Suggestions after emergency tank swap

luckylepgw · Apr 1, 2019

So i had to transfer my 2 month old reef from a 45 gal rectangle into my 35 gal hexagon due to an emergency.

Before

After

Unfortunately it appears some of the coral will not survive the ordeal [emoji22] any who... Any suggestions?

Ps. Pardon the cloudy water as the swap occurred yesterday

Seamore2001 · Apr 1, 2019

Transfer as much of the "old" water from the existing tank as you can. Transfer as much of the live rock and some of the sand as well. If your prior tank was stable, you would be surprised at how much will survive a direct swap from one box to another. I do this from time to time as I set up new tanks (just did it this morning, in fact) or swap coral and rocks between DT and frag tank, and don't see negative impacts on coral, nems, etc.. As long as the parameters between the tanks are nearly the same, you should be OK.

One thing I might not do - if you have a DSB, I wouldn't bring all of the sand over at once - just the top layers / inch.

luckylepgw · Apr 1, 2019

Seamore2001 said:
Transfer as much of the "old" water from the existing tank as you can. Transfer as much of the live rock and some of the sand as well. If your prior tank was stable, you would be surprised at how much will survive a direct swap from one box to another. I do this from time to time as I set up new tanks (just did it this morning, in fact) or swap coral and rocks between DT and frag tank, and don't see negative impacts on coral, nems, etc.. As long as the parameters between the tanks are nearly the same, you should be OK.

One thing I might not do - if you have a DSB, I wouldn't bring all of the sand over at once - just the top layers / inch.

Yea, all the rock and water i could fit went into the new setup and i scooped most the sand (2-4in in places). Me and ol lady were in the process of breaking up. The 45 is hers and she was going to take a bat to it with all my stuff in it. So i am expecting loss. But just some is better than all...