Question on setting up/transferring reef.

[koda_dad]

Hi all,

I have purchased a new fluval 305, an e200 heater, t5 4 bank lighting, and a 33 gallon tank. (all new)

I am buying the contents of another guys existing reef.
50 lbs live rock
40 lbs of crushed coral
Spiny Urchin
Two clown fish
and a
Prizim HOB protein skimmer

I still want to get a couple powerheads. (how many should I get and what rating)

But most importantly.... how the heck should I make this transition from the other tank to mine.

I am going to try and save as much of his water as I can...but other than that....how should I do this?

I am new to reef and saltwater. So please treat me as a total newb.

Thanks

[Octoshark]

Be careful with the sand bed, if it contains a lot of stored waste then mixing that up can cause an ammonia spike.

[kmc08ups]

+1, be careful mixing the sand bed. Put as much water in tubs as you can keep and you can put your live rock in there as well. Put some water in a tub with a black unscented garbage bag for the fish. They get less stressed out in the dark. Just get everything moved and back up and running as quickly and correctly as possible..

As far as powerheads go I'm a big fan of the hydor koralias. Check them out on liveaquria.com or marinedepot.com

[Jstdv8]

I wrote this in another thread, just copying and pasting.

Ive moved my 90 gallon twice now, not as hard as you probably think.
rubbermaid totes for the LR fish and corals, add a heater and a powerhead to the totes add enough water to cover the livegoods.
put the sand in 5 gallon buckets, add water over the sand to near the top of the bucket.
take down old tank, move new tank into position.
Apply eggcrate to the bottom of the tank to support liverock and evenly distribute LR weight.
Add 1/4 tank of water, add baserock, scoop out Livesand and gently swish in the water as you remove it from the 5 gallon pail. DON'T use the water out of the pails.
Add in more water from rubbermaids (leave the crappy water in the bottom)
(always add something into the tank submerged that you can pour the water over to reduce sand movement for better water clarity)
Add new mixed water that has same paramters as existing water.
(you can use as much or as little new water as you want, the idea is to keep the live rock and sand going, water makes no difference as long as it is heated and similar parameters.)
Add remaining LR and corals.
Do, keep any mechanical filtrationwet and running as long as possible throughout this process. Add filters,skimmer, powerheads, and heaters to the tank.
Wait for it to clear up, test water for ammonia and nitrites, If 0 add fish, if not 0 do 25% water change every 24 hours until its 0
Using good LR and used filtration from an established tank should keep perameters good.
Good Luck!

[DaveAngie79]

just dont over think anything its all pretty simple just time consuming
make sure everything stays wet, i like the black bag idea for the fish
if its along move you might want to use heaters and some sort of air stone for the fish the rock and sand would be fine without

[koda_dad]

Originally Posted by Jstdv8

I wrote this in another thread, just copying and pasting.

Ive moved my 90 gallon twice now, not as hard as you probably think.
rubbermaid totes for the LR fish and corals, add a heater and a powerhead to the totes add enough water to cover the livegoods.
put the sand in 5 gallon buckets, add water over the sand to near the top of the bucket.
take down old tank, move new tank into position.
Apply eggcrate to the bottom of the tank to support liverock and evenly distribute LR weight.
Add 1/4 tank of water, add baserock, scoop out Livesand and gently swish in the water as you remove it from the 5 gallon pail. DON'T use the water out of the pails.
Add in more water from rubbermaids (leave the crappy water in the bottom)
(always add something into the tank submerged that you can pour the water over to reduce sand movement for better water clarity)
Add new mixed water that has same paramters as existing water.
(you can use as much or as little new water as you want, the idea is to keep the live rock and sand going, water makes no difference as long as it is heated and similar parameters.)
Add remaining LR and corals.
Do, keep any mechanical filtrationwet and running as long as possible throughout this process. Add filters,skimmer, powerheads, and heaters to the tank.
Wait for it to clear up, test water for ammonia and nitrites, If 0 add fish, if not 0 do 25% water change every 24 hours until its 0
Using good LR and used filtration from an established tank should keep perameters good.
Good Luck!

