Preparing for move

[Pufferpunk]

I'm just trying to get my ducks in a row, for the move of all my corals/fish from a 55g to a 90g (don't have the tank yet--lights are on order).

-I am wondering what to do with my 5" DSB. I was told to gently scoop it up with a dust pan & lay it into the new tank. Will I need to add more sand, or will a 3" bed be enough? Should I put it in the sump instead? How does that work?

-I will pump all the water into 2 30g buckets, to be pumped back into the 90g after the sand is moved (I was thinking it would be easiest to move when there is no water in either tank).

-I am collecting styrofoam boxes for all the corals.

-Will the CSS 125 be good enough for the 90g?

-The 90g tank is being used as a reef tank right now.
The back glass is covered w/coraline algae. Will that all die when empty for moving & foul the tank? Should I scrape it all off before setting up?

-Anything else I'm not thinking of? I really want to be prepared ahead of time.

 

[ostrow]

Are you moving or upgrading or both? As I've done both I have some experience here... And with all the bad luck during my upgrade I have that experience too...

How long do you expect the tank move to take? If under a couple hours much of the corraline should survive. I moved my first setup, a 75 system, from Ft. Sheridan to Oak Park and it went really well. We moved the sand too.

You'll need more sand if you want a DSB. I few bags, I'd say. Put the new in first then the old on top of it. If possible I'd move the sand directly form the 55 to the 90 with as little time out of the water as possible. Or, if you remove it from the 55, keep it wet. If under a few hours you should be fine.

I'd move it all, and spread it on top of the new sand. Then use large rubbermaid bin lids, lay them on top of the sand, and then fill the tank so that the water hits the lids. Will minimize sandstorm.

IMO the first two days it is a good idea to run filter socks on the drain to capture sediment that will be floating around.

Are you running a fuge? I see no benefit to dumping sand in the sump unless the sump has good dividers to prevent sand from getting into and mucking up your pumps, uv, whatever else you are going to be running.

Why the boxes for the corals?

Have at least 50gal of makeup water ready to do a water change if need be after 24 and/or 48 hrs. Your losses should really be minimal and your corals may be shocked less by immediate reentry into the new system than by some other holding option.

Biggest barrier, of course, to that is aquascaping. Are you adding more rock or do you have enough already? If the latter, and its fully cured, then the scaping issue reduces and the stability of the new system is almost assured, given you have established sand as well.

How complicated/simple is your plumbing? Is it all in the stand, on the same level? How complicated/simple is your flow system? How many bulkheads in the tank? Always have one or two spare on hand. Have extra tubing/pipe on hand.

HTH.

 

[Doubledown]

That's good advice on the extra plumbing fittings. I had to make a special trip out for a 1" ball valve this past Saturday (imagine the time it took at a Home Depot on a Saturday).

Skip the styros and move your corals to the 30 gallon tubs that you put the tank water in. Get an extra one for your live rock and keep it wet (less die off). Keep a heater and a power head in there to maintain temp and oxygen levels and you'll be fine.

On that same note, heat your make up water to the same temp as your tank water and you will reduce the stress of a temp fluctuation for your animals.

Extra salt water is very good to have around - it is amazing, but inevitable, that you will need an extra 5 gallons to fill an overflow or the sump.

Water test all of your bulkheads prior to completely filling the tank - it is much easier to deal with an inch or two of water than 4 or 5 gallons of it in an overflow.

Temperature and water circulation should be your first concern.


Best advice I can give is for you to do exactly what you are doing now - plan for everything. Work your plan efficiently, move only as fast as you need to without skipping things or rushing (rushing leads to forgetfulness - I know). Clear a day to devote to this. It probably won't take that long, but give yourself enough time to do to it right the first time. With proper preparation and a good plan of attack the move should be just fine.

Good luck.

 

[Johnson7]

I'm moving/upgrading my 55 in Chicago to a new 110rr in St Louis in a couple of weeks, so keep the info coming. No corals for this guy so hopefully that shoud help.

 

[RRafael]

Make sure you have a lot of towels on hand

 

[softbal4]

jeni,

i moved from a 75 to a 220 and it went really smoothly. i, however, did not reuse the sand as i was afraid of stirring up the nitrate bubbles in the sand. so i bought about 5 fresh bags and added the top inch from the old set up. i added the water and then began adding the rock then corals. i thought it would be a couple of hours. well it took a little longer....make sure you have extra of everything....supplies wise. I added the rock and pretty much at that point just placed to the corals where ever...but at that point it was getting hard tell what was going on. the 2nd day i rotated all the corals. i used about 3/4 of the old water and the rest was fresh. i used totes with old water for the corals and 30 gallon trash cans for the rock...using the less coralline for the base pieces and the coralline for the top. hth.

 

[ostrow]

What I would do is use the entire sandbed. Were I to do this again, I'd order an IPSF mix'n'match, making sure to get the Liquid N Reducer and the live sand activator among my selections, and have that onhand for the day I did my upgrade.

Though nitrate dangers are minimal if you have proper bioload in the sandbed.

 

[Pufferpunk]

What is "IPSF mix'n'match, Liquid N Reducer and live sand activator"?

My sandbed is chock full o critters.

I was gonna use the styros, cause the 30g trash cans are too dark & deep to see into & I don't want to smash everything on top of each other. That way I can pick out the larger stuff to put on bottom & smaller on top. Most of my rock is heavily encrusted w/zoas.

Thanks for the great info! I'm really nervous about this. Luckily, the new tank is only a foot away from the present one.

 

[ostrow]

www.ipsf.com

 

[Pufferpunk]

I know I'm gonna need more rock. How do I know how much & what sizes/shapes?

 

[ostrow]

Sizes and shapes are your taste. I prefer large cave-shaped ones, I have maybe 8 pieces of rock in my 150, weighing at least 200lbs total.

 

[Pufferpunk]

As far as current: I have an Iwaki 115V & 2 Seio 800s. The used sump I have looks to have 2 outputs for return. Is this enough for a 90g? What about any current towards the bottom of the tank?