Going To Bigger New Reef Ready Tank ..

[JeepTj]

Okay I know its beat to death and I read mixed feelings on how to do this ..
current is a 60 gallon Aqueon .. nothing fancy but got me started into salt water, Canister Filter (when needed otherwise not in use) , no sump .. but ran a PSK-100H

anyway most expensive trip ever to the LFS , ordered a 135 reef ready tank/stand/ top/lighting and the extra's I need that currently don't have or need upgrading, from local fish store.. will be here Thursday .. using older 35 gallon Hagen tank repurposed for a sump....

Now I currently have
Tank has been running over 6 months since completed cycle so fairly new still
3 bubble tip nem's on same rock(was one but split into 3)
2 Anthia Lyretails
1 blue chromis
1 Scopus Tang
1 Watchman
1 Pistol Shrimp
1 Cleaner Shrimp
2 occelaris Clowns(roughly 5 years old Paired)
entire reason I ordered the 135 is I got a 2 inch Dory Tang
Coral beauty
cleanup crew
Green Star Poly
frogspawn
roughly 80lbs of Life Rock
has roughly 4 bags of live sand(black) and wasn't cheap either lol

now whats the SAFEST way I can swap over without having both setup as new tank has to go in place where the 60 is right now so it will have to be disassembled..

setup the 35 temporarly for the fish etc? use pails? rather not stress out the Blue Hippo as its doing really well not scared or hiding after 2 days.. and I read rough stories about em and stress... I know should have quarantined..but meh LFS does that before they sell.. very reputable here.. its just a small mom and pop shop..

current tank .. any insight would be appreciated

 

[Skedaddle]

How long do you think the swap will take? I broke down my 125gal and moved all the live stock and a little live rock to a livestock tank in the hallway. Ran a heater and a powerhead with 60-70 gallons of original tank water. It was set up for 25 days, until the new tank was up and cycled with new "true" live rock. No problem with any of the livestock including a large 12" anemone and a 5" maxima clam. If you do not want to invest in a stock tank, get a large robust tote/storage container from local big box.

 

[JeepTj]

going to make sure enough water is ready before I start and up to temp/salinity/ph etc... (Rubbermaid brute trash cans..) and reuse as much water as possible from existing tank.. going to use pump from the sump to get water into new tank and out of the old giving myself a day to swap around but shouldn't need that much time .

got no problem to get another tank if need be not worried much about spending, rather be safe then sorry,

this is the first time I have taken down a tank to go larger .. usually when I take down its cause I gave up.. but seems this hobby all you want is bigger.. haha

 

[pdxmonkeyboy]

get new tank warm.. take all live rock out and put in new tank, take maybe half of the sand. Done.

if you have enough bacteria in your old tank then you wont suffer an ammonia spike at all.

I went from a 75 gallon to a 300 (450 total gallons) doing this.

 

[JeepTj]

finally got around to swap it out man I need a bigger ro/di unit LOL 50G a day argh..

anyway here is my 135 ( 72 long, 24 high, 18 wide .Seapora reef ready tank .. and stand.. nice setup all tempered glass (roughly 10mm? glass) not sure if that is good or bad yet see mixed responses on that but tank is friggen heavy... … and a 40 gallon DIY sump .. much cleaner appearance then old tank with everything down below .. I do like the fact I can look under as I can now see my pistol shrimp maze

I know I know I still have new lights ordered .. but for time being original 4 foot light is sufficient till the new lights arrive..

only thing I cant figure out is the clowns were beating the anemones up when I had them in the smaller tank , placed them together into the big tank they wont go near them...

that is about 70~ lbs of Life rock , should I be adding more, intank? or any suggestions? going for reef style setup in the end just gotta find the rest of finding nemo for my daughter looks kinda empty LOL but I like the look of not being over cluttered like my 60 was..

I got 15~ lbs of live rock /rubble from an established sump.... to well establish my sump quicker..

any suggestions , or anything, just not on lights, that's already ordered I was just to cheap to pay the extra 20 bucks for faster shipping from amazon.. LOL

 

[Skedaddle]

Very nice congratulations. If you are looking for any aquascaping thoughts... I would take some of the rock from the middle area and make the left side, about 24-27" from the left end higher. So that that spot is at least 1/2 way up if not 2/3's up the water column. Just a thought but in the end it needs to work for you. Love your "hole in the wall" rock. I think you have plenty of rock in there.

 

[Radman73]

I was going to offer advice, but, too late lol! Glad you got it done successfully. Definitely stressful for the fish and us.

 

[Ruben's Reef]

Nice upgrade !! Definitely you can put some more rocks on it but looks great.

 

[jtl]

I would add more rock. It looks fine as is but I like the bio safety factor of more rock.

 

[Captain Quint]

Congrats on upsize. It looks great and you have an opportunity to sculpt with the LR you have. It would look wicked with some shelf and arch pieces leaving plenty of swim room for your critters. Great job for sure.