Graet advice. thanks
Could you explain the eggcrate part? thanks

[koda_dad]

Everyone keeps telling me to ditch the crushed coral and replace it with sand. Thats fine...but will that not cause a cycle? Any opinions on how bad it would be? Also what about the fluval 305..getting mixed opinions on if I should even keep it.

FYI - I will not be running a sump with this tank.

[eggerstout]

Originally Posted by koda_dad

Everyone keeps telling me to ditch the crushed coral and replace it with sand. Thats fine...but will that not cause a cycle? Any opinions on how bad it would be? Also what about the fluval 305..getting mixed opinions on if I should even keep it.

FYI - I will not be running a sump with this tank.

I've seen some people replace 1/4 of the tanks crushed coral at time with sand over a certain period of time. If it were me I would sell the 305 and put the money towards getting a sump or nice hang on the back protein skimmer

[spw4949]

The fluval is fine, although I believe I am in the minority I am actually a fan of canister filters, as long as they are cleaned regularly(I clean mine & replace the carbon every 2 weeks religiously)they add flow & are a great way to run carbon & since you bought it you might as well use it I would just recommend sticking to a stringent cleaning schedule, IMO the less sponges & more carbon the better, I would also ditch the "biological media" that comes with it, it is useless IMO in saltwater.....I would agree that eventually replacing the prizm would be a good idea......as far as the substarte goes, it's your tank, your the one that has to look at it on a daily basis, go with what you like, I will sai IME fine sand is a PIA when it comes to cleaning but that's just my $.02...HTH.......

[Chiefsurfer]

I would ditch the crushed coral, and the Prizm. Honestly, the prism isn't worth it's value in plastic. The canister is VERY doable with REGULAR maintenance as SPW says, but without maintenance, becomes useless/bothersome.

Replacing the sand should NOT cause a cycle, as 90% of the bacteria should be on the rock. I would get a nice aragonite sand, and use that. This way you don't have to worry about any toxins, or HOURS of cleaning sand.

As for the skimmer, there are some VERY good HOB skimmers at great prices in comparison to the prism. There are three that come to mind as common suggestions, and I can vouch for one. They are eshopps-psk75H, BubbleMagus, and ReefOctopus. I have the eshopps on my 20 tall, and it is GREAT. Pulls a lot of gunk, and from comparitive reviews, mainly on this site, about the best bang for your buck.

[koda_dad]

Okay...I was on my way to pick up the rock and stuff tonight... and the guy informs me the rock has a TON apatacia (no idea if i spelled that right)

I just searched for this...and it doesnt sound good.

Is it time to just walk away from this deal?

[Chiefsurfer]

walk away from everything, unless it is ALLLLLLL free. Otherwise, walk away, it will be a never ending battle, and the rock will all have to likely be torched with a butane torch(killing the bacteria, and anything on the rock) making it basic dry rock(usualy goes for roughly $2-3/lb. Coming from another tank, that rock is worth about $.25/lb because of all the work you will have to do to correct it.

Correct spelling is aiptasia so you can learn more about it.

[koda_dad]

thats what I was thinking ...at $4/lb... not a real good deal anymore.

I was thinking of going this route now...

http://halifax.kijiji.ca/c-pets-acce...AdIdZ173857898

What you recommend 1/2 young 1/2 premium?

or wait and hold out for a good deal on fiji (or some other type)

[Chiefsurfer]

Well, you could go that route. I am not really up on my eco-rock, but I don't know how porous it is, like how much of it is exposed surface area. A way to think of this, is think about the spray foam you can use to fill voids around windows. That is EXTREMELY LIGHT and pourous, but the exterior is "closed cell" which means it is not open to air or water. That means it won't be a great place for bacteria to live. This rock might be great, but i just don't know. Realistically, the only difference between "young" rock, and "aged" rock is that the aged has corraline. Corraline is nice, but not, IMO, worth an extra $4/lb.

One thing I can reccomend is TampaBaySaltwater. Once you figure it all out, it turns out to be about $4/lb, including shipping, and it is EXCELLENT aquacultured Live Rock. Only negative side is that it does have some bad hitch-hikers.