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Moving everything to a new tank


mr11

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The plan is to transfer everything in my current tank 50g to a new slightly larger 65g this weekend. I don't have all of the logistics quite worked out but the gist is -

 

-I have 25-30 g of new saltwater in the new tank

- remove all equipment from old tank I'm transferring to new and start cleaning/vinegar bath if there's time?

- remove live rock from old tank and put in new

- add new dry sand to new tank

- transfer over a good portion of the old water to the new tank

- move livestock over

- install equipment on new tank

- clean old tank etc

 

I have 3 5g buckets and a 20g tote to accomplish this. Any tips? Am I missing anything big?

 

Appreciate it

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Put sand in and let it settle before putting in liverock.

 

Rinse liverock in a bucket of old tank water really well before putting it in new tank.

 

If you have plenty of liverock, you really don't need all that old tank water. Unless the parameters are ideal in it and you are trying to save from using all that extra salt, there isn't really a need to use it.

 

Don't forget to acclimate livestock.

Edited by treesprite
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Appreciate it. 

 

So I want the liverock on the bottom of the tank which is why I wanted to put liverock in first. It's tropic eden sand which is supposed to be super clean so I'm hoping to avoid a dust storm. 

 

I'll make some more new water, definitely do not have ideal parameters  :laugh:

 

Just simple acclimation for temperature? Salinity should be the same

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Temp and also pH if it does not match.

 

Can you let us know how it goes with adding that type of sand, and how much rinsing you end up doing beforehand?

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Yeah this is not going well. Adding the sand without rinsing was not a good idea at all. No idea what sand the people were using who said no rinsing necccessary but it must not have been this. I added half a bag 5 hrs ago and it's still a dust storm. i'm in a holding pattern, cant move the fish because of the dust but can't keep them long since they aren't in much water. Tank water is being filter through a sock. Ideas? 

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Seachem clarity. Go to Joanne's and buy white felt. Or non flame retardant polyfill from Walmart. Make a lot of filter floss in your filters. Also I find putting the sand in a container and slowly lowering it into the water will cause less dust cloud.

 

As for your fish in the old tank without rock. Make sure you dose prime. They have no bio filter. Prime and oxygen. And somewhere to hide. Pvc pipe even. Or you'll

Be dealing with dead\sick fish.

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Thanks Joshifer, definitely some good tips. I started putting the sand in a container and lowering in first like you recommended and had some filter floss on hand to use. I also ended up leaving a live rock in the old tank throughout the process to help a little.

 

In the end I transferred all the fish over last night into the cloudy water. By the morning the water was crystal and all fish and inverts made it surprisingly enough to me. My flasher wrasse gave me a few scares though. 

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