What is the best way to transfer my livestock from my 60g to my new 175g

juice79 · 12/08/2011, 12:41 PM

So I have a 60g cube thats a folwr with 70lbs of liverock. Livestock is 2 clowns, and a six line wrasse, bunch of snails and hermits and a Coral Banded Shrimp.

I set up my 175g a little over two weeks ago with new sand (not using the old sand) and 100lbs of cured live rock from an established tank. I have been "ghost feeding" my invisible fish since day one and monitoring the parameters and only noticed a 2 day spike in ammonia after adding the rock. Since day 1 then the nitrates have remained stable at less than 5ppm. After week 1 I added a small CUC and they have survived with no problems.

My question is what is the best way to move all the liverock and fish over to the new tank. I am afraid if I move all the rock at once I may cause a small ammonia spike in the new tank and if the fish are in there this will be detrimental. I also dont want to move all the rock to the new tank and leave the fish in the old tank as there will be no bio-filtration and the old tank will crash. Any advice is much appreciated!

sandwi54 · 12/08/2011, 12:59 PM

with only 2 clowns and a 6-line wrasse, that is a very light load for a 175g, so i wouldn't worry much about the water quality.

when you move the live rocks, just make sure you transfer them quickly and don't leave them out of water for too long. this way you can avoid having die-offs.

it's great that you're being careful!

SneakyPete · 12/08/2011, 01:00 PM

When i read the title of your post, i wanted to quip "With a net of course". But i'll try to be helpful instead :-D

If time is not an issue, you can move some rock little by little until you have around half of your rock. Don't move half right away as you would probably move too much of your bio filter out of your 60. Once you have half, move some of your stock, maybe your clowns first, to your new setup. Let it sit a couple of days, then move some more rock until you have 3/4 of it over, then the rest of your stock.

I think you have such a low bioload that you will be fine moving faster than that (if you didn't have the rock exposed for long, you probably could do it all in 1 day), but if you take your time and go slow, you should have no issues.

sandwi54 · 12/08/2011, 01:03 PM

also, i assume you already have the 175g up and running. you will want to remove some of the water first before putting in the new rocks, otherwise your tank may overflow since adding new rocks will push the water level up.

juice79 · 12/08/2011, 03:31 PM

Thanks guys! I think I will do little by little as you guys have advised...better to be safe than sorry

12/08/2011, 12:41 PM	#1
juice79 Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Posts: 297	What is the best way to transfer my livestock from my 60g to my new 175g So I have a 60g cube thats a folwr with 70lbs of liverock. Livestock is 2 clowns, and a six line wrasse, bunch of snails and hermits and a Coral Banded Shrimp. I set up my 175g a little over two weeks ago with new sand (not using the old sand) and 100lbs of cured live rock from an established tank. I have been "ghost feeding" my invisible fish since day one and monitoring the parameters and only noticed a 2 day spike in ammonia after adding the rock. Since day 1 then the nitrates have remained stable at less than 5ppm. After week 1 I added a small CUC and they have survived with no problems. My question is what is the best way to move all the liverock and fish over to the new tank. I am afraid if I move all the rock at once I may cause a small ammonia spike in the new tank and if the fish are in there this will be detrimental. I also dont want to move all the rock to the new tank and leave the fish in the old tank as there will be no bio-filtration and the old tank will crash. Any advice is much appreciated!

12/08/2011, 12:59 PM	#2
sandwi54 Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Bay Area, CA Posts: 2,332	with only 2 clowns and a 6-line wrasse, that is a very light load for a 175g, so i wouldn't worry much about the water quality. when you move the live rocks, just make sure you transfer them quickly and don't leave them out of water for too long. this way you can avoid having die-offs. it's great that you're being careful! __________________ 375g Envision FOWLR + 125g sump 40g Reef Current Tank Info: 375g FOWLR, 40g Reef

12/08/2011, 01:00 PM	#3
SneakyPete I see you Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Northwestern Minnesota Posts: 513	When i read the title of your post, i wanted to quip "With a net of course". But i'll try to be helpful instead :-D If time is not an issue, you can move some rock little by little until you have around half of your rock. Don't move half right away as you would probably move too much of your bio filter out of your 60. Once you have half, move some of your stock, maybe your clowns first, to your new setup. Let it sit a couple of days, then move some more rock until you have 3/4 of it over, then the rest of your stock. I think you have such a low bioload that you will be fine moving faster than that (if you didn't have the rock exposed for long, you probably could do it all in 1 day), but if you take your time and go slow, you should have no issues. __________________ 40B in recovery mode Trumpet coral, Kenya tree, unknown Zoa Skunk Cleaner, 2 Ocellaris Clowns, Royal Gramma Current Tank Info: 40B w 29 sump. 50 lbs rock

12/08/2011, 01:03 PM	#4
sandwi54 Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Bay Area, CA Posts: 2,332	also, i assume you already have the 175g up and running. you will want to remove some of the water first before putting in the new rocks, otherwise your tank may overflow since adding new rocks will push the water level up. __________________ 375g Envision FOWLR + 125g sump 40g Reef Current Tank Info: 375g FOWLR, 40g Reef

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12/08/2011, 03:31 PM	#5
juice79 Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Posts: 297	Thanks guys! I think I will do little by little as you guys have advised...better to be safe than sorry