80g Reef to frag tank move, tips.

[David M.]

Soon im going to be turning my full blown 80g shallow reef into a frag tank. I want all the rocks and sand out, and pack as much rock into the sump as possible. Obviously Im worried about the cycle from moving all the rock and sand. I have plenty of fish, some of which Ill have to get rid of because of the lack of sandbed. Ive got a few ideas of how im going to do this, but Id like some ideas from people that have done it before .

 

[bairdimusprime]

I've never done a conversion like this [HASHTAG]#reefsquad[/HASHTAG] anyone have any advice?

 

[143MPCo]

With regards to moving the tank, it's not that it's a hard thing to do but, you really need to plan it out and have a few things in place prior to attempting it... This is how I have done it in the past 3moves for friends and never had major issues.

Some, if not all of the stuff below you might already have, also use as much of the original tanks water as you can keep...

Moving containers (5-gallon bucket cleaned, bet you have a surplus from all the salt you've used?)
Holding tank/s (nothing special, brute trash cans are you friend)
Air-pump and Stone (this is just to aerate the water in the holding tank while the new tank settles)
Heater and/or fans (this is just to keep the water in the holding tanks at proper level, might not be needed)
Gloves (seems silly but, I got a nasty sting from the 2nd tank I moved think I crushed a bristle worm or something)
Tupperware Containers (used for capturing livestock, I don't like nets, and don't let the wife see you lol)

Note: If you are going to leave livestock in the holding container for a prolonged time, and have corals also, you should consider things like lighting, skimming, activated carbon, temp-probe etc.

Time wise:

The 75g took 4hrs to move and 2.5 to set back up.
The 60g took 2hrs to move and about the same to setup.
The 180 was about 6hrs, the corals had encrusted over the live-rock and had to hammer them apart, this tank took 2days to set back up as the filtration was a little elaborate.

Sand:

Not a fan of reuse it as the trapped organics might and can leach out, have always opted to use fresh sand, or rinsed out old sand <--- that's one heck of a process and not fun!

Hope that helps you some?

 

[Shep]

With regards to moving the tank, it's not that it's a hard thing to do but, you really need to plan it out and have a few things in place prior to attempting it... This is how I have done it in the past 3moves for friends and never had major issues.

Some, if not all of the stuff below you might already have, also use as much of the original tanks water as you can keep...

Moving containers (5-gallon bucket cleaned, bet you have a surplus from all the salt you've used?)
Holding tank/s (nothing special, brute trash cans are you friend)
Air-pump and Stone (this is just to aerate the water in the holding tank while the new tank settles)
Heater and/or fans (this is just to keep the water in the holding tanks at proper level, might not be needed)
Gloves (seems silly but, I got a nasty sting from the 2nd tank I moved think I crushed a bristle worm or something)
Tupperware Containers (used for capturing livestock, I don't like nets, and don't let the wife see you lol)

Note: If you are going to leave livestock in the holding container for a prolonged time, and have corals also, you should consider things like lighting, skimming, activated carbon, temp-probe etc.

Time wise:

The 75g took 4hrs to move and 2.5 to set back up.
The 60g took 2hrs to move and about the same to setup.
The 180 was about 6hrs, the corals had encrusted over the live-rock and had to hammer them apart, this tank took 2days to set back up as the filtration was a little elaborate.

Sand:

Not a fan of reuse it as the trapped organics might and can leach out, have always opted to use fresh sand, or rinsed out old sand <--- that's one heck of a process and not fun!

Hope that helps you some?

This

 

[David M.]

With regards to moving the tank, it's not that it's a hard thing to do but, you really need to plan it out and have a few things in place prior to attempting it... This is how I have done it in the past 3moves for friends and never had major issues.

Some, if not all of the stuff below you might already have, also use as much of the original tanks water as you can keep...

