I hope someone can give me some insight here because I'm going back and forth between ready and not. I am fairly new to sw and have a 29g fowlr I inherited. I have 7 fish a crab and a shrimp currently and maybe 20lbs LR (overstocked). Salinity .025 ammonia and nitrites 0 nitrates 10. I'm looking at buying a 72g bowfront with 100lbs of LR and a wet/dry sump. That tank is running with no livestock in it. I'm planning on transporting the new LR and bio balls in buckets w/ tank water. I was going to get 30g of heated ro/di ready in advance and save 10g from a WC in my current tank. Also I have 70lbs of new aragonite for the 72g. I hoping that I can put the sand in along with some water then the LR and then transfer the water and LR from my 29g followed by my fish meanwhile keeping the temp and salinity the same. I don't know if I have all of my thoughts together here but hopefully someone can help. Thank you
Upgrading to a used tank. Need help!
- Thread starter Jberge60
- Start date
MondoBongo
Obligate Feeder Obsessed
i would ditch the sand and start with brand new sand. that stuff tends to hang on to a lot of nastiness, and you can help avoid nutrient issues by getting yourself new sand.
i would do all new water too. there's no reason to worry about saving or transferring water. starting out with fresh, clean, saltwater will get those nitrates down in the short term too.
i would also ditch the wet/dry sump in favor of a normal sump layout with protein skimmer. bio balls are generally frowned upon as over time they can trap a lot of organics and lead to nitrate issues, similar to how canister filters can. not that you can't use them, but they require some special maintenance consideration over conventional layouts.
if possible it is always my preference to move the new tank in to place dry, set it up with fresh sand and rocks, and let it run to see if it is going to cycle. then migrating things over gradually as i get more confident that the tank is established enough to handle them.
conversely, you can move everything over at once, but try to minimize the nasty from both tanks that is coming over. e.g. use new water, new sand, blow off rocks before transferring, and be careful with your feed levels. monitor water quality for a few days after the move to ensure you're not seeing any kind of cycle.
i would do all new water too. there's no reason to worry about saving or transferring water. starting out with fresh, clean, saltwater will get those nitrates down in the short term too.
i would also ditch the wet/dry sump in favor of a normal sump layout with protein skimmer. bio balls are generally frowned upon as over time they can trap a lot of organics and lead to nitrate issues, similar to how canister filters can. not that you can't use them, but they require some special maintenance consideration over conventional layouts.
if possible it is always my preference to move the new tank in to place dry, set it up with fresh sand and rocks, and let it run to see if it is going to cycle. then migrating things over gradually as i get more confident that the tank is established enough to handle them.
conversely, you can move everything over at once, but try to minimize the nasty from both tanks that is coming over. e.g. use new water, new sand, blow off rocks before transferring, and be careful with your feed levels. monitor water quality for a few days after the move to ensure you're not seeing any kind of cycle.
thank you for the quick response. I have 70lbs of new sand for the tank. My only thought for using the old water was that I wouldn't have to acclaimate my fish to it but I guess it's not a big deal if I have to. As far as the wet/dry it has a skimmer hooked up to it also but I would like a regular sump just don't have the extra cash at the moment. I was hoping to do the transfer in one shot but I know that's probably not the best because some amount of a cycle is bound to happen. I was going to be buying distilled water but 70g is a lot. Do you think it's ok to do half and the other half tap conditioned with prime
MondoBongo
Obligate Feeder Obsessed
i would not use tap water in my tanks if it were conditioned with magic and unicorn blood, but that's just me. depends on your tap water and your setup. some people can use it without apparent issue, others not so much.
ericarenee
New member
MY Concern.
If your buying the tank used and it has NO Fish just setup with water how do you know all there fish did not die due to issue of some kind...
I would slow down...
Get the new tank and either set it up as instructed above with new sand and new water and leave it fish less for a while to insure its not ich infested or Bleach the life rock let it totally dry out and start fresh with a 100% KNOWN Issue free system..
Just my pennies... Taking more time in this hobby often saves a lot of pennies ..
If your buying the tank used and it has NO Fish just setup with water how do you know all there fish did not die due to issue of some kind...
I would slow down...
Get the new tank and either set it up as instructed above with new sand and new water and leave it fish less for a while to insure its not ich infested or Bleach the life rock let it totally dry out and start fresh with a 100% KNOWN Issue free system..
Just my pennies... Taking more time in this hobby often saves a lot of pennies ..
I'd also go with new sand and water. It'd be great if you can use established rock already as that's where most of the bacteria live.
I'd let the new setup run for a couple weeks before adding any fish. The transporting of rocks and adding new sand may result in a mini cycle.
I'd let the new setup run for a couple weeks before adding any fish. The transporting of rocks and adding new sand may result in a mini cycle.
RobZilla04
Active member
Here is a similar thread from when I swapped a 55 to 90.
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2613700
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2613700
ericarenee
New member
There are several different methods on how to deal with Live rock you are Unsure of ..
First if you know the person where the tank came from and the reason it was sitting running empty you might not need extreme measures..
You need to let it sit with no fish for 72 days to be sure there is NO ICH
As far as the procedure to clean the rock (if it needs it ) you can search the forum for Bleaching , Acid washing , Methods to nuke rock. i am sure there are other wordings..
The idea of acid washing the rock will also be sure there is no Phosphates and other nutrients build up inside the rock..
Another option is set the tank up with your sand and cycle the tank let it become established then move your marine life from the smaller tank while curing the live rock in a container . you can test for phosphates and treat the rock accordingly ..
I once used rock from a unknown system that appeared to be fine and i fought gha for over a year and finally tore it down and acid washed the all the rock..
no the tank was taken down and reset up in about 3 hrs and i used 50% of the old water.
the fish are doing fine and its been 2 weeks. some of the coral got damaged in transit so they didnt fair so well.
Tank set up, have questions
Tank set up, have questions
Hey guys, I just set up the tank yesterday and it's beautiful. I used all new ro water, 70lbs new sand and the old LR. I put some seachem stability in there also. I only have the wet/dry running right now and waiting to use my old hob skimmer from the other tank. There's no livestock either. The temp is 77 ph between 8-8.2 and both reading today and yesterday showed ammonia, nitrites and phosphates at 0 but nitrates are around 40. Can anyone tell me if this is normal or if I need to do anything
Tank set up, have questions
Hey guys, I just set up the tank yesterday and it's beautiful. I used all new ro water, 70lbs new sand and the old LR. I put some seachem stability in there also. I only have the wet/dry running right now and waiting to use my old hob skimmer from the other tank. There's no livestock either. The temp is 77 ph between 8-8.2 and both reading today and yesterday showed ammonia, nitrites and phosphates at 0 but nitrates are around 40. Can anyone tell me if this is normal or if I need to do anything
RobZilla04
Active member
Once you hook the skimmer back up the nitrates should begin to drop. Consider upgrading to an in sump skimmer and ditching the hob. The bigger system will need a better skimmer especially if you're going to increase the bio load. Look into the SCA-301. I have it on my 100g total system.
I'm glad to hear that. I actually don't have room in my sump for a skimmer so maybe you could help me with this question, I don't think I want the intake and return for the skimmer on the side of the sump so do I plumb the intake into the other side of the sump opposite the sump return pump or bring the water to the skimmer from the tank but if I do that how do I stop a flood if I lose power? I hope you can understand what I'm trying to explain. Also should I feed the tank to make sure it can handle ammonia?
RobZilla04
Active member
As long as the return in also pulling water from the same chamber it will be fine.
