Need help, getting ready for a new tank

tassod

tassod

New member
I'm at the beginning stages of planning my tank upgrade from a 125g to a 265g. Tank is still being built but I should have it soon. The new tank will be going in the same place where my current one is and I'm also going to be making it an in-wall build so I will be building a new wall, etc...

My biggest concern right now is moving my 4 beautiful carpet anemones and making sure they are as stress free as possible. Here is my plan:

I need to move my 125g tank with current stock, stand and sump across my room and re-set it up.

My plan is to setup a temp 100g holding tote and drain my 125g up to just above the sand and remove all the rock, corals and carpets and put them in the holding 100g tote for a few hours. Then with some help, move the 125g tank where i need it to be and then fill it back up, put all rock, corals and carpets back in the tank and have it run again while i work on the new tank.

Does this plan sound good or am I setting myself up for some major problems?

I have another 75g tank that is currently running as a FOWLR and all my fish are in there. Its been running now for about 3 months. So I'm not going to be holding any fish with the corals and anemones in the temp holding tote.

Sorry for the long post, i just want to plan this out perfectly without any issues.
 
how long are they going to be in the holding tank? when you go to pull the nems out use a large cup or bucket to transfer them over so they aren’t out of water at all, it seems to help them a lot.
 
They will be in holding tank only for as long as it takes me to move the tank over to where i want it and refill it...hopefully only a few hours. I plan on having a heater, powerhead in there. The holding tank will be a 100g stock rubbermaid tank. I should be able to place my canopy with my lights mounted to it right over the thank to give them light as well.
 
tassod said:
I guess I have this thread in the wrong place
Click to expand...

Probably not... Maybe a few (like me) are reluctant to post personal experiences -In hopes that someone would post more positive advice/experience.



Honestly, when I read your question, my thought was, "yikes! good luck with that!"


I had a 75 gallon in a closet space, with a 75 gallon on the back side, with (2) 30 gallon tanks under each, all tied together through the wall. I had an opportunity to upgrade to a 210, (combining [3] 75 gallon tanks with stock)but it had to go where the closet was, which meant, closet walls had to come out, tanks had to get moved, drywall and floor repairs, etc..... I had a blue gig doing AWESOME for 9 months. I lost it after a couple weeks of "temp" housing. I also lost a bunch of corals. And, not just a couple. I hope it works out better for you. I had nothing positive to contribute, so I didnt'... but here you go. May want to consider fragging your favorites, and giving some to locals incase of a crash.


IF I was willing to try it again, which I'm not, I would set up another system, as a "full time" system for all my stuff I needed to give TLC to. Transfer, with the ability to keep it all there permanently, meaning, stable as all heck. Plan for a one year temp move. Then, speed up if all goes well. Start the new system, let it stabilize for a few months, then slow transfer.

Now I think maybe 5? years past, looking back my 210 came at a heavy toll. It took 4 months from break down to water filling the upgrade for me. You may not have the death I had if you do it fast enough, but may still have a cycle even if you do a swap in one day. Best of luck to you. I hope you are able to take care of the beauties you have through to the end. :)
 
Hey tassod

i dont see any problem with it. make sure the holding tub has a heater and an airstone or some sort of circulation. Also make the tank move as quicky as possible and not to disturn the sandbed too much. if you do, try to vaccumm out the dirtstorm.....

here is what i would do.

Drain tank water to holding tub
remove animals and place them iin the hold tub, along with heater...etc..
drain out as much water from the maintank to hold containers
put in the heater and some circu.lation
remove the rocks, use the remaining tank water to wash the dirt off the rocks and put them in the container that is now holding tank water.
now move the tank to a temp place.
remove as much water still in the tank (if you didnt remove them all before you move the tank)
replace some of the tank water back into the display tank (some)
now you will see alot of sediment and dirt, this is good, stir the tank surface and then vacumm out all the water and discard.
repeat the above step again , hopefullt the second time the water will be much cleaner.
now replace rocks, remaining tank water.
replace corals and animals
add new freshly made saltwater you already make, all heated and parameter matched.

this is a very tedious process, you need a few helping hands and a whole day to do this. it will minimize stress to animals.

i have done similar move when i transfer and downgrade my tank with everything survived, carpets, fishes, corals...... the only things that died on me were the things that is too small and i forgot to put them back into the water.. LOL such as small zoo frags....etc.

by the end of the day, i was burnt out and my hands and fingers are all wrinkled like a 100 years old man
 
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Great feedback guys, thanks all for your suggestions and experiences. This indeed will be very tedious and hopefully I wont have any issues. If anyone has any more suggestions, please keep them coming...

Question that comes to mind....for my carpet anemones...would it be best to put them in small containers with tank water until I transfer all the DT water into the holding tub?
 
Ok I've decided to go another way with this because I could just see too many things that could go wrong...I'm now going to move my livestock to my 75g setup that's been up and running now since mid September. I upgraded the lighting to a MH fixture with 2x 250w 20k bulbs. I think that should be plenty for the carpet anemones especially for my blue gig.

I'm running a HOB skimmer and a aqua clear 110 power filter filled with ceramic rings. Also have about 140 pounds of live rock but it's a bare bottom tank. Can I get away with keeping my 4 carpets in there for a few months? I can add some sand in there for the haddonis. Am I going to overload the bio load ?
 
Make sure you get all the fish out and keep them separate from the carpet or you will loose several of them.

To move the Haddoni anemones, you got to get most of the sand out. It is really hard to get the anemone attached to the bottom of the tank out without injury unless most of the sand are gone.

Healthy Carpets, both Haddoni and Gigantea are relatively hardy. They should do fine. Watch for moving anemone when they try to settle in. One craw into the PH and you got anemone chowder and a big danger to the rest of the tank.

Make sure you have plenty of premixed water. Having more is always much nicer than not having enough.

Good luck with the move.
 
OrionN said:
I think your last plan is much better.
Click to expand...

i feel more comfortable having the tank inhabitants somewhere where i know they can stay for a while versus putting them into a temp holding tank and then having something go wrong like plumbing leaking when trying to move the tank and then scrambling to get that fixed. i'm gonna have to take my chances on the fish being in the same tank as my anemones as i have nowhere else to put them.

Can the haddoni's survive a few weeks without any sand in the tank?
 
I was able to find another 65g tank that I think would be perfect to keep the carpets separate from everything else. Obviously its not reef ready and will not have a sump. Could I fill it with DT water and Live rock and just run a HOB power filter and do water changes every week or do I need to run more filtration like a skimmer?
 
When I moved. I had them in a temp tank at the new house. I lost both carpets due to a heater malfunction that I didn't catch till it was too late. Now I'm carpetless. I like your second plan wayyyyyyyy better.
 
cichlidconvert said:
When I moved. I had them in a temp tank at the new house. I lost both carpets due to a heater malfunction that I didn't catch till it was too late. Now I'm carpetless. I like your second plan wayyyyyyyy better.
Click to expand...

sorry to hear that....i guess a heater going out can happen to any tank. My Apex is still on the main DT which pretty much only has Live rock in it now and my 4 carpets, i moved all corals and fish over to my 75g setup. its really crowded now in the 75 so thats why i'm looking to put the 4 carpets in another tank.
 
I'm happy to say that I completed the breakdown of my tank using my second plan and I'm glad that I did. After seeing all that detritus getting stirred up when moving rocks and getting the anemones out, it would have been a bad idea to set that tank up again. Everything now is in my 75g tank and although a bit crowded, I think they will manage fine. Hopefully no issues come up. Thanks everyone for chiming in and your advice, I do feel like an old man tonight tired as hell and with wrinkly hands!
 
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