New Tank!!!

[mtsuguy]

Ok, so I just went out and got a 75 gallon and stand for 100 bucks!!! I have a 55 reef with quite a bit of coral and 4 fish (2 false percs, sixline wrasse and a kole tang(hes small). I just finished cleaning the tank and putting the backing on the 75. I want this one to be reef as well and want to use the stuff I have on my 55 for the 75. I got everything on the 55 knowing in the future I would be getting a larger tank so most of the stuff is good for 90 gallon, except the skimmer which is rated for 150. I have a 20g sump I would also like to snatch from the 55 as well and I dont really know how to do this... I would like to use atleast 30g of water from the 55 and about half the live rock as well to get this 75 cycling. However I know that the tank is not going to be ready for a week or two at the soonest. Would it be ok to steal the sump from the 55 and have the 55 running on powerheads and a canister filter for a week? I have a 9g refuguim in the sump that acts as my filter, thats really what has me worried about taking it out. My nitrate levels have never been above 10 since hooking the sump up and I dont want the levels to spike and kill everything. If anyone has found a link that is similar to what I'm talking about please post a link or tell me where to look. Thanks!!!

[Capt_Cully]

You got alot goin on there

If it were me, I think you'd be able to leave the 55 running on just powerheads. That will allow you to set up the 75 and get the plumbing right. you can also steal the skimmer.

Get some fresh mixed salt water going in the new tank. Add as much of the old water as you can to the new tank and transfer the rock to it. This way it shouldn't cycle. Really, it shouldn't anyway because it's already cured.

As a side bar, I'd save 10 or 20 gallons to set up a "holding area/tank" for your fish. As you empty the tank, you should be able to catch them and place them in the safe house. This will keep them out of the way and keep stress down (esp for ich succeptible tang). You could also do the same with your macro from your refugium. Just place it in a bucket for now with some water, fresh or old.

Once new tank is up and running drip acclimate the fish back into the big tank. Reduce the amount of water they're in and do it over an hour. This is just to reduce stress. Afterall, they're going back into the same water with some fresh added, but your param's may be a little different, so give em the benefit of the doubt.

Throw you macro back into refugium. Pods should rebound.

As for the sand bed, I'd pitch it and add new sand. Seed new sand with a little of the old.

Be prepared to do a couple of frequent water changes in next week or two to combat anything nasty you might shake up off of the rocks.

Other than that, I'd say you're good to go. Once tank is plumbed and running, you could do the whole change over in an afternoon.

[mtsuguy]

I have a 10g QT I set up a few days ago. I used water from the tank but it kinda spiked on nitrite the other day so I'm gonna wait to get the fish out until thats down, hopefully a day or two. Not sure why it spiked, might have been the couple of peices of base rock i put in there. I already finished up the plumbing The tank is the same width and height as the other and I'm using a HOB overflow bc the tank is tempered in the back. Wanted to drill it but I contaced a lfs and they said that 99% sure it would crack. The sand will be here tomorrow, I work at a petstore and they told me that I couldnt grab all the bags off the shelf and I had to wait for a new shipment.

[Capt_Cully]

Yeah, you don't wanna mess with tempered glass. The next step after drilling it is using a shop vac.

I really think you can do the whole jump in a few hours. Just use tank water to make a temp holding QT tank. That way you don't have to worry about a cycle and it keeps the fish out of the way.

If you have that big of a skimmer just skim wet and it should handle any crud that comes off of your cured LR. The fish you have are pretty hardy so they should handle it just fine. If you wanna wait a day or so to add them, just do daily 10% (1 gal) water changes on the QT.

When I add fresh sand to my tank, I add it to a 5 gal bucket and rinse it 3-4x with RO water to get out the sticks and gunk. Then I pour off the water. I take a pint glass, Scoop the wet sticky sand into the glass. Then I lower it into the tank slowly allowing it to fill with water. I lower it to the bottom and pour it where I want it. Turning off pumps and PH's keeps the dust down.

When I aquascape my tanks, I put the LR directly on the glass (as recommended by Anthony Calfo in his book). Then add sand. This prevents sand sifting and burrowing critters from causing a rockslide.

Your tank will cloud a little, but it will settle out in 12-24 hrs to crystal clear, so long as you've rinsed the sand well enough.