New tank: when to transfer fish

[Thrillik]

Hello,
I had a 30g AIO nano with ~20lbs of rock in it, mostly live from TBS. I moved houses and the movers dropped the tank. I used this as an opportunity to upgrade, and am going to a 320g total volume tank (250g display).

My livestock have been in a 20g (that was meant to be a QT tank) for over a month now. My new tank is being delivered on Thursday.

I am starting the new tank with all dry rock except for the ~20lbs of rock I have from my previous tank / current holding tank. With such a large disparity in tank sizes, the old rock I have (which is still live) is only going to represent ~10% of the total rock in the system. The rest is going to be aquascaped Marco rock.

A couple of questions:
1. Will I be able to add my fish to the new tank as soon as the 20lbs of live rock I have is added? Id really like to get them out of the QT tank they’re in now.
2. Does it matter if I put the live rock in the refugium/sump or should I put it in the display to seed the new, dry rock faster?

 

[Serpentman2024]

Assuming that you are able to maintain and keep the current rock alive, you should be ok to move them right away. Regardless of the size of the new tank, your current rock is "tuned" to your current bioload. I'd just give it time for the new dry rock to be seeded before adding additional fish.

 

[Sump Crab]

Should be able too immediately. I wonder, did you have a positive experience with your TBS rock? Going with all that dry rock your start up experience is going to be very different. If you had a good experience with TBS I would recommend adding as much ocean rock as possible into your DT. Anyways, good luck.

 

[crazyfishmom]

Between the large water volume and the live rock you should be able to support your current livestock. That said, your big tank si going to go through a very lengthy, slow cycle since your other surfaces will not be covered in beneficial bacteria. Be very careful when adding new livestock.

 

[Thrillik]

Should be able too immediately. I wonder, did you have a positive experience with your TBS rock? Going with all that dry rock your start up experience is going to be very different. If you had a good experience with TBS I would recommend adding as much ocean rock as possible into your DT. Anyways, good luck.

Lots of hassle with unwanted crabs, anemones, etc. Spent a lot of time getting bad hitchhikers off and still not 100% gone which is why I want to put that rock into the refugium rather than the DT.

Also, $4000 for live rock isn’t in the budget right now with everything else I’ve spent.

 

[Reefering1]

I would get a plastic container for the fish to have more room while allowing the display of new rocks to run a few months (and add live rock)

 

[Reefering1]

A 200g raging ugly phase is very very different than a 20g live rock start

 

[Thrillik]

A 200g raging ugly phase is very very different than a 20g live rock start

How much rock realistically do I need to add to avoid this? I am fortunate enough to live 30 minutes away from the TBS local pickup, so I can easily get more live rock.

If I add 80lbs of live rock to my existing 20lbs, that would represent about 40% of the total rock in the system being live. Would that quickly seed the dead rock and help not have a massive ugly phase?

 

[Sump Crab]

Lots of hassle with unwanted crabs, anemones, etc. Spent a lot of time getting bad hitchhikers off and still not 100% gone which is why I want to put that rock into the refugium rather than the DT.

Also, $4000 for live rock isn’t in the budget right now with everything else I’ve spent.

Hmm. That's interesting. Just like everything in this hobby it's all about personal preference/goals. I've never had "bad" Hitchhiker's besides gorilla crab, mantis shrimp, and fireworms. Luckily each of those species are fairly easy to remove.

One thing to consider when starting a dry rock tank is that any "pest" introduced will take over the new rock as it has zero competition. Thats why things like vermetid snails, bubble algae, etc take over. Dry rock is literally a blank canvas. You may consider starting completely over and then dip, qt, and isolate/observe all coral frags etc before introducing.

Generally speaking tanks that get into trouble have not identified their core philosophy and kind of dabble in multiple different ones. My personal philosophy is to add as much life and as many "pests" as i can so that not just one takes over, they find an equilibrium in the environment. Other peoples philosophy is strict QT and a heavily controlelled environment, if they dont want it - it doesnt get in. It can be diffucult to mix these two styles of reef tanks. I would encourage you to determine your basic philosophy and then follow it. Food for thought. Good luck.

