Taking on another tanks contents....

[Noobtosalty]

My 92 gallon corner tank is doing great!!!!! After i get back from vacation i plan on taking on some more inhabitants...
i am taking on the Contents of a 40 gallon breeder .... i am also taking the lights and the reefkeeper lite.
Some of the stocking list
60-80 pound live rock
Clam
4 small Rose Bubble Tip Anemones
many SPS colonies
large neon green toadstool
large hammer coral
asst. zoas and softies
asst. clean up crew (hermits, emerald crabs, brittle sea stars, astrea snails, etc.)
feather duster
1 clownfish
1 bristletail filefish
1 blue green reef chromis
1 green mandarin
Equipment
Nova Extreme Pro 36" T5 lighting fixture with ATI bulbs
Reef Keeper Lite
Here is a (crappy cell pic)

What should i keep in mind while moving all the stuff...
Luckily the tank is only about a easy 5 minute ride from my house
How should i separate everything in buckets? i have 4 18 gallon tote's i can utilize as well as 3-4 5 gallon pails..
What should i worry about?

[hollister]

Adding to much at one time will put a strain on the bio load. You really want to add them slowly , like 2 or 3 every week or 2.

[Noobtosalty]

That is not really a option unless i put it all in QT

[hollister]

Sounds scary.GL...

[Noobtosalty]

What would you suggest in this situation?

[hollister]

I would just buy a few corals or maybe setup a QT tank. Maybe your LFS would help with a little cut of the stock.

[Dapg8gt]

Do you have a lot of livestock already? I agree with doing it slowly. Kinda sucks but it would suck even more if your tank crashed taking everything with it. You might be able to get away with it like just upgrading an existing tank to a larger one. Seeing as you are taking the rock and everything it might work out. I would def keep the rock submerged as much as you can so you don't have anything in it die off and cause a cycle.. Good luck on it looks like it has some nice corals in it. Did you get it for a good deal?

[Noobtosalty]

Originally Posted by Dapg8gt

Do you have a lot of livestock already? I agree with doing it slowly. Kinda sucks but it would suck even more if your tank crashed taking everything with it. You might be able to get away with it like just upgrading an existing tank to a larger one. Seeing as you are taking the rock and everything it might work out. I would def keep the rock submerged as much as you can so you don't have anything in it die off and cause a cycle.. Good luck on it looks like it has some nice corals in it. Did you get it for a good deal?

yes its a great deal... Thats why i cant really turn it down...... I can literally just take it out of the tank and put it in a container than bring to my house and acclimate it and then right in the tank ... Should not be out of water for more than 10 seconds on each transfer....

[hollister]

Coral can do fine out of the water for many minutes.The problem is you will be putting a huge bio load on your system.This will throw everything out of wack. You could stress it out or kill everything. Its not worth the risk.

[hollister]

Man u already have a stocked 75 and if thats the pic of the 90your getting where you going to put all this. You would be better just setting up another tank useing most of the water from that tank.

Are you getting the other tank? Or just its stock?

[Noobtosalty]

at the moment i have a 92 gallon corner tank with a 29 gallon sump... That is all i have!!!! I am just taking the contents from the other tank...

[Dapg8gt]

Is this a new tank it's going into? If that's the case just take all the water and rock and start it up. It wouldn't be any different than upgrading a tank to a larger one. Still has risks but would be better.. Might just want to take all the water and bio from the filtration/sump that has been running all that coral in either case to get a jump start on the load you are gonna be adding. JMO.

[Noobtosalty]

My tank has been set up for about 2+ months now...

[CoralReeferGal]

Its up to you in the end, but it does sound like a lot to add one time, just like everyone else has said, puts so much stress on your bio load. Would be a better idea to use your QT and put a few things in at a time each week. JMO though FWIW.

[taylorjonl]

Originally Posted by Noobtosalty

My tank has been set up for about 2+ months now...

Your current tank is only 2+ months old and you want to merge it with another tank? That sounds scary, this coming from someone who is currently planning the move of a 140g tank that has been setup for years.