Moving containers (5-gallon bucket cleaned, bet you have a surplus from all the salt you've used?)
Holding tank/s (nothing special, brute trash cans are you friend)
Air-pump and Stone (this is just to aerate the water in the holding tank while the new tank settles)
Heater and/or fans (this is just to keep the water in the holding tanks at proper level, might not be needed)
Gloves (seems silly but, I got a nasty sting from the 2nd tank I moved think I crushed a bristle worm or something)
Tupperware Containers (used for capturing livestock, I don't like nets, and don't let the wife see you lol)

Note: If you are going to leave livestock in the holding container for a prolonged time, and have corals also, you should consider things like lighting, skimming, activated carbon, temp-probe etc.

Time wise:

The 75g took 4hrs to move and 2.5 to set back up.
The 60g took 2hrs to move and about the same to setup.
The 180 was about 6hrs, the corals had encrusted over the live-rock and had to hammer them apart, this tank took 2days to set back up as the filtration was a little elaborate.

Sand:

Not a fan of reuse it as the trapped organics might and can leach out, have always opted to use fresh sand, or rinsed out old sand <--- that's one heck of a process and not fun!

Hope that helps you some?

It helps a lot thanks! Luckily the tank isn't actually going anywhere, and the sand will be completely disposed of. I do have a spare 60g I could use to hold everything, a brute would work very well too so I'll have to consider that. I can only see it taking a few hours to remove everything. Then MAYBE overnight to let things settle down. I was really worried about the sand kicking up nasties, but honestly I may as well just take as much water as I can into the holding tank, then make more to replace what gets lost in the sand removal. I'm also worried about the rock, I won't be able to fit much in my sump with the huge skimmer I have (could upgrade sump, I have a fairly large sturdy tub I could just fill with live rock) but if I do lose 80% of my LR I feel like that would spell disaster. Not to mention the 5 or 6 Anemone (3 Large, 2 carpet and one Malu all 12+", one carpet pushing 18" when fully open). I may just keep the anemone in there, and build a little sand bar for each of them. All coral will be going into my wife's 34g Solana for the time being so that's a non-issue.

Pics of 3 big nems attached. The rest are attached to rocks and easily movable.

 

[FL_Reefer]

I would also suggest that you start to blow out your rock work to get rid of anything traped in there.

 

[Liquid360]

You haven't had a reef if you haven't had a trashcan reef [emoji4]

 

[FL_Reefer]

You haven't had a reef if you haven't had a trashcan reef [emoji4]

Been there before, lol

 

[David M.]

I've had a tub reef does that count? Haha

 

[FL_Reefer]

I've had a tub reef does that count? Haha

Been there too, lol

 

[David M.]

I would also suggest that you start to blow out your rock work to get rid of anything traped in there.

Good idea.

 

[143MPCo]

It helps a lot thanks! Luckily the tank isn't actually going anywhere, and the sand will be completely disposed of. I do have a spare 60g I could use to hold everything, a brute would work very well too so I'll have to consider that. I can only see it taking a few hours to remove everything. Then MAYBE overnight to let things settle down. I was really worried about the sand kicking up nasties, but honestly I may as well just take as much water as I can into the holding tank, then make more to replace what gets lost in the sand removal. I'm also worried about the rock, I won't be able to fit much in my sump with the huge skimmer I have (could upgrade sump, I have a fairly large sturdy tub I could just fill with live rock) but if I do lose 80% of my LR I feel like that would spell disaster. Not to mention the 5 or 6 Anemone (3 Large, 2 carpet and one Malu all 12+", one carpet pushing 18" when fully open). I may just keep the anemone in there, and build a little sand bar for each of them. All coral will be going into my wife's 34g Solana for the time being so that's a non-issue.

One thing I try to do is remove as much water first without touching the sandbed (leaving an 1" or 2" for fish and other inhabitants), followed by coral, rock, fish, cleanup crew and very last to go is sand. In this way you help prevent (as much as is really possible) fouling the water that going into the other tank. Also the suggestion to blow off the rock as a good one, considering doing that in an isolated container of either newly (aged appropriately) mixed saltwater or change out water from a recent water change.