 

[Thrillik]

Hmm. That's interesting. Just like everything in this hobby it's all about personal preference/goals. I've never had "bad" Hitchhiker's besides gorilla crab, mantis shrimp, and fireworms. Luckily each of those species are fairly easy to remove.

One thing to consider when starting a dry rock tank is that any "pest" introduced will take over the new rock as it has zero competition. Thats why things like vermetid snails, bubble algae, etc take over. Dry rock is literally a blank canvas. You may consider starting completely over and then dip, qt, and isolate/observe all coral frags etc before introducing.

Generally speaking tanks that get into trouble have not identified their core philosophy and kind of dabble in multiple different ones. My personal philosophy is to add as much life and as many "pests" as i can so that not just one takes over, they find an equilibrium in the environment. Other peoples philosophy is strict QT and a heavily controlelled environment, if they dont want it - it doesnt get in. It can be diffucult to mix these two styles of reef tanks. I would encourage you to determine your basic philosophy and then follow it. Food for thought. Good luck.

I appreciate the advice. You guys are making me think maybe I should get more rock from TBS. I do like the aquascape ive built and don’t want to scrap it, but maybe I can fit 50-80lbs of additional TBS rock in there.

 

[Serpentman2024]

Hmm. That's interesting. Just like everything in this hobby it's all about personal preference/goals. I've never had "bad" Hitchhiker's besides gorilla crab, mantis shrimp, and fireworms. Luckily each of those species are fairly easy to remove.

One thing to consider when starting a dry rock tank is that any "pest" introduced will take over the new rock as it has zero competition. Thats why things like vermetid snails, bubble algae, etc take over. Dry rock is literally a blank canvas. You may consider starting completely over and then dip, qt, and isolate/observe all coral frags etc before introducing.

Generally speaking tanks that get into trouble have not identified their core philosophy and kind of dabble in multiple different ones. My personal philosophy is to add as much life and as many "pests" as i can so that not just one takes over, they find an equilibrium in the environment. Other peoples philosophy is strict QT and a heavily controlelled environment, if they dont want it - it doesnt get in. It can be diffucult to mix these two styles of reef tanks. I would encourage you to determine your basic philosophy and then follow it. Food for thought. Good luck.

I adhere to a similar philosophy. Personally, I think our attempts at a perfect sterile homeostasis can throw things off balance. I've always been a huge fan of established "ocean" rock and rolled with the inherent risks associated. One of my favorite undergrad studies was invertebrate zoology so I find it fascinating to see what shows up.

 

[Sump Crab]

I appreciate the advice. You guys are making me think maybe I should get more rock from TBS. I do like the aquascape ive built and don’t want to scrap it, but maybe I can fit 50-80lbs of additional TBS rock in there.

If it were me, that's what I would do. I would also soak the dry rock in circulating saltwater for as long as possible too.

 

[Sump Crab]

How much rock realistically do I need to add to avoid this? I am fortunate enough to live 30 minutes away from the TBS local pickup, so I can easily get more live rock.

If I add 80lbs of live rock to my existing 20lbs, that would represent about 40% of the total rock in the system being live. Would that quickly seed the dead rock and help not have a massive ugly phase?

Your dry rock will still experience some "ugliness" but just by being in proximity with the tbs rock will finish up much quicker vs all dry. I would try and mix and match the rock if possible rather than isolation on either side of the tank or something like that. BTW a 300 gallon tank is going to be epic! My build thread is full of ocean liverock info if you want to see how my tank started and progressed.

 

[Thrillik]

Your dry rock will still experience some "ugliness" but just by being in proximity with the tbs rock will finish up much quicker vs all dry. I would try and mix and match the rock if possible rather than isolation on either side of the tank or something like that. BTW a 300 gallon tank is going to be epic! My build thread is full of ocean liverock info if you want to see how my tank started and progressed.

Does putting live rock from TBS in the dump reduce the seeding it will do for the dry rock?

 

[Sump Crab]

Does putting live rock from TBS in the dump reduce the seeding it will do for the dry rock?

As far as bacteria goes I would think not but as far as all the other larger organisms I would say yes. The whole point of having ocean rock mixed with dry rock is for the ocean rock to transfer all it's critters over as fast as possible to try and avoid a lengthy ugly stage and to attain a natural equilibrium more quickly.