Relocating a 90g established tank

[Mario0240]

Hey guys!!

I’m very new to owning and caring for a saltwater tank, and I initially wanted to only do a 32g biocube led, buuuuuut, came across a friend that was getting rid of a 90g tank, stand, lights, sump (and refugium), live rock, coral, annnnd a dang lionfish... for a literal steal. I’m basically paying for the lionfish and some coral and getting everything else with it. I couldn’t pass this deal up! I’ve always been told the bigger the tank, the better and easier to run so hopefully this holds true as this is my first tank. I’m not super interested in keeping the lionfish, but that’s a whole different thread...

Anyways, I need help in getting this monster transported:

Would it be better to keep the live sand that’s in the tank? I’ve read it’s best to lay down new sand if it’s more than a year old, which I believe this sand is.

Should I keep as much of the tank water as possible and not use new water?

How should I move the corals and live rock?

Any and all help is soooooo very much appreciated!!

 

[Sailingeric]

New sand is a good idea. You could mix some of the old to help seed the new stuff. You want to keep the coral and rock wet, so bring buckets with lids. New water is good but if you can move some of the old water that will save you mixing time and cost of the salt but I think moving that much water will be a hassle. If you have an LFS near by, you might be able to trade the lion fish for some sand.

 

[Mario0240]

New sand is a good idea. You could mix some of the old to help seed the new stuff. You want to keep the coral and rock wet, so bring buckets with lids. New water is good but if you can move some of the old water that will save you mixing time and cost of the salt but I think moving that much water will be a hassle. If you have an LFS near by, you might be able to trade the lion fish for some sand.

I can definitely move some of it. I was thinking of taking at least half of it and then mixing new water and putting it in there. But, if I do that, I’d have to cycle the tank again, wouldn’t I?

 

[Sailingeric]

You don't, the rocks are where most of the bacteria live.

 

[Mario0240]

Ok. And since we’ll be transferring most of the water and the rocks that were in that water, we’re keeping all, or most, of that good bacteria in the tank?

 

[Mario0240]

Also, for what it’s worth, this tank comes with a slimmer and UV sterilizer. Neither of which I’m well versed in setting up. I’ve been poking around the forum and educating my self as best I can but am always looking for more help.

The sump is an Emerald Trigger system. Again, getting educated but I am wondering if anyone has any experience with these particular sumps? Any tips for running them?

 

[Mical]

+1 on new sand. What worked for me when moving my 2 tanks - keep as much of old water as possible (transport rocks, fish etc) mix with new water when re-assembling. Keep a cup or 2 of old sand for seeding.

 

[Mario0240]

+1 on new sand. What worked for me when moving my 2 tanks - keep as much of old water as possible (transport rocks, fish etc) mix with new water when re-assembling. Keep a cup or 2 of old sand for seeding.

Did you just put everything back in the tank, with the new water, and go from there? Above someone mentioned not needing to cycle the tank again, but I just want to make absoraire I don’t have to especially with the new water. But like mentioned above also, the live rock some of the sand, and the existing water should have all of the beneficial bacteria in it still, right?

 

[Mical]

I kept as much as I could of old water and used new water to make up difference. With new sand and a cup of old to seed tank it will keep a new cycle down to a minimum. My 120 didn't have a cycle issue but my 65 had a mini cycle that lasted about 2 weeks but it didn't bother fish or nem.

 

[Mario0240]

Ok. See that’s what I was thinking; it might take on some sort of mini-cycle. Did you just let it ride or did you dose with anything to help the tank out?

 

[Mical]

I just rode it out. I find the more I keep my hands out of the tanks the faster they level off (parameters). Then I track params and make adjustments in small increments.

 

[Mario0240]

Is there an app you use on your phone or do you just keep a journal, if you will, and track parameters that way?

 

[Mical]

I have an apex classic that monitors both tanks. In apex software there's a spot to log params.

 

[Mario0240]

Dang... I’ve read a little bit about those. Seems like a no brained, once the funds become available to make the upgrade. Until then, guess it’ll be manual labor, which I absolutely do not mind! I’ve wanted a saltwater tank since I was a little kid and went to my first aquarium...

