Transferring livestock to a new tank

[djryan2000]

This week I’ll be moving my fish and shrimp to a 45. I’m planning on using the same live rock and sand.

My current plan is to drain the current tank into a 3 different buckets - 1 for the clown fish and cleaner shrimp, 1 for the neon dottyback and CUC, 1 for the coral banded shrimp. I’ll put rock in it’s own bucket of my newly mixed salt water and some pieces in the buckets with live stock. I have 4 heaters, 3 powerheads, and 2 oxygen pumps.

I’ll take the sand out of the take and rinse it out.

I’ll then take out if the rock and start trying to aquascape the new tank. I’m thinking I’ll dip pieces in the a bucket of salt water or put salt water in a spray bottle to keep them moist to prevent die off.

Once the rocks are all glued together / in place, I’ll add the rinsed sand and new sand and then put the water and my live stock in.

Does this seem like an acceptable plan? My main concern is die off from the rocks, especially my pineapple sponges. I’ve read mixed reviews on if they can survive exposure to air, as I know many sponges cannot. Should I pluck as many as I see off, or run to a store and buy bacteria in a bottle to reduce any ammonia spike?

TIA

[Michael Hoaster]

This looks like a good plan. I applaud your planning! It's great to hear someone fighting to keep pineapple sponges going.

A couple of thoughts: With that sized tank you may be able to partially fill it and aquascape under water, so you preserve the life on your live rock. It would be a shame to lose all your sand bed bacteria and fauna to rinsing. I'd at least set aside some unrinsed, then add it back to the rinsed sand to reseed it. You've got plenty of bacteria. No need to add the bottled stuff.

My two cents. Good luck with it. Now, put another record on DJ!