Moving contents of a 75g to another 75g

Postal · 03/13/2008, 06:46 PM

Any suggestions on what to do / not do while moving live rock and live stock?

My friend is getting out of reef-keeping and switching to a fresh-water planted tank. We are planning on moving the entire contents of his tank to my currently empty tank.
I realize that I need to get new sand and can use some of his to seed it, but what about everything else? Is there any reason we can't take the water, live rock, coral, fish (only 3), and CUC directly from his tank and place it in mine?

Any suggestions or experiences would be appreciated.

Thanks.

demonsp · 03/13/2008, 06:50 PM

It would be best to use all the LR and LS and most of the water.If you add new water and new snad it could re cycle from a small cycle to a large very dangerous cycle.

It really depends on his tanks condition now. You dont want to transfer over any current problem he may have. In that case i would use some of his LR and get a new SB and new water batch then let it cycle then add rest of LR and stock.

tbundy · 03/13/2008, 07:00 PM

i would try and take as mush water as i could. it would make acclimating the fish and coral much easier and save you a ton of time making new water and drip acclimating. Also when moving the LR. keep it as moist as possible to keep the die off low. if there is too much to put in containers full of water go to a LFS and see if you can get some Styrofoam lined boxes. soak some newspaper in saltwater and wrap each piece of rock as good as you can.
Adding new sand can be a pain. it makes the water all cloudy if its just dumped in. i found adding all of the new sand and placing the old wet sand on top helps some.

imcosmokramer · 03/13/2008, 09:01 PM

Wouldn't stirring up the old LS cause a serious cycle? I thought it was best to use all new sand ("dead") and seed it with LR or just a cup of the old LS.

Just a thought

Postal · 03/13/2008, 09:20 PM

Yeah, I was planning to go with new sand and just seed from the old tank.

SeaSpza · 03/13/2008, 10:28 PM

At one point I had a fully stocked 75 and I moved 125 miles.I spread everthing out into 5 rubbermaid containers mostly to distribute the weight and i moved it and set it right back up. No problems inface it cleaned it up a bit i think.Cloudy for a day or so then back to normal.You should be fine as long as you take everything and as long as your friend doesnt have any supprises under his sand.

davew0670 · 03/13/2008, 10:35 PM

I would use everything but the water and give it a week or so.

trdofwrkin · 03/13/2008, 11:02 PM

im moving my in tank in 2 weeks....I was told to use all my water and live rock that i have in there now. I want new sand so i was told to put the new sand in the tank and seed it with a cup of my old sand. I have had more than 6 people tell me this. So I will do it that way.

03/13/2008, 06:46 PM	#1
Postal Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Wesley Chapel, FL Posts: 2,707	Moving contents of a 75g to another 75g Any suggestions on what to do / not do while moving live rock and live stock? My friend is getting out of reef-keeping and switching to a fresh-water planted tank. We are planning on moving the entire contents of his tank to my currently empty tank. I realize that I need to get new sand and can use some of his to seed it, but what about everything else? Is there any reason we can't take the water, live rock, coral, fish (only 3), and CUC directly from his tank and place it in mine? Any suggestions or experiences would be appreciated. Thanks.

03/13/2008, 10:35 PM	#7
davew0670 Registered Member Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 309	I would use everything but the water and give it a week or so. __________________ 70 gallon tank

03/13/2008, 11:02 PM	#8
trdofwrkin Registered Member Join Date: May 2007 Location: Burbank Posts: 759	im moving my in tank in 2 weeks....I was told to use all my water and live rock that i have in there now. I want new sand so i was told to put the new sand in the tank and seed it with a cup of my old sand. I have had more than 6 people tell me this. So I will do it that way. __________________ nitrates 0 nitrites 0 ammonia 0 ph 8.2 salinity 1.026 temp 78.5 _____________ JoAnne Current Tank Info: 65g custom tank Fish and Coral 20g sump

03/13/2008, 06:50 PM	#2
demonsp Moved On Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: el paso tx Posts: 7,634	It would be best to use all the LR and LS and most of the water.If you add new water and new snad it could re cycle from a small cycle to a large very dangerous cycle. It really depends on his tanks condition now. You dont want to transfer over any current problem he may have. In that case i would use some of his LR and get a new SB and new water batch then let it cycle then add rest of LR and stock.

03/13/2008, 07:00 PM	#3
tbundy Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: wilkes-barre PA Posts: 197	i would try and take as mush water as i could. it would make acclimating the fish and coral much easier and save you a ton of time making new water and drip acclimating. Also when moving the LR. keep it as moist as possible to keep the die off low. if there is too much to put in containers full of water go to a LFS and see if you can get some Styrofoam lined boxes. soak some newspaper in saltwater and wrap each piece of rock as good as you can. Adding new sand can be a pain. it makes the water all cloudy if its just dumped in. i found adding all of the new sand and placing the old wet sand on top helps some.

03/13/2008, 09:01 PM	#4
imcosmokramer Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Cleveland, OH Posts: 1,709	Wouldn't stirring up the old LS cause a serious cycle? I thought it was best to use all new sand ("dead") and seed it with LR or just a cup of the old LS. Just a thought

03/13/2008, 09:20 PM	#5
Postal Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Wesley Chapel, FL Posts: 2,707	Yeah, I was planning to go with new sand and just seed from the old tank.

03/13/2008, 10:28 PM	#6
SeaSpza Registered Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Southie MA Posts: 192	At one point I had a fully stocked 75 and I moved 125 miles.I spread everthing out into 5 rubbermaid containers mostly to distribute the weight and i moved it and set it right back up. No problems inface it cleaned it up a bit i think.Cloudy for a day or so then back to normal.You should be fine as long as you take everything and as long as your friend doesnt have any supprises under his sand.