Best Way to Transfer livestock from old tank to be tank?

[JGTPA]

I'm going to be upgrading from a 2 year old 90 gallon system to a new 170 gallon system that will be going in the exact same spot. I'm planning on transfering all livestock & rock immediately to the new tank (I'm completely replacing the sand with new).
Is this safe or do I need to figure out a way to let the new system cycle?

 

[stovenut]

I would do a big 25% water change 2 or 3 times over a week or two. Each time add the old water change water to new tank. Then add about 50g of new saltwater to the new tank. Catch your fish and place in 5g buckets while transferring live rock and coral. Add much of the water from the 90g to the new tank and then add your fish. Top off with fresh Saltwater if needed. Make sure you maintain proper temperature off all water during this process. Purchase an extra heater or 2 if necessary.

 

[Tired]

If you transfer your old rock to a new tank, that new tank now has the same bacterial population as your old tank, so this works fine.

What you'll want to do is get some buckets ready, preferably with covers so nothing can jump out. Catch anything that's easily put in a bucket (i.e. snails, corals, very stupid fish), then start transferring your rock and catching livestock as you go. Once all the rock is transferred over, add the livestock, and voila.

No need to worry about the old water. It holds bacteria, but nowhere near as much as your live rock.

 

[brandon429]

if you choose any method that doesn't match the fifty page tank transfer thread, you could kill your entire system.

Official Sand Rinse and Tank Transfer thread

The best way to prepare your sand for use in a transferred reef tank, an upgraded reef tank, a reef tank under invasion etc is to put the sand in sections in a bucket and TAP WATER rinse it outside over and over with the garden hose until all the silt / waste is ejected, expect hours of work per...

www.reef2reef.com

and if you follow the plan without any customization, for an all-at-once skip cycle transfer, your tank will not die (shown above running on 8th year)

quick summary

you start by pre rinsing your new sand in tap water until it's clean, and verified clean shown on post #1 there.

when new sand is fixed so that it does not cloud up your new reef, you set that sand in the new reef and fill that tank with water matching your current tank's salinity and temp. it's ok to use some drawn off water from the new tank, but don't use any that is cloudy. get it before you start lifting up rocks from the old system

as you lift up rocks you begin the clouding in the old system that can kill animals, you can choose if you want to remove them and hold them in totes as we do, while you prep rocks to be moved over.

take old rocks and use a knife to scrape off algae, do exacting working without brushes, use knives and saltwater rinses to wash off detritus stuck to the bottom of the rocks in the old tank, so that when you set rocks in the new tank, no clouding results. the new tank doesn't get clouding from anywhere: sand or rock. it must be laser clean to skip cycle.

don't skip rinsing your old sand, see every job in our thread above. it's the most important step for reasons you might not consider


you can set your fish and corals in the new tank with old rocks and it will skip cycle, we show. no bottle bac is needed.

 

[Dburr1014]

Get some buckets and tubs ready on some towels. Drain the water into them until you can safely catch the fish you currently have. Catch them and put them into buckets. If you have to pickup a couple rocks, no big deal. If they have coral just put them in the buckets. I use 2 nets to corner the fish. Set yours new tank near the old if you can and pull out the old one with rocks in it if they are stable. Slide the new tank in place. Drop in sand if you are using it. (rinsed first) Start adding in scape. Fill with the water in the buckets. Add fish.

It would really help with premade, heated water to just fill it after.
Remove old tank.

IMO, don't do the water changes before *unless* you save it and use that to top off the new tank. It should be super close to your existing parameters.
If you want to save the old sand, that will come out last, after all live stock is out. Rinse, before re-using.

 

[Super Fly]

I'm going to be upgrading from a 2 year old 90 gallon system to a new 170 gallon system that will be going in the exact same spot. I'm planning on transfering all livestock & rock immediately to the new tank (I'm completely replacing the sand with new).
Is this safe or do I need to figure out a way to let the new system cycle?

This is perfectly safe when reusing the established LR, just ensure the water temps are matching. I wouldn't reuse the old water, it's just dirty water as all the beneficial bacteria reside in the LR, sand, equipment and pipes. I'd highly recommend keeping 1-2 cups of old sand to help seed the new sand. I did similar method when moving home and upgrading to new tank at the same time. All livestock survived a week in a brute with LR, heater and powerhead while new tank was being setup. GL

 

[brandon429]

if you add a cup of old sand to your new reef, you risk killing your fish

not all the time, 1% of the time. someone who owns a twenty thousand dollar sps reef doesn't want to be in the 1% loss rate, a nano tanker only spending $150 might not mind as much.

Upgrade disaster

Recently had a huge leak in our 90 gal reef which forced us to upgrade sooner than expected . The upgrade being a 230 gal with a 48 gal sump . Mistake #1 I added some of the old sand assuming it would be beneficial to have a little bacteria .. I was wrong . Nuked the whole tank killing all fish...

www.reef2reef.com

it's on page one of the read, a dead tank from doing that.

someone who moved their reef and broke all the rules and had an ok outcome is literally the opposite of managing for eight years tank transfers in other people's reefs, prepare for losses if you customize the known safe method, or follow advice on moving that isn't documented safe for others.

 

[Not an IT guy]

Make sure have mix up more water than you need. Ask me how I know

 

[brandon429]

don't forget to re ramp your lights so you don't sunburn bleach all your corals/from the thead. all your bases of guess have been covered already, to keep you from having to guess or leave things out

 

[Dburr1014]

This is perfectly safe when reusing the established LR, just ensure the water temps are matching. I wouldn't reuse the old water, it's just dirty water as all the beneficial bacteria reside in the LR, sand, equipment and pipes. I'd highly recommend keeping 1-2 cups of old sand to help seed the new sand. I did similar method when moving home and upgrading to new tank at the same time. All livestock survived a week in a brute with LR, heater and powerhead while new tank was being setup. GL

A 90 gallon to a 170 gallon. He's going to have a lot of new water already. If he uses 100% new water, that's a lot of change for his live stock.
IMO, I wouldn't do that. I've changed tanks a few times and going to be doing another this year.

 

[Not an IT guy]

Also, I used half new sand and half old. Went from a 90 to 150.

 

[Graemesreef]

Think of it as a 50% water change. Just make sure you have extra heaters on hand to keep everything nice and toasty.