Tank cracked! How long can livestock survive!?

[jonnybravo22]

Hello Everyone!

My tank cracked on Saturday night. I transferred the livestock to a brute container for emergency housing. I'm trying to get a new tank asap and was wondering how long they can survive in a brute container with an mp10? they are under the same lights as tank (but several feet further away now).

I can do frequent water changes if recommended but I also dont want to change the water chemistry too much.

i have my liverock from the system in the brute as well.

livestock consists of 2 percula clownfish and a gigantea anemone, all were doing great pre-crack and look ok to this point.

Please help! How long has anyone kept this up? Do I have a week?

Also is it correct that as soon as I get a tank i should throw them all in right away? I'd use all of the existing water / Liverock / sand but imagine there might still be a cycle of some sort in the new tank? I do appreciate any help.

 

[SirusX1721]

Sorry to hear about the tank...

I had to do something similar years back with my piranhas, and they faired well for over a week. Considering the rubbermaid you are use is FISH safe, then they will be fine in there so as long as you keep up normal maintenance. You just can't see them from the sides =p So keep up normal lighting and WC and you should be okay. Test regualarly as well as you will have some dieoff from the move.

 

[jonnybravo22]

thanks.

are piranhas delicate? biggest concern is the anemone (i think the clowns are probably not too phased).

testing is a good idea, will do. since i will be transferring to a new tank one thought is not to do too many water changes in the interim so that the new tank has less of a "new tank syndrome" going on. does that line of argument hold water?

 

[WDLV]

In a nutshell you are starting a new system. Using the same water and liverock etc will not change this fact.
Get to the store and buy a new tank. Run up a credit card if necessary. Your anemone would be the biggest concern.

I think your best bet is to get a new tank up and running ASAP. Get the lights off the tank in the mean time and put them over the animals.
Use 20% old water and 80% NSW in the new system. Run it for 24 hours and move everything the following day. If you have sand in your existing system, DO NOT reuse it as is. You will stir it up and release a nitrogen bomb.

If you plan to re-use the sand, rinse it thoroughly 5-10 times to get everything out of it.

This whole process should take you no more than three days if you plan ahead.

 

[COreefer]

In a nutshell you are starting a new system. Using the same water and liverock etc will not change this fact.

Not true...I have done it, and plenty of other people have moved things from one tank to a rubbermaid for extended period of times. It is not starting over unles you have lots of nasty rock. Do a WC every 3 or 4 days. A good number to start with is 25%. Check your parameters often. Get your new tank up and move the contents over. There is nothing to freak out about. I do agree however, use primarily new water, 50-75% is good. Make sure the temp and SG are matched up before transfering the contents and do not use the old sand.

 

[WDLV]

COreefer,
It is true but it's not as severe a change as starting a new system with new/uncured liverock. The reason I say this is that you will still experience a small ammona cycle no matter what you do. I too have moved many dozens of systems ranging from a few feet to over 2000 miles. These were mine, friends' and others for whom I have contracted. I've also run a system of rubbermaid sumps for over two years but that's not what I was referencing. What I was referencing is that any time you disturb the system by moving etc., you are starting a new system. This is why you recommended the WCs... to combat the subsequent ammonia spike... just like when you start any other new system.

jonnybravo22,
I think COreefer and I are actually on the same page but I'm saying to hurry the process along because the alternative is that you will have to put your animals through this stress twice... Had it been BTAs I wouldn't have even chimed in (because the advise you already got would have sufficed) but you're dealing with an S. gigantea.

 

[Toddrtrex]

I did this on purpose about 3 years ago. Granted it was planned, but some of the info still might be helpful.

I was pulling the crushed coral sandbed, and changing out the rocks --- I hate yellow polyps and GSP. I split everything from my 58 into 2 rubbermaid bins, in one of the bins I had half the live rock, an LTA and my pair of pink skunks. I had a heater, a powerhead and some cheap PC lights over it. They were all in there for 48 hours without issue.

These are the bins I used.

 

[larry joe]

Sorry to butt in but I have 2 questions.Why is there a ammonia spike when you move your system?Why do you put new sand?

 

[jonnybravo22]

Re: Tank cracked! How long can livestock survive!?

Not butting in at all. I have the sane questions. Why would moving from one vessel to another cause a spike of anything (assuming vessel is clean)?

Can someon explain why you expect die off from moving a mature system into brute cans?

Also just to add, I had a very shallow sandbed and transferred about 1/6 of that to the brute can with the liverock. I don't think there's any issue that some tanks experience with deeper sandbeds. Mine was less than 1/4 inch, and the vortech routinely exposed the tank glass so if anything were under there it was constantly set free. In this light I plan to transfer what sand I have in the bin to the new tank.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[WDLV]

I don't know for sure but if I were to venture a guess I think it has to do first with the disruption of the rock and two with the re-positioning of the rock in the new vessel. I imagine handling has a small bearing on it too.

To ellaborate, the repositioning causes a portion of the rock that was previously getting high flow to get low flow. As such the gas exchange is deminished and there is subsequent die off on that part of the rock. I believe this to be true of large coral colonies as well. The remedy being to break them up so they can maximize their interaction with the water column by reducing their mass.

BTW, how did you get Tapatalk to work with RC? I tried the other day and it more or less said it was incompatable. I figured it was something that was not set up on RC's end. If you care to respond, you can PM me so as not to disrupt the thread.

 

[jonnybravo22]

I did this on purpose about 3 years ago. Granted it was planned, but some of the info still might be helpful.

I was pulling the crushed coral sandbed, and changing out the rocks --- I hate yellow polyps and GSP. I split everything from my 58 into 2 rubbermaid bins, in one of the bins I had half the live rock, an LTA and my pair of pink skunks. I had a heater, a powerhead and some cheap PC lights over it. They were all in there for 48 hours without issue.

These are the bins I used.

Thanks for the demo Todd.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they hold up until new tank is delivered.