Temporary housing for a used tank switchover

[thefuz]

Hi folks,

I bought a used 90 gallon oceanic that's currently fish only with a few random peaceful fish (3 heniochus, 1 flame angel, 1 yellow tang, 1 hippo and a clown). I'd like to keep some of the fish that will be reef safe - probably just the flame and the clown at this point, but perhaps the yellow tang as well.

My problem is that I'm breaking the whole tank down and starting fresh. I only have a 29 galllon that I'd planned on using as a quarantine tank. Will that tank be OK to house the clown and flame angel? Is adding the tang OK as well? I'm in the process of bringing that tank up to basic speed (temp/salinity/ph). Once there, I'm going to take a bunch of the bio balls from the current tank and slap those into an old eheim 2015 and possibly a hang on whisper power filter (i'll use the regular floss/carbon inserts on that).

Will the fish survive sustained until I can get the 90 installed and cycled (I'm guessing at least 2 months for that). I'm starting with dead rock from BRS.

 

[MCCOOL]

I wouldn't try the tang, but the other two will probably be ok, short term. Just keep an eye on your parameters and aggression.

 

[thefuz]

Cool, thanks! I'm going to add some hiding spots in there - hopefully that will mitigate the chasing. Params look good so far though.

 

[Korrine]

How big is the yellow tang(that's the one tang you want to keep, right)? You could just go buy a large rubbermaid container as well. Larger, cheaper than a new tank and you can use it for storage or other things later. I would make a mesh screen for it so fish can't jump out, but the fish can get light and you can see in all the time.

 

[thefuz]

Yellow tang is probably between 3 and 4 inches I'd say.

 

[Korrine]

I don't see why it wouldn't be fine for 8 weeks in a 29 then?! You may have to watch for territory issues going from a large tank to such a small tank.

 

[thefuz]

I may try it out, but I care most about hanging on to the flame and the clown (my kids are all about the nemo... oh, the nemo!). We'll see what kind of reasonable decor I can come up with.

I think I have some old rainbow rock and lava rock as well. Do I need to be concerned about a secondary cycle if I go with the lava rock (lots of surface area on those things, but it's not like live rock).

 

[Korrine]

Yes. Why not the filter off the old tang? Put in a power head and heater. You are set, other than feeding, top offs and water changes.

 

[thefuz]

The current tank has a sump/skimmer that's quite large (wider than the 29 gallon) and I need to break that down and start fresh. His tank is full of nitrates and I'd rather start from scratch with the reef.

I hear ya on the powerhead/heater though - this is essentially what I'll be doing with the whisper and eheim.

 

[Korrine]

ok. Just keep a close eye on any territory disputes especially if it amounts to attacking, injuries and torn fins. The occasional chase is usually fine.