 

[W1ngz]

I had written out and started a thread as I was planning to swap my tank from a 75 to a 93 cube. Some of this stuff might help, as swapping a tank and moving it really aren't all that different.

Make sure you take some time with your friend to go through how the system is set up and what everything does before you break it down to move it.

Planning a tank swap

At some point in the next couple of months I'll have enough of my new build ready and will have to plan a weekend of transplanting. The new tank is going exactly where the old tank is, so neither can be used to store water, rocks or fish since they both have to be moved around. Anyone care to...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Mario0240]

I had written out and started a thread as I was planning to swap my tank from a 75 to a 93 cube. Some of this stuff might help, as swapping a tank and moving it really aren't all that different.

Make sure you take some time with your friend to go through how the system is set up and what everything does before you break it down to move it.

Planning a tank swap

At some point in the next couple of months I'll have enough of my new build ready and will have to plan a weekend of transplanting. The new tank is going exactly where the old tank is, so neither can be used to store water, rocks or fish since they both have to be moved around. Anyone care to...

www.reef2reef.com

I’ll definitely be reading through this when I get home and get some time. And the gentlemen I’m buying the tank from seems like he’s very ok with showing me how it’s set up.

Side note; I found this tank by doing a Facebook search in the town I live in for a tank, and came across this one. Happens to be a guy that works for a company that we do work for and I’ve met many times before and have been to business meetings with also!!

 

[Mical]

Dang... I’ve read a little bit about those. Seems like a no brained, once the funds become available to make the upgrade. Until then, guess it’ll be manual labor, which I absolutely do not mind! I’ve wanted a saltwater tank since I was a little kid and went to my first aquarium...

Yea, I was in the same boat, very skeptical especially for the investment. After having it now 4- 5 years it's saved me on a couple of occasions. It's nice to see what the tanks are doing at a glance either on my computer at home or my phone when I'm away. It also automates lighting & heaters. IMO it's paid for itself many times over.

 

[Mario0240]

Yea definitely sounds like that’s what I’m doing. I just got home from a long week of driving and need to sit down and read through that thread.

Does anyone have any guides to work off of for parameters? I know salinity should be around 1.026 but everything else I’m not sure of...

 

[W1ngz]

No guide really, but here are the critical ones in order of importance (in my opinion). It's not all of them, but learn the first 3 and then move on to the rest. Stability is more important than day to day values in all cases.

Ammonia - 0.00 ppm. Fish will start to be affected over 0.05. 0.10 is critical, anything higher could be lethal within 24 hours and warrants immediate large water changes to lower it, as well as treating with prime or ammo-lock. You definitely want to test for this every day the first week, maybe twice a day in the first few days to know how to react if you get a spike.

Salinity 1.025ish. I usually target 1.026 SG or 35PPT.

KH never less than 7 dkh, or higher than 12. Best to target around 8 to 9. Stability is more important than the actual number to keep corals happy. Fish don't care much.

Temperature - As near as you can get to 78. 77, 79 80 are all fine, small temperature swings aren't the end of the world.

Calcium around 420 +/- 20 ppm. Stability is still key more than the actual number. Fish don't care.

Nitrate - target should be a non-zero amount below 10 ppm. Most corals need small amounts as food. Too much and you'll be feeding algae.

Phosphate, a non-zero amount below .05 for the same reason as Nitrate. Nitrate and phosphate work together to support photosynthetic organisms found in coral (and unfortunately, also in algae). Most liquid test kits don't read low low ranges like this, so if you test and get 0 at the beginning, don't worry. Learn the rest and eventually you can get a proper low range phosphate or phosphorus digital tester.

Nitrite should be 0 unless you're using it to get a feel for where you are in a cycle. If you keep the rocks in tank water during the move, you'll probably never register any. It's a transitory parameter that happens between different colonies of bacteria that process ammonia into nitrate.

Magnesium should be around 1350 +/- 50-100. It's not critical unless for whatever reason it gets very low (it allows calcium to remain in solution at higher than it's normal saturation in water).

 

[Mario0240]

Wow! Thank you so much!! That helps so much... I tried watching some videos last night and felt overwhelmed. This is much more concise and to the point.