AVVITT
Active Member
I'm buying a second hand tank as an upgrade from my current tank and I have quite a few questions/advice to ask!
Currently have a 350 litre tank with no sump which had all brand new sand and rock from scratch 4 months ago.
The tank I'm upgrading to is a 1000 litre tank with 250 litre sump.
The guy is only selling up because his last clownfish died a few weeks back from old age (was 15) and he doesn't want to continue in the hobby.
With the upgrade comes all pipes, sump, heaters, skimmer, and live rock, all of which is 10+ years old.
He's kept the live rock in the tank with water still so I'm guessing when I collect I just wrap it in a plastic bag to keep it moist and it should be ok for when I come to set it up?
My main questions are:
How to I go about the process of getting the upgrade tank ready for the fish to transfer to and what's the best way of carrying out the transfer?
As mentioned, I have 4 month old live rock and sand in my tank but the upgrade tank has 10 year old rock so I'm guessing I can add my rock to the upgrade tank once I've transferred the fish over?
The sand in my tank won't be enough for the new tank so I have another bag of new sand to add which should then make it up to be enough for the setup but how do I get all the old sand out and into the new tank because it's gonna make one heck of a mess and it's going to be really difficult while the fish and rock is still in there!
The skimmer being 10 years old, I'm guessing the only part which could really fail is the pump so should I give the whole thing a strip down, clean out and see how it goes or replace the motor anyway?
I will replace the heaters as a matter of course, I don't trust old heaters!
The water will be all new except the 325 litres from my old tank which I can't put in until I've transferred the fish over. I will get everything running and I guess treat it as if I'm cycling the tank and check the levels to make sure it's all stable before starting to transfer the fish and inverts.
Do I transfer the fish slowly over a period of days/weeks?
Mainly speaking, I have no idea the best way to go about the whole thing so any experience and advice is greatly appreciated.
Currently have a 350 litre tank with no sump which had all brand new sand and rock from scratch 4 months ago.
The tank I'm upgrading to is a 1000 litre tank with 250 litre sump.
The guy is only selling up because his last clownfish died a few weeks back from old age (was 15) and he doesn't want to continue in the hobby.
With the upgrade comes all pipes, sump, heaters, skimmer, and live rock, all of which is 10+ years old.
He's kept the live rock in the tank with water still so I'm guessing when I collect I just wrap it in a plastic bag to keep it moist and it should be ok for when I come to set it up?
My main questions are:
How to I go about the process of getting the upgrade tank ready for the fish to transfer to and what's the best way of carrying out the transfer?
As mentioned, I have 4 month old live rock and sand in my tank but the upgrade tank has 10 year old rock so I'm guessing I can add my rock to the upgrade tank once I've transferred the fish over?
The sand in my tank won't be enough for the new tank so I have another bag of new sand to add which should then make it up to be enough for the setup but how do I get all the old sand out and into the new tank because it's gonna make one heck of a mess and it's going to be really difficult while the fish and rock is still in there!
The skimmer being 10 years old, I'm guessing the only part which could really fail is the pump so should I give the whole thing a strip down, clean out and see how it goes or replace the motor anyway?
I will replace the heaters as a matter of course, I don't trust old heaters!
The water will be all new except the 325 litres from my old tank which I can't put in until I've transferred the fish over. I will get everything running and I guess treat it as if I'm cycling the tank and check the levels to make sure it's all stable before starting to transfer the fish and inverts.
Do I transfer the fish slowly over a period of days/weeks?
Mainly speaking, I have no idea the best way to go about the whole thing so any experience and advice is greatly appreciated.
