Am I setting myself up for disaster??

[Matt Miller]

I will be transferring an established 90g with sump to my 110 with sump/fuge very soon. There's a few corals on the rocks and the only fish I'm keeping are 2 mated clowns, a dwarf angel and the diamond blenny.
My only goal was to have clowns and anemone, anything else is just bonus. I want to keep a low bio load and just a clean tank.
I am really wanting to try to get in on the live sale and coral of the month club and get that stuff in 2-4 weeks. I know it's risky but is it just a bad idea?
If it's not too crazy what extra precautions can I take to ease it all together?

 

[CodyRVA]

Depends how well you prep and account for what really needs to happen. If you do it quick and efficiently, you should be fine; I would add a bottle of bacteria just to be safe. The longer it takes, the more bacteria will die off, the greater the risk you run dealing with nutrient issues. You could still order your coral, you should be quarantining them prior to entering the display anyways.

You shouldn't have any problem with your fish so long as you keep stable temp and salinity parameters during the transition.

 

[Pola0502ds]

My tank was purchased from someone that had it setup for 8 months and then I moved it 200 miles. It had a mini cycle to go through again, there was coral in it but everything was fine shortly after that and most certainly before 4 weeks. I had a algae bloom and I think it was from the sand bed obviously being disturbed and kicking up all that nasty stuff. However, nothing good comes in this hobby with anything being rushed, if it were me personal I would wait a month of so before buying any coral to be on the safe side. Especially because every tank is different and may react differently to a big move like this.

How long has this tank already been set up by the original owner.

 

[bif24701]

I was able to transfer and move my 180 and add a new sump with out issues. You need to be well prepared and have something to keep all the rock in regular mixed salt water with flow, and heater. As long as you prevent any kind of die off then you will have no to a minimum cycle and will be safe for live stock right away. I used a separate container to keep everything in for the several days while I moved and rebuilt the system. Make and keep as much salt and water as you can to ease transitions.

 

[Pola0502ds]

One thing I learned is, how ever much time you think you will need to transfer and set up, double it!! Brings lots of buckets and towels.

 

[CodyRVA]

One thing I learned is, how ever much time you think you will need to transfer and set up, double it!! Brings lots of buckets and towels.

+1 !!!

 

[Matt Miller]

The tank has been up for a few years. I will be trying to save all the water. About 40 minutes from my house. I'm expecting a full days worth of work. There's a bit of algae in tank I will manually clean off before putting into new tank. There's 2-3 blue fish and a large urchin I will be taking to the lfs. We will have a large bin to put the rocks and some water in for transfer.
I haven't got qt figured out yet.

 

[Alfrareef]

You'll be ok if you plan in detail and consider extra time for all. Also Don't forget the flow and temp. Also don't reuse the sand. It's a great opportunity to leave all the crap that it's beneath the sand.

 

[Matt Miller]

The sand has been a debate.....there's a yellow diamond goby and lots of other "critters" in the sand. Hermit crabs are all I know of but that's what I was told.

My current plan was to sift out the "critters and keep the cleanest sand and add it on new sand. I know the tank needs some tlc and one and to do it right. Here's some pics if it helps.

 

[CodyRVA]

Might want to consider just cleaning the sand with some RODI, most of the bacteria in it will likely die anyways and the amount of nutrients it's holding... risk isn't worth the reward.

 

[Matt Miller]

Is that what I would add the bottle of bacteria for then? Would that help with controlling/avoiding a new cycle?
I was going to lightly scrub the live rock, I can rinse the sand after sifting the critters.

 

[Matt Miller]

So far seems like a success! I used a bag of live sand and took a few scoops from the established tank. The sand was very dirty and I didn't want to mess with it any more.

Fish went in early Monday and my cuc has been working hard. Every day I've come home to a cleaner tank and see new things popping up too