Bpb
New member
I know it's been done a thousand times, and I must have read countless threads and personally witnessed several unsuccessful to moderately successful tank upgrades.
I'm upgrading my current 55 gallon SPS dominant tank currently. If all goes as planned I'll be picking up a RR 90 gallon with center overflow tomorrow. The biggest concern I have is for my SPS colonies. I'm honestly not at all really worried about fish and softies or even anemones. I've done tank moves with all of those successfully and didnt lose anything, and from what research I've done, those types of critters are more tolerant of tank changes anyway
Some tid-bits of information.
Current tank: 55 gallon non RR
15 gallon sump
T5HO lighting
2 year old tank, but most of my livestock is much older and was aquired from other hobbyists
I replaced my entire sandbed 3 months ago so It's still fairly fresh
Proposed tank: 90 gallon RR (never had a RR tank before)
36 gallon sump
2x250 MH with led supplements (either BML or reef brite or both)
I intend to use all of my existing sand and rock, flow, and reactors. I've got 20 extra pounds of pukani, and will add a bit more sand. Originally I wanted to start fresh with EVERYTHING new to eliminate some bubble algae and aiptasia that has been around for the past couple years, but I don't want to get rid of everything that I've grown attatched to...so those pests will get a free ride to the new tank as well. Oh well. I can live with them. This isn't a pest thread so I'll leave that alone.
Some constraints!!
CANNOT set new tank up in the house next to the old tank. There just flat out isnt room. No way no how. And my boss wouldn't permit it anyway with any amount of convincing. We're expecting and it's not her hobby so I'm pushing my luck with a tank upgrade anyway.
MUST cycle new rock and sand in the new tank, in the garage (still gonna get me some dirty looks). Temperatures are mild right now, 70's-80s, but I don't trust the fluctuating temps in my garage to sustain delicate life beyond bacteria and microfauna, so no corals or fish will go in there. Current tank will remain in its place until the new stuff is cycled and ready to go.
My proposed plan...
Get 2 brute cans, and my existing 30 gallon rubbermaid storage tub ready. Drain old tank down 1/2 way. Remove rocks and place in storage tub with water, powerhead, and heater (and possibly carbon reactor with fresh carbon??), slide aside.
net fish and put in with corals.
Siphon out sand and remaining water into another container. Stir vigorously, pour off dirty water.
Disassemble and move tank out of way.
Drain New tank. Place rocks and sand in another storage container.
Move into place
Refill with some new and some old water.
Add rocks and scape
Add sand
Add fish, powerheads, heater.
Fire up plumbing...
Am I missing anything? Is there something I should keep in mind that I may no expect. One thing I've learned from a previous endeavor is to always have extra water made up.
Onto the biggest part of the thread...my SPS
I've fragged out most of them to a handful of people I know. While theyre all good friends that are serious hobbyists, none of them have long running mature SPS tanks. The frags I've sent out have survived in their tanks though, so I'll likely frag MORE. I don't have any truely massive colonies to work with, but some are decently sized, and some are going to be very expensive to replace if I lose them. I'd rather not have to set aside another $500 to replace all my sps if the RTN in the tank change
Would it be wise of me to hack and slash every sps species I have down to small pieces and just spread them around to everyone I know and let the new tank run for a couple months before re-introducing them? Or should I give it a try and transfer them directly over with the fish, rock, and softies.
Just looking for some helpful advice here. Let me know if I'm missing anything
I'm upgrading my current 55 gallon SPS dominant tank currently. If all goes as planned I'll be picking up a RR 90 gallon with center overflow tomorrow. The biggest concern I have is for my SPS colonies. I'm honestly not at all really worried about fish and softies or even anemones. I've done tank moves with all of those successfully and didnt lose anything, and from what research I've done, those types of critters are more tolerant of tank changes anyway
Some tid-bits of information.
Current tank: 55 gallon non RR
15 gallon sump
T5HO lighting
2 year old tank, but most of my livestock is much older and was aquired from other hobbyists
I replaced my entire sandbed 3 months ago so It's still fairly fresh
Proposed tank: 90 gallon RR (never had a RR tank before)
36 gallon sump
2x250 MH with led supplements (either BML or reef brite or both)
I intend to use all of my existing sand and rock, flow, and reactors. I've got 20 extra pounds of pukani, and will add a bit more sand. Originally I wanted to start fresh with EVERYTHING new to eliminate some bubble algae and aiptasia that has been around for the past couple years, but I don't want to get rid of everything that I've grown attatched to...so those pests will get a free ride to the new tank as well. Oh well. I can live with them. This isn't a pest thread so I'll leave that alone.
Some constraints!!
CANNOT set new tank up in the house next to the old tank. There just flat out isnt room. No way no how. And my boss wouldn't permit it anyway with any amount of convincing. We're expecting and it's not her hobby so I'm pushing my luck with a tank upgrade anyway.
MUST cycle new rock and sand in the new tank, in the garage (still gonna get me some dirty looks). Temperatures are mild right now, 70's-80s, but I don't trust the fluctuating temps in my garage to sustain delicate life beyond bacteria and microfauna, so no corals or fish will go in there. Current tank will remain in its place until the new stuff is cycled and ready to go.
My proposed plan...
Get 2 brute cans, and my existing 30 gallon rubbermaid storage tub ready. Drain old tank down 1/2 way. Remove rocks and place in storage tub with water, powerhead, and heater (and possibly carbon reactor with fresh carbon??), slide aside.
net fish and put in with corals.
Siphon out sand and remaining water into another container. Stir vigorously, pour off dirty water.
Disassemble and move tank out of way.
Drain New tank. Place rocks and sand in another storage container.
Move into place
Refill with some new and some old water.
Add rocks and scape
Add sand
Add fish, powerheads, heater.
Fire up plumbing...
Am I missing anything? Is there something I should keep in mind that I may no expect. One thing I've learned from a previous endeavor is to always have extra water made up.
Onto the biggest part of the thread...my SPS
I've fragged out most of them to a handful of people I know. While theyre all good friends that are serious hobbyists, none of them have long running mature SPS tanks. The frags I've sent out have survived in their tanks though, so I'll likely frag MORE. I don't have any truely massive colonies to work with, but some are decently sized, and some are going to be very expensive to replace if I lose them. I'd rather not have to set aside another $500 to replace all my sps if the RTN in the tank change
Would it be wise of me to hack and slash every sps species I have down to small pieces and just spread them around to everyone I know and let the new tank run for a couple months before re-introducing them? Or should I give it a try and transfer them directly over with the fish, rock, and softies.
Just looking for some helpful advice here. Let me know if I'm missing anything
