Give me tips for taking over a tank

[Jhoussock]

If all goes as planned I will be getting a redsea 250 on Saturday with coral and fish already established. My plan is to use new sand and keep the old rock coral and fish. I will also be adding some carib sea live rock. I will rescape it to my liking and go from there... anyone have some tips for someone new to a reef tank? Something I may overlook or something that needs to be on my radar that isn’t? Any pointers would be great! Oh I will be breaking the tank down traveling 2.5 hours and then resetting it up. I’ve been reading about moving tanks but anything that’s helpful for this process would be great too!

 

[cracker]

Wow . 1st tank? Lot's to learn we will help Ya. What is all the equipment ? As for moving, does this tank come with a water filter?You will need enough containers to bring back As much of the water with you . You need to be sure You have every thing ya need. to level the stand. before you do anything else.
& Welcome to R2R !

 

[Jason mack]

#welcometoR2R . Thanks for joining and sharing .. you’ll get plenty of good advice and help here ....Will you be getting all the equipment with it .... test kits .. refractorfor salt ..... rodi unit ... will you be taking all the water ..
you will end up with a mini cycle .. because of new rocks and sand ...

 

[Jhoussock]

Yeah it has a filter, all the normal reefer sump equipment with all the other normal additions like skimmer and wave makers etc. It is my first marine tank but I’ve been keeping 150 gallon discus tank with remineralized ro water doing water changes every 4 days. Not completely new if you take all that into consideration. I know it’s a different world so ready to join and learn!

 

[Crabs McJones]

Welcome to R2R!

 

[Geebs19]

Welcome to R2R!

 

[Jason mack]

Ill start you off with this .. it’s a good read
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-supreme-guide-to-setting-up-a-saltwater-reef-aquarium.138750/
Research research and lots and lots of patience...don’t be overwhelmed by it all..there’s a world of help. On here !!!

 

[Jhoussock]

Ill start you off with this .. it’s a good read
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-supreme-guide-to-setting-up-a-saltwater-reef-aquarium.138750/
Research research and lots and lots of patience...don’t be overwhelmed by it all..there’s a world of help. On here !!!

Great info thanks!

 

[Jhoussock]

Welcome to R2R!

 

[Jhoussock]

#welcometoR2R . Thanks for joining and sharing .. you’ll get plenty of good advice and help here ....Will you be getting all the equipment with it .... test kits .. refractorfor salt ..... rodi unit ... will you be taking all the water ..
you will end up with a mini cycle .. because of new rocks and sand ...

Already have a rodi system from my discus text kits and refractor are included

 

[thejuice24]

So IMO I would move it as is and not change anything let it run status quo for a few weeks. Learn the tank first before disruption. Know what the normals of the environment is before you start making changes and disrupting it. The biggest challenge in the hobby is patience and balance. Good luck with the new tank and welcome to the hobby.

 

[Jhoussock]

Do you recommend using old sand? I’ve read some not so great stuff for reusing sand?

 

[thejuice24]

Is it a deep sand bed? Is there a current issue with the sand bed? What is your motive for the replacement?

A little background on the tank would be helpful.

 

[Jhoussock]

Is it a deep sand bed? Is there a current issue with the sand bed? What is your motive for the replacement?

A little background on the tank would be helpful.

Not sure...I’m guessing this is on the deep side?

 

[Jhoussock]

Is it a deep sand bed? Is there a current issue with the sand bed? What is your motive for the replacement?

A little background on the tank would be helpful.

There are no issues that I know of. My only motive is that when reading three articles of moving a fish tank they all said to replace the sand.

 

[cracker]

When do You pick this up & how long has this tank been up & running ? All correct about the mini cycle. Also was about mention to swap the sand if the tank has been running for some time .

 

[Jhoussock]

Saturday and I’m unsure about how long

 

[WVNed]

Sand in a marine tank quickly becomes stratified with different things living at different levels. When you move it, stir it a lot or take it out of the tank you kill all those things and that creates a water quality problem unless you rinse it really really well before you put it back.

 

[thejuice24]

Looks like a well maintained tank. I can understand @WVNed comment, makes sense. With that being said what’s you plan for moving the tank. I’ve moved tanks about 4 times. I’ve never replaced anything, move as is with a goal of not killing anything which to date I haven’t. My fear has always been if you start replacing things out of a already cycled and mature tank not only are stressing all the organisms out on the move. But now your also throwing the biology of the tank off. Removing all the microorganism that are in that sand bed also have a place in the food chain as well. That does look like a good size sand bed, that’s well maintained. Ask the previous owner their opinion, based on the tank it looks like they know what their doing.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Great choice. Reefer series, very successful line of tanks. Personally, It appears to be established and I would alter but change nothing. No bigger advantage than to have a seeded system with little chemistry issues.
I would remove corals and rock and leave sand bed and fish in tank (which I've done successfully) and with a couple extra hands get fish and tank home and fill back up within 8 hours as bacteria will be alive and let it clear up a couple of hours and reintroduce rock and scape it the way you like. Transition will go smoothest this way. Will be like doing a major water change. THIS IS ALSO A GOOD TIME To consider which salt mix you will use.
Never the less, a great tank to roll with A N D . . . . . . . . . . .