Jarrod! Moving tanx sux, but it looks like everything is back on track and settling down. Your yellow fuzzy has really colored-up for you, and has turned out to be a really pretty fish.

 

[jarrod13]

Thanks Greg! The beauty of this fish is just an added bonus. The fuzzy lionfish is my favorite fish, and this one has the best personality I have encountered yet, and I've owned quite a few ;-)

 

[StephLionfish]

Everything's doing great! Well, except that one...that I still can't remember the name to... The green tree one? I stuck it in my 20g reef, and I went in there the next day and all that was left was a tiny piece...then the next day it was gone

The Mexicana isn't growing that much..but the Prolifera is poopin' out new leaves like mad. The red stuff isn't really growing a whole lot...but it sure is pretty.