Tank transfer advice

[Aynesa]

So, I've never done this before...

This morning I woke up and found the stand to my 100 gallon tank had split at all four corners. I'd known there was some pretty significant water damage for a while. I've had this tank 2 years now, and when I bought it the LFS told me the stand was rock solid wood and 'the glass'll break before this stand'. Needless to say, I did NOT go there to buy the new tank.

I now have a 150 gallon tank sitting in my living room, and tonight or tommorrow or this weekend I'm going to begin transfering my reef into it. It's extremely important that I get the failing tank out of my living room ASAP. I have 2 children that play in the living room all the time, and specifically near this tank. I CANNOT have it here, so here are my questions:

I have lots of LR (Around 500 pounds), and a sump, protien skimmer, lots and lots of live sand. If I transfer all that stuff straight over, will my tank be 'pre cycled'?

Does anyone have any advice on how to transfer? Stupid mistakes not to make, that sort of thing? I've never done this, and want to do it RIGHT the first time instead of doing it three or four times.

What should I be watching for as the tank is transfered and over the following days? Again, I absolutely cannot let this old tank sit here waiting for it to fully cycle, so I have to transfer it straight over and have it go, preferably with a high survival rate.

I hate to stress my reef like this, but I cannot risk my childrens lives on a stand that's now got obvious cracks, and you can see through.

Any help would be most welcome.

[skippy2]

I would just move everything over as fast as possible. Maybe add new sand though with just a couple of cups of the old sand for seeding. Save maybe 1/2 of the old water then add new. It will be just like a water change only a little bigger. GL with the new tank

[tgfrench]

Peggy pretty much nailed it for you. Personally I'd go ahead and do the water change and keep the water in a couple of 20gal plastic tubs ready to hold your rocks from the upper levels of your existing tank. Remember to use some small heaters to keep the water warm and maybe a powerhead in the tubs while you get the rest of the stuff moved.
Get a "GOOD BUDDY" to come over to help!!!!! It will take you longer than you plan.

[abulgin]

As someone who has been where you are (my 110g sprung a leak), I can tell you there is nothing to worry about.

First, are you sure you have 500lbs of rock? That is A LOT of rock. I imagine there would be hardly any room in the tank for anything other than rock!

Anyway, it really is quite easy. Get a few 48 gallon rubbermaid trash cans. Start pumping water into them and transfer your rock into the cans as they fill. If you plan to leave your rock in there over night, throw in a power head. I would place your corals in a separate trash can to avoid damage from falling rocks, etc. Once your tank is basically empty, transfer half of your sand into the new tank along with new sand. My experience was that there was just way too much crap and grunge in the sandbed--take this opportunity to swap in some new sand. Sure, you'll lose some fauna, but not enough to make a difference. Then rebuild your reef and pump in your water. It will be cloudy for a few days, but your tank won't skip a beat. If your tank was fully cycled before the changeover, everything will be fine.

[mmounajjed]

I moved my tank twice
firs get a big container and save as much water, maybe 2-3 Garbage cans.
then move all the live rocks and corals and fish to buckets
then use a fish net to get the sand, when you remove the sand leave 1 in of water in the tank and rinse the sand in it the discard the leftover water.
rinse the sand 1 more time with salt water but dont get too crazy with rinsing it.
put everything back in the tank
in my both transfers I didn't loose a single Item

[skippy2]

I forgot about the cloudy part This is right after I transferred everything over to my new tank.

[MRDHJ1]

Depending on how long your tank has been set up. If it has been up a while your sand bed be be full of lets just say nasty stuff. you may want to not save to much of it. Just enough to seed your new sand bed. Good luck we have all been there.

[Aynesa]

Tanks been set up about 2ish years? There's a fair bit of black stuff in the sandbed.... hmmmm....

[skippy2]

If there is black stuff don't use it. Don't even stir it up while your transfering. Just take sand right from the top, maybe a cup or 2.

[bach2pilot]

Remember that coraline algae dies if left out of water too long. Start early in the day because it will take twice as long as you think it will.

[crvz]

As others have pointed out, it can be easily transferred without too much stress, but I would caution against reusing the sand, and I'd also suggest downsizing the amount of liverock you have. If it really is 500 lbs, that's at least 300 more than you really need. Consider taking the opportunity to re-do the tank a bit for the better, implementing a more open aquascape to allow better circulation throughout the rockwork.

[Aynesa]

It really is 500 pounds. I had a second tank long ago that I had about 60 pounds in, put over 100 in this one to begin with, then a guy I knew jumped the hobby and gave me 80 pounds.... so all in all, comes out to ALOT of rock. It covers 2 walls of the tank, and then I have some Tonga littering the sandbed. It'll look great in this new tank, though. Alot more surface area to be had. My current tank is a deep cube, my new tank is a rectangle.

[Aynesa]

okay, as far as the black stuff....how do people keep reefs going for years and years if you have to change the sandbed out every couple? I changed the sandbed out sometime last year because....well, honestly, I don't know what happened. I don't remember. I had every single thing in my tank die overnight, and my sand turned black. I posted it here for a question and people told me that my sandbed had gone toxic...or something? So how do you keep that from happening? I went to the store last night and the Argonite is 40 dollars a bag!!! We're really stretched tight on this, and just three weeks ago I seeded my sandbed with Garf Grunge that's still everywhere.

[Zegg]

I think it depends if you have a DSB or not??

I have 2 to 3 inches of sand in my tank... I use a tiger gobie ewhich has dont an amazing job, before the only way I could keep my sand bed looking fresh was constant manual stirring(maintence). Tiger gobie does way better than I ever did, and even gets all the sand where I couldnt reach.

and Nasarius? Snails, dp a pretty good job, they I think work better at gettign food that has settled onto the sand bed before it decomposes then actually cleaning sand or whatever, got 5 of them in my AP and they do a great job at getting anything that ladn on the sand, thye are quick, still ocassioanl stirring of the sand every to keep it looking clean.

DSB might be diffrent though and have 0 experience with a DSB

[Aynesa]

Well the deed is done... but this was NOT a water change! I do water changes by myself in an hour or two. This took me the better part of a day and three people! I did end up losing 3 things: A Bicolor Basslet, Coral Beauty (Unknwon why on those two, they died in the 10 gallon holding tank I had set up. It had water from the tank though, so stress? Temperature? Who knows. The basslet was literaly grey with age.) And a colt coral which was literally lost in the sandbed, got buried and I just couldn't find it. But this one was tiny, so I'm not bothered. I still have the larger mother colony.

AS soon as we moved the stand, it fell apart. One whole side caved in.

We found the problem that had caused the stand to collapse, there's a tiny leak in the side of the sump, but that'll be sealed off with ease now that I know where it is.

Still need to finalize the aquascaping. It's still settling, and yes, I know I need new lighting. Right now I have my 24" Sunpod on one side, and an old PC fixture on the other, so half of the tank looks great, the other half not so much. That'll come when we have money My current plan is to buy a second 24" Sunpod. That's probably the cheapest/best way to go

My sand bed was actually great, BTW. I do use a DSB, and there was absolutely no black in it. Top or bottom, it was a beautiful, even purplish brown and blue. Looked great, so I just kept the current sandbed. There's lots of life in it, and hey, don't fix what ain't broken. I seeded that sandbed with Grunge less than a month ago and did NOT want to lose that stuff!

Here are pics! Thanks for all your help!

[tgfrench]

congrats on the move

[jefathome]

Edit: Whoops... too late on the advice. You already did the move.