How to not go through a new cycle??

[Chi6488]

My 3 year old 110 gallon tank will have to be torn down for about 1 1/2 wks. We are putting in 1700 sf of new tile to match the tile in our addition.

I plan to put 2 clowns, eel, yellow tang, yellow wrasse,, and a red hawk fish in my 90 gallon. In the 90 right now are two sergeant majors and some urchins.

The rocks and some have mushrooms and some type of coral I will have to put in a new garbage can. I plan to buy a new big plastic container from lowes around $100 for yard waste. I think it is like 96 gallons. I plan to put a pump in there but I guess some of the mushrooms and stuff will die with no lighting.

Any suggestion on what to do with the rocks and the coral on the rocks?? I cannot fit them into my 90 gallon.

I plan to reuse some of the sand and buy new sand. Will it work to put it in the trash can with the rocks and hope not too much bacteria die off?

[Jstdv8]

yes, you have to keep it heated and keep water movement in the container, but you shouldnt get any die off at all.
Ive moved my tanks 3 times now and the only problem I had was the very first tiem i left the sand and a little water in the bottom of the tank and moved it in a truck to a new location, the sand got all stirred up by the movement and released a bunch of nasty stuff, causing an ammonia spike.

The next two times i took the sand out and rinsed it in saltwater, then lifted the sand out and put it in the new tank but left the water in the rinse bucket and threw it away.
The sand came out white again and no spikes at all.

[FranktheTankTx]

The bacteria colony will require a food source to continue to maintain size & numbers capable of supporting your tank's bio load when you re set up. You can do this a few different ways. You can feed the container filled with your LR until your tank is ready to be set up again. You could do this with a cocktail shrimp as well.

You will need to keep the LR heated & lots of flow. As for the sand... I'd keep some of it in a plastic bowl of some size with the LR. Put the rest of it in a container & use this opportunity to rinse it thoroughly when you set up your tank again. Then seed it with the old sand in the bowl that has been sitting in water with LR for the last week. Your sand bed will be clean & pretty again!

As for the corals... any possibility of settting up a light over the corals a few hours per day. A T5 unit or anything would work. Mushrooms can go a while without light... though they might lose a little color. HTH

[Toddrtrex]

Why not put the fish in the containers too? Will make them a lot easier to catch, and will be a food source for the bacteria within the rocks. When I re-did my 58 many years ago I put all the liverock/corals/fish/anemone in rubbermaid bins. Granted it was for only 36 hours, but they were fine, with a heater and powerhead.

[anbosu]

Originally Posted by Chi6488

My 3 year old 110 gallon tank will have to be torn down for about 1 1/2 wks. We are putting in 1700 sf of new tile to match the tile in our addition.

I plan to put 2 clowns, eel, yellow tang, yellow wrasse,, and a red hawk fish in my 90 gallon. In the 90 right now are two sergeant majors and some urchins.

The rocks and some have mushrooms and some type of coral I will have to put in a new garbage can. I plan to buy a new big plastic container from lowes around $100 for yard waste. I think it is like 96 gallons. I plan to put a pump in there but I guess some of the mushrooms and stuff will die with no lighting.

Any suggestion on what to do with the rocks and the coral on the rocks?? I cannot fit them into my 90 gallon.

I plan to reuse some of the sand and buy new sand. Will it work to put it in the trash can with the rocks and hope not too much bacteria die off?

If you have a back porch put the container with the corals outside. The sunlight should be enough to keep the corals alive and if you include a heater and a powerhead you should be fine.