Livestock Tank Transfer - YOLO
The Cycle
As I stated before, I cycled my rock for 30 days in my garage, along with 2x PolypLabs Genesys Rocks (aka bioBricks). I haven't done this before, but what i did was:
- Clean the *hit out of a trashcan
- Add 85lbs of Dryrock + 2 biobricks
- Add about 35 gallons of RODI water and appropriate amount of salt
- Add 2x 100W heaters, a small powerhead and a small pump
- Add 1 Shrimp + old bottle of Doctor Tims
- Add lid
I did 5% WC every week, and took the shrimp out after a week (it smelled terrible). I did ghost feed a few times a week, but did not have a diligent schedule around it.
The last time (only time) I cycled a tank, i was super dilligent about testing the Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrates daily. IMO, the tests kits are questionable for Ammonia and Nitrate (very hard to see if you are in the deadly range, or perfectly fine), etc
I have not tested anything over the last 30 days outside of salinity. Lets hope winging it works.
The Setup
I added the rock to the new tank after I finished leak testing and dialed in my salinty. No water was transferred, so I essentially gave the rock a 100% WC. Then added Sand - I wanted to add the sand after the rock, so the rock looked like it had a really good base. However, that meant I also covered the rock in sand.
The sand cleared up in about 12 hours, however it took another 24-36 hours to get the sand cleaned up off the rocks, and semi balanced within the tank. It is super light sand and really kicks up.
The sand I added, was "live sand".. I don't believe this is truely live sand, but is probably more like Sand, water + Dr. Tims-ish bacteria?? Basically, i don't have any faith that the sand would be fully cycled at this point, but i don't know. My hope is that the rock will do the heavy lifting for ammonia reduction.
After dusting the rocks for about the 20th time, and dialing in the pumps, I let everything sit for one more night.
(right after the sand was added...)
(more dusting was required...)
The Transfer
Since I didn't do any formal tests for Ammonia or Nitriate, I wantd to be at least semi-responsible and not assigning my existing fish a death sentence, I bought a Seachem Ammonia Badge and slapped it on top of the new tank.
Now, time to start with the transfers:
- 2x Clownfish - These two have been bonded since I got them. They have only stayed in the top right of my 20G (right by the entrance to the AIO Sump). They will occasionally explore, but really seem to like the sump vent. Since they don't move out of the area, I just netted both of them up in about two tries, and transferred them to the new tank.
They explored the new tank briefly and then found there new spot --- at the top right of the new tank, at the Sump Vent entrance....
- Royal Gramma, Algae Blenny and Cleaner Shrimp - These are much more elusive, and there was no way I could extract them without taking all of the rock out. I filled up a large container with about 10lb of Saltwater and moved all of the rocks (with Coral) into the container. This made the process super easy to collect them and move.
Gramma - He/she was suprisingly the boss of the old tank as the oldest inhabitant. It did remain hidden about 90% of the time, and only come out to boss the clowns around or eat. After entering the new tank, the Gramma disappeared immedaitely under some rocks. It has made a couiple of brief appearances, so I know its alive (or not in the back of the sump).
Algae Blenny - Loving the sand life. Seems very happy. This new tank doenst have any algea, so I am going to find an alternate source for it to eat.
Cleaner Shrimp - this this always seems social and happy. It is exploring but seems good
The old tank is still running and still has all of the Coral + an Urchni in it. I am not planning on turning my lights on for another month or so, and would like the get the new tank stable before transferring coral. So it might be a couple months before everythign is gone out of the old tank.
This is also my failback plan, if I see Ammonia spike this week.
