Moving Day for aquarium inhabitants

[Chris918]

Hello,

I'm needing some advice for a minor move I've decided to do with one of my tanks. The current inhabitants, primarily LPS frags, will be moved to a new tank at my office. I'll be using all the same water and rock and since the tank is small, I'm hoping for an easy transition for them. Their current system, a 30 gallon NUVO, will be used for some SPS I plan to get in the future.

There are two fish in the 30 NUVO at the moment. I plan on using all new rock and water, but leaving some of the established biological media to help break in the new rock. I'll also be adding a bottle of nitrifying bacteria to help get things back on track and help the rock colonize a little faster. The rock I'll be using is BRS dry rock. Would it be best to relocate my fish to another tank, or would they be alright during this transition? The move would have to be to a much larger tank and would likely be permanent since I doubt I could catch them in a larger system. I'd like the changes to be as easy on them as possible. Does anyone have any advice for me?

 

[Anemone]

Your NUVO tank will go through a cycle. How much of a cycle will depend upon how much biological filtration capacity you're leaving behind (most of it is going with the rocks and corals to your office tank), and how effective the bottled bacteria is that you add.

Your tank will have ammonia, which will be hard on your fish. What type of fish are they? Some endure ammonia better than others. If you decide to do this transition with fish in the tank, then you should be prepared to do 90%-100% water changes whenever you have measurable ammonia (could be every few days, again depending upon the type and size of fish in the tank and the amount of biological carrying capacity that you're leaving behind).

Personally, I wouldn't cycle this new tank with fish, but you could possibly do it successfully.

Kevin

 

[Chris918]

Thanks for answering Kevin. I've got a blue damsel and Royal Gramma in there. Perhaps they would be better in my reefer? The reefer only has a pair of clowns and hasn't had any new additions for two months. Still the flow in there is so much higher due to it being SPS dominant. The office tank is only 9.6 gallons so I doubt it will be big enough for both of them.

 

[Chris918]

Your NUVO tank will go through a cycle. How much of a cycle will depend upon how much biological filtration capacity you're leaving behind (most of it is going with the rocks and corals to your office tank), and how effective the bottled bacteria is that you add.

Your tank will have ammonia, which will be hard on your fish. What type of fish are they? Some endure ammonia better than others. If you decide to do this transition with fish in the tank, then you should be prepared to do 90%-100% water changes whenever you have measurable ammonia (could be every few days, again depending upon the type and size of fish in the tank and the amount of biological carrying capacity that you're leaving behind).

Personally, I wouldn't cycle this new tank with fish, but you could possibly do it successfully.

Kevin

Thanks for answering Kevin. I've got a blue damsel and Royal Gramma in there. Perhaps they would be better in my reefer? The reefer only has a pair of clowns and hasn't had any new additions for two months. Still the flow in there is so much higher due to it being SPS dominant. The office tank is only 9.6 gallons so I doubt it will be big enough for both of them.

 

[Anemone]

Damsels are tough, but I would worry about the gramma going through any ammonia level. IMO, you can leave the damsel in the tank if you do water changes when you experience elevated ammonia, but I'd move the gramma to another tank.

Kevin