Thoughts on how to switch tanks

Marc11

New member
My new tank will be here in about 1 week. I will be using about 20 lbs of my original rock and getting rid of the rest (50-60lbs about). What are your thoughts:

1) should i keep sand so i have more original bio.

2) would one week of new rock in bucket with a piece of live rock with heater and powerhead do anything to help?

I was thinking of doing these two things and putting a few small pieces of my old rock in the sump to help. How much of a cycle do you think i will get and how bad will it stress out my corals and fish. I have mostly sps.

My new tank is 105 gallons my old tank is 90.
 
Why are you ditching so much original rock from the 90?

Using old sand can really dirty up a new tank and screw your parameters if you don't rinse the heck out of it, which will cost you a lot of culture.
 
When i started this adventure 2 years ago i used a mixture of rock because i got it cheap. I want to go with a minimalist look with all Reef Saver Rock from BRS.
I heard its not good to put new live sand into existing tank either.
 
I would ditch the sand. That sand has a lot of detritus in it. When you remove it it is going to be stirred up. Save yourself the hassle and use new sand or go barebottom. Removing that much of the old rock that fast means your losing a lot of biological filtration and that might cause you to start a mini cycle.
 
If it were me I'd probably cook the rock in a Rubbermaid before doing the swap. I used new sand in both of my tank swaps with no issues. You may get a tiny cycle but with plenty of live rock you and the fish won't notice.

Used sand is loaded with detritus that will release nitrites/nitrates/phosphates when stirred up by moving it.
 
When you cooked (cured) the rock did you put a piece of live rock in with it or just by itself and let it do its thing?
 
I would be afraid of losing sps due to mini cycle. Corals might brown out from transfer. If you need me to hold any corals during your transition let me know. Would be more than willing to help.
 
thanks for the offer, I might take you up on it. Where are you in branford? I still want to hear what others have to say.
 
I seed with live rock, but I know some don't. I figure, the "correct" bacterial culture has to come from somewhere, right?
 
Seeding/cycling base rock in a rubbermaid is different to "cooking". You should probably do some Googling and learn about the different methods. My memory isn't good enough to give you specific, reliable advice. :)
 
I'm near short beach. I have 100g set up, so plenty of room. What I think would work is move all live rock from old tank to new tank. Ditch the sand, that will only give you problems. And slowly switch out old live rock with new base rock. This way the biological filtration is not drastically removed all at once.
 
That's another good idea but will obviously require minor re-scapes every time a rock is swapped. Depending on your layout it may be no big deal at all.
 
I think your right.. I know the difference between cooking and curing. thats why i corrected your post. I think i should leave live rock in. Cure new rock and swap a little at a time.
Now the question is go barebottom or new sand?
 
What are the thoughts arag-alive (special grade) sand. I like that its a little bigger than fiji pink (what i have now) because ill be going to a shallower tank and 2 mp40's might cause a storm.
 
I agree with them. When I switched from my 40 to my 150 I removed One third of the sandbed every week before the transfer so the bacteria on it could repopulate on the rock. I would be careful with removing sand and that much live rock all at once. I don't think sps would tolerate a mini cycle I bet they'd stn. Could you remove the sand and rock more gradually? Maybe if your seriously understocked it would't be too bad.
Bare or sand? sand looks 10x better but go with a large grain so you can crank up the flow.
 
thanks ill take some sand out starting tomorrow. Also - i see there is the crushed coral which is very big, but i heard that it could be a problem later on. The "special grade" is 1-2mm. Fiji pink is .05-1.5. Crushed Coral is 3-5.5ml.
 
I've got Fiji Pink in my tank and a seriously aggressive amount of flow. once the sand is rinsed/settled, it's really not a big issue in my opinion. Even with my e-goby, it stays on the bottom. I do get a little on my rocks after using the mag float, but it's minor.
 
Back
Top