I would not try adding all of this at once to a tank that is only 2+ months old. You need to let the tank slowly acclimate to the new bio-load.

Can you get the rest of the hardware? I would be eye balling that MP10/40. Actually, I would suggest getting it all and moving it to your house, then slowly merge.

How long do you have to move?
Have you checked that tanks water parameters?
What are your tanks water parameters?

What is the timeline? If I didn't have weeks to do this I wouldn't pursue it, unless I was OK with possibly killing every fish/coral in both tanks... This is a very likely scenario, from what I have read so far.

I would first look at the current equipment in the 90g tank. You haven't told us what your current 90g tank is made of. What are the lights, the sump, the filters, the pumps. Can your current system support the livestock? What is your current system's live stock list?

Next I would look at the water parameters, if they differ a lot, try to cut the delta(responsibly, maybe a couple water changes across a couple weeks).

When it comes to moving, I would pickup three coolers(like for camping), start draining water into the first cooler. If possible, put the fish in here now, otherwise place this off to the side, make sure enough water is in this cooler for the fish. Place the fish in here as soon as you can catch them.

Next, start siphoning off some water into the second cooler, maybe fill up the this cooler half way. At this point start loading up the corals in here, I have read that if you take a sandwich bag, place the coral in there before placing it in the cooler they will avoid stinging each other but will still be alright. Use the flimsy, original sandwich bags, don't seal them, just use them as a barrier.

At this point, I would fill the remaining cooler with the live rock. Then fill half way with water, to keep it moist. Make sure you can still carry it.

Then place them in the van/truck, don't move them to the van/truck until you are about to leave. Then add them to the tank as if you bought it. I am not getting the vibe that you have a QT tank, so this means acclimating everything to temperature, water parameters and lighting, then adding them to the tank. When doing the live rock, try not to kick up debris and try to rinse off debris from the new live rock by rinsing it in the transport water.

I wish you good luck, don't rush this just because it is a good deal. The only pieces I can see that you are guaranteed to have in the end is the equipment, is it really a good deal if it kills all the live stock in both tanks? That would be how I would weigh this situation unless you have weeks and plan well.

[Noobtosalty]

Is there a way to make my 92 gallon ready for the bio load?

[reeefchief]

I have done this before, If you add the live rock and everything you should be fine. The live rock you are adding will help with the bio load

[TucanSam007]

I added all my corals from my 37 into my 65 one shot no problems . Mostly sps though

[Noobtosalty]

What if i buy half this week and then buy the other half when i come back from my 4 day vacation? Will my power compact lights be OK until i get back and get the lights and the reefkeeper lite and the rest of the corals and rocks? The corals would be under the power compact lights a total of 12 days

[Michigan Mike]

I agree with above. I think you will be fine. It's 4 small fish your adding with a Bunch of l.r. And ome corals. Just test for ammonia alot after you add them and do water changes if necessary.
Good luck!

[Noobtosalty]

I am just getting really nervous now........... I don't want to shock the hell out of my tank

[Dapg8gt]

I had the same feeling about the rock. If your taking all the LR you are pretty much taking the bio load of the tank. As long as you don't have a lot of die off in transport I would feel it would work. May still have some issues but I would think it would handle it.
I agree also with trying to get your parameters as close together as possible. The tank is pretty much going into a tank twice the water volume and you will be adding most if not all the bio (LR) from the smaller tank. IMO it will be ok. You should def have a good amount of salt water on hand to battle any cycles that may occur and test daily..
I don't see the difference in doing this and adding everything to a QT tank. What makes the QT tank any better than the tank that's already established ( well 2 months ) and double the volume?JMO but I think you will be fine and should look at it like it is just a 40 gal tank being upgraded to a 92 gal tank.

[Dapg8gt]

Double post...

[CoralReeferGal]

^^ What I was saying, add it to the QT just to house some for some time, rather than add everything to the DT all at once. More live rock or not, it's still adding an awful lot all at once that his system and original tank inhabitants arent used to.

[Noobtosalty]

Should i worry with a mature clown beating up on my 2 little clowns?