Tank upgrade water question.

estevenson78 · Oct 13, 2019

Hey there! I’m upgrading my 24 gallon cube to 75 gal rimless. My questions are this:

Do I want to do all 75 gal of water with new salt mix or take from my 24 gallon?

Also, how long can my live rock be out water before it’s loosing good bacteria in the open air for aquascaping?

Thanks fam!

BeejReef · Oct 14, 2019

Good questions..

Unless there's something wrong with your current water, I'd use it. At least that way the parameters won't swing as much. My understanding is that most all of the important organisms and bacteria are on the rock or sand anyhow.

I'm not sure you'll get a definitive answer to the rock question. Obviously, the stuff gets shipped across country and is only kept damp. I'd think if you're willing to make a mess with some totes and a lot of towels that you could pull it off by scaping and then re-submerging.

What method of rockscaping do you hope to use? If you're drilling some quick holes and shoving in some fiberglass rods... or using epoxy.. probably in good shape. If you're waiting for cement to dry... not sure.

In either case, I'd keep a good supply of rubble rock, or larger pieces you're not planning to alter, wet the entire time to ensure you keep your biological filtration.

estevenson78 · Oct 14, 2019

I don’t know if I’m gonna drill anything or not yet! That is why I’m starting this thread, I’m about a week and a half or so away from the transition!

Viking_Reefing · Oct 14, 2019

What I’ve normally done is to re-use as much water as possible and adjust the temp/parameters of the new water to match the old.
I add the new water in the sump and slowly add it over an hour or so just to be on the safe side.

Regarding the rock: any amount of time above the water (baring a a minute or two) will lead to die-of, the longer it’s out of the water the more die of there will be, not so much the bacteria itself but more small critters etc.
I would work fast to reduce the amount of die off and lessen the chance of swings in the coming days.

jim_fitz · Oct 14, 2019

can you have both set up at the same time ?

when i upgraded i effectively did water changes between the two tanks
to ensure livestock could be moved and then topped up the new tank with the old water

estevenson78 · Oct 14, 2019

jim_fitz said:
can you have both set up at the same time ?

when i upgraded i effectively did water changes between the two tanks
to ensure livestock could be moved and then topped up the new tank with the old water

Yeah I think I can do that. I already moved the cube. Gotta get things finished off and plumbed for the 75 rimless. I’ve been cycling water through my sump with live rock and pods that were in 2 other cubes for about 2 months now. (The previous tanks were up a long time)