Advice Needed - Moving SPS to new tank

[Lovemycj7]

Hi I'm going to be doing a tank move this weekend from a BC29 to RSR350 which will involve SPS.

The BC29 tank parameters for salinity, temp, alk, calc, mag match the new tank. I keep alk at 8-8.5, Calc measured at 450 MG at 1350, salinity 1.026, temp 77-78 degrees F.

However nitrates are 10 ppm and phosphates are something (but being exported so that very little undesirable algae grows) while the new tank has 0 for both of these.

Anyone have any advice on moving the SPS? Should I expect some burnt tips etc because of the change in nutrient levels?

The tanks are right next to each other. so coral can go from one tank to another.


I also thought about moving fish and rock over and leaving the SPS behind in the BC 29 for a few weeks to let the new tank break in more.

 

[aaron23]

i lost all my sps corals from a tank transfer because i took too long transferring them over without enough adequate flow in the buckets. The alkalinity spike also happened because i went from a 30 volume to 65 volume. i would store water from old water changes and use that to compensate for the increase in water volume. that pretty much sums it up good luck

 

[Tahoe61]

I set up a 10 gallon tank with a larger frag rack mounted about 3 inches off the bottom and moved all my sps over to it( used water from the former tank). Added a heater and flow and small T5 fixture. Left the sps in there until the new tank had a couple days to run and for the chemistry settle down. Then I started slowly switching out the 10 gallon water with new display water. My past experience is that sps were adversely affected by the change in alk from old tank to new system.

 

[CodyRVA]

How much down time are you going to have? If you're moving them one side of the house to the other, you should have no issues in regards to time in transit. I moved my entire system 4 hours away in nothing but buckets. I saved as much of the existing water as I could to eliminate changes in chemistry, which will likely be your largest battle. I would add a bottle of bacteria afterwards because you will suffer some losses there as well. After you finish the move, test your water daily.

 

[Lovemycj7]

How much down time are you going to have? If you're moving them one side of the house to the other, you should have no issues in regards to time in transit. I moved my entire system 4 hours away in nothing but buckets. I saved as much of the existing water as I could to eliminate changes in chemistry, which will likely be your largest battle. I would add a bottle of bacteria afterwards because you will suffer some losses there as well. After you finish the move, test your water daily.

The tanks are right next to each other. yeah the difference between an established tank and new tank scares me. I tried to match up as many parameters as I could but i know nitrates and phostphates will be different as well as how the two tanks process nutrients. Right now the BC29 runs almost maintenance free.

 

[CodyRVA]

The tanks are right next to each other. yeah the difference between an established tank and new tank scares me.

Before moving my system over that long trip, I upgraded from 45G to a 80G with sump. Completely different systems. I went from HOB everything, canister filter, 4 bulb T5 to the 80G which has a 30G sump, internal skimmer, no canister, filter socks, 6 bulb ATI. Best thing I can say is prep as much as possible, keep an eye on your parameters and adjust accordingly. I had a mixed reef during both moves and never lost any corals or fish moving from the 45 to the 80. Lost a few SPS over the 4 hour hike: had a nutrient spike (guessing from bacteria loss) some of my sps browned out and died.

 

[Lovemycj7]

ok thanks all i think i'll leave the sps i nthe bc 29 for now and do a slow transition to the new tank. Wish me luck!

 

[Tahoe61]

Good Luck.

When I am doing a tank move or making major changes and I get frustrated or feel rushed I just take a time out and review my plan.

 

[nemo1017]

If you can make frags of the sps, they'll stand a slightly better chance when moving. In general, The frags are a little more forgiving. Plus you have an insurance policy if the colonies don't make it.

 

[NCreefguy]

If you're moving sps corals from a tank with plenty of nutrients to a tank with 0 nitrates and 0 phosphates,they most likely will not be happy. I would feed the new tank a little extra to help them.I didn't see if you were changing lighting too but I would lower the lighting intensity and possibly the duration as well until they are more settled in.

 

[HairyGary]

Just a thought, but I moved mine to bigger tank last September and had a spike in ALK due to new sand. At least that is what we narrowed it down to. GL!

 

[CodyRVA]

Just a thought, but I moved mine to bigger tank last September and had a spike in ALK due to new sand. At least that is what we narrowed it down to. GL!

How would sand spike your ALK?

 

[CodyRVA]

If you can make frags of the sps, they'll stand a slightly better chance when moving. In general, The frags are a little more forgiving. Plus you have an insurance policy if the colonies don't make it.

I would do this if I had plenty of time before the move. If you don't have enough time to allow those frags to encrust (recover), you'll just stress them out before you even start moving them. Recipe for disaster if done too quickly.

 

[Lovemycj7]

Good Luck.

When I am doing a tank move or making major changes and I get frustrated or feel rushed I just take a time out and review my plan.

Thanks yeah the build and transfer definitely had a plan but as we all know something always happens that wasn't expected

 

[Lovemycj7]

If you're moving sps corals from a tank with plenty of nutrients to a tank with 0 nitrates and 0 phosphates,they most likely will not be happy. I would feed the new tank a little extra to help them.I didn't see if you were changing lighting too but I would lower the lighting intensity and possibly the duration as well until they are more settled in.

Thanks I have been adding reef roids and acro power to help with nutrients. Lighting will stay the same I have radions but I did dial them down for now since the mounting height is different in the tanks.

 

[Lovemycj7]

Just a thought, but I moved mine to bigger tank last September and had a spike in ALK due to new sand. At least that is what we narrowed it down to. GL!

I've been told new sand actually lowers alk and absorbs it.

 

[Lovemycj7]

I would do this if I had plenty of time before the move. If you don't have enough time to allow those frags to encrust (recover), you'll just stress them out before you even start moving them. Recipe for disaster if done too quickly.

Good advice, yeah no time for fragging and healing fingers crossed

 

[HairyGary]

I've been told new sand actually lowers alk and absorbs it.

When I moved mine I was told (not the greatest advice) that when O2 in the new sand released into the new tank it pushed ALK. Dont know if it was true or not but narrowed it down to the new sand. Only other thought would have been a bad batch of Reef Crystals with higher ALK when I add some new water at the time. Good luck! Let us know how you like the Reefer 350.

 

[Second Shot]

If your doing the move this weekend I would start swapping water between the two tanks. This could get the water to a median and then the water will be pretty much the same in both tanks.