Switching tanks

[Knamei]

Currently I have a 55 gal with a 20 or so gal sump running. I’m about to get a used 90 gal display with 30 gal sump. My home is quite small so it would need to be right where my current one is. I’ve read up on some old threads about using buckets and such which I will for the fish and live rock. I do want to keep my sand and add more plus more rock but I’ll probably add the rock at a later date during a water change.
The question is, how set up should I get the new tank? I know I’ll need to plumb it and be sure there are no leaks. Should I wait to level it out until it’s moved into its spot? The flooring is definitely not level and I never checked it with my current tank so any advice on that would be great as well.
I’ll be using old water as well so that I don’t have to make as much new water. I know I’ll need to make more than I think just in case.
So I empty the old tank, move it over and place new tank, level it, add rock/sand, new water (warmed), old water with fish until water level is right?
I want to get the new tank as close to up and running so that the fish and rocks don’t have to sit very long. Does any of this even make sense? . Anyone have any tips?

 

[brandon429]

Official Sand Rinse and Tank Transfer thread

If you are reading this thread to cure a tank invasion from a link I sent you, we do not need to identify your type of invasion here we do not need you to test anything at anytime regarding nitrate, phosphate etc Above all, we do not need to see a microscope slide picture of your invasion at...

www.reef2reef.com

hundreds of tank moves pick a few examples to study they’re all doing the same thing, tap water rinsing of sand for a reason.

you need to tap rinse, too many details to retype we group them there as a free study log.

 

[brandon429]

Highlights:

we lower light intensity in the new tank to accommodate the new clean
re acclimate light intensity as a new ramp up

matching temp and salinity are the only params we care about, use new water


use no old sand unrinsed, not even a handful.


rinse new sand too, exactly the same as the old, then mix.

detail your rocks free of algae while parted down, but don’t dip them in things just hold them in saltwater.


when you set up the new reef take time the next few days and spot feed corals with hq feed

to bring them out strong in the new tank, then do another partial water change on the second week of reassembly to balance back out your heavy feed water

do not buy bottle bac, have some transferer’s pride lol we are against the claim that water bac need to be re bought, notice none of our steps involved drying. The entire point of the thread is showing how every reef can simply trust its live rock to move fine.

nobody has trouble assembling hundreds of MACNA skip cycle insta tanks, nor do we.

your risk at all times will be fear of losing bac, under rinsing something, and inputting cloudy waste which has similar outcomes to my first three examples, the warning posts lol

the number one most important rule is transfer no waste cloud, and you’ll never recycle. The cloud causes a cycle, not lack of bacteria.

 

[Knamei]

Highlights:

we lower light intensity in the new tank to accommodate the new clean
re acclimate light intensity as a new ramp up

matching temp and salinity are the only params we care about, use new water


use no old sand unrinsed, not even a handful.


rinse new sand too, exactly the same as the old, then mix.

detail your rocks free of algae while parted down, but don’t dip them in things just hold them in saltwater.


when you set up the new reef take time the next few days and spot feed corals with hq feed

to bring them out strong in the new tank, then do another partial water change on the second week of reassembly to balance back out your heavy feed water

do not buy bottle bac, have some transferer’s pride lol we are against the claim that water bac need to be re bought, notice none of our steps involved drying. The entire point of the thread is showing how every reef can simply trust its live rock to move fine.

nobody has trouble assembling hundreds of MACNA skip cycle insta tanks, nor do we.

your risk at all times will be fear of losing bac, under rinsing something, and inputting cloudy waste which has similar outcomes to my first three examples, the warning posts lol

the number one most important rule is transfer no waste cloud, and you’ll never recycle. The cloud causes a cycle, not lack of bacteria.

Yes I was just reading about the rinsing. I’ll rinse the crap (literally) out of the old sand and try to brush off algae from the rocks. My work is the recycling. Is there a guesstimated time frame I have from when I shut off the old tank and move fish and live rock over to buckets where the bacteria would start to die off? Like I said, I want the new tank to be as set up as I can before breaking down the old one. Could the fish and rock stand to be in buckets for a majority of the day?

 

[JCM]

Your livestock will start to die way before your bacteria. I agree with Brandon overall. Try to get it done within 3 or 4 hours but you're probably safe up to a day or two if your livestock has sufficient water movement and stable temp in the tote.

 

[brandon429]

You could keep your live rock merely in a brute of .023 saltwater no heating just circulation no feed, and in ten years it would not uncycle as the organics last even longer and that’s not counting daily feed input from nature, at no time when wet can a cycle get undone, unless you measure out and dose antibiotics or you freeze or boil the water. So any time you use will be fine


we have an actual three years test of that fallow run on file lol. Everything relayed comes from a huge work thread littered somewhere but results memorized. It is not possible to uncycle a tank by restricting feed when kept in an open topped container in a home setting.

 

[Knamei]

Awesome! Thank you!