olsenshouse
Well-known member
The hobby has got the best of me and I will be upsizing my tank in the near future. What is the best and most efficient way to do this without loosing any fish/coral?
Moving into a bigger tank
- Thread starter olsenshouse
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Slate
Well-known member
Is the new tank going in the location the current tank is? If not you can always just get the new one set up and let it run a couple days and then slowly move stuff over. Otherwise I would suggest using large rubbermaid tubs to house all your livestock and rock with powerheads during the transition period.
olsenshouse
Well-known member
It will be going in the same spot as the one setup now. I'll get some rubbermaids for the livestock.
Slate
Well-known member
Whatever you can do to make things more comfortable and give time get the tank set up let stuff clam down before you go throwing livestock into it. I am sure folks will chime in with great ideas/experience as well.
olsenshouse
Well-known member
I hope so. I definitely don't want to loose any of the fish or corals. My ears are open. Thanks Slate.
mfinn
Surgeonfish
When I moved all my corals and fish from a 180 into the 240 I have now, I borrowed a couple 100 gallon stock tanks and bought a 6' diameter plastic swimming pool.
I pulled all the fish and corals out of the 180 and put them in the containers, which all had heaters and powerheads. The plastic swimming pool was used for the most delicate corals and fish. Once everything was moved into the temp containers, I took my time setting up the new tank to make sure it was perfect. I also had the new tank up and running with freshwater in my garage for a week or so before hand with all the pumps, closed loop, skimmer running, just to make sure it all worked.
I did have my living room messed up for 2 days.
I pulled all the fish and corals out of the 180 and put them in the containers, which all had heaters and powerheads. The plastic swimming pool was used for the most delicate corals and fish. Once everything was moved into the temp containers, I took my time setting up the new tank to make sure it was perfect. I also had the new tank up and running with freshwater in my garage for a week or so before hand with all the pumps, closed loop, skimmer running, just to make sure it all worked.
I did have my living room messed up for 2 days.
Krish
RF STAFF
I did a similar thing as Martin (mfinn) did. Used big containers, transferred the water, rocks and livstock into it and ran the containers as if they were tanks. Lights went on, powerheads were running etc. Transitions always went well for me so far knock on wood.
Good luck with the upgrade!
Good luck with the upgrade!
Krish
RF STAFF
Here are some pics just to show you how far I went in making the conditions the same in the container as was the tank while I did some work on the 24 gal aquapod they were going in. Even had my phosban reactor running but that was probably just my ocd :lol: Nonetheless, some containers, powerheads and whatever it takes to keep the temp stable would be adviseable
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Emerald525
Well-known member
Wow! I didn't get that fancy! Just used rubbermaid totes when we went from 55 gallon to 150 gallon tank! Everything did fine. I only had softy corals at the time and the only thing I lost was a few snails! I would think with SPS you have to be a little more careful
Just had heaters and power heads in rubbermaid containers no fancy lighting but I think the darkness kept the fish calmer! The anemone in the right upperhand corner did well and actually split from the stress but did fine! We emptied the 55 gallon the night before. Stored the sand in baggies. You can see the hippo tangs hiding in the lower left corner rock.
You can see xenia in lower left corner floating about and did fine!
As you can see we put fish back in before the sand settled. In retrospect probably would have waited another day and put all the corals and fish in the next day. The fish did fine but I imagine they were probably a little stressed.
The only thing I would have done differently is we used 5 gallon jugs to transport salt. This was before I was mixing it myself. Life would have been much easier If I had just used 50 gallon tubs and just mixed salt before hand but I didn't know any better!:lol:
I would think with SPS you have to be a little more carefulJust had heaters and power heads in rubbermaid containers no fancy lighting but I think the darkness kept the fish calmer! The anemone in the right upperhand corner did well and actually split from the stress but did fine! We emptied the 55 gallon the night before. Stored the sand in baggies. You can see the hippo tangs hiding in the lower left corner rock.
You can see xenia in lower left corner floating about and did fine!
As you can see we put fish back in before the sand settled. In retrospect probably would have waited another day and put all the corals and fish in the next day. The fish did fine but I imagine they were probably a little stressed.
The only thing I would have done differently is we used 5 gallon jugs to transport salt. This was before I was mixing it myself. Life would have been much easier If I had just used 50 gallon tubs and just mixed salt before hand but I didn't know any better!:lol:
luisse25
Well-known member
when i did an upgrade and transfer livestock fro 55gal with 15gal sump to 90gal with 30gal sump...what i did is i took all the water from the old tank as much water as i can get,,and carefully not to stir the sand...then i put new sand(rinsed) in the new tank,put all the liverock with no corals on the new tank did a bit of aquascape...i put corals and fish in buckets..i probably got about only 60gal of water...then start putting all the corals and fish...i did run a lot of carbon....so the 90gal was just halfway filled...then every 3 days i add new saltwater..its like doing water change until i filled up the tank below the overflow,cause im not running a sump yet cause sump is like 30 gal of water....so i waited about close to a month then then i made 30 gal of new saltwater..took out 30gal of water from main tank then added the new 30gal of water to the tank slow...then the old water that i took out thats the water i put in the sump..then thats it i got the sump running then thats when i start running the skimmer...with what i did..i didnt lose any corals and fish...i even had a huge blue carpet that time when i upgraded
luisse25
Well-known member
i did the move all in one day
thatguy559
Well-known member
i pretty much did the same thing as everyone else.
broke the tank down into a 100g stocking tank.
moved all rocks and corals to it.
livestock moved to different container.
sand in a different container
set up new tank addred sand and rock waited 24hrs then added livestock and corals.
broke the tank down into a 100g stocking tank.
moved all rocks and corals to it.
livestock moved to different container.
sand in a different container
set up new tank addred sand and rock waited 24hrs then added livestock and corals.
As I had to make a lot of modifications to my stand/sump/plumbing I built the new tank in the garage on a dolly. Nice and easy to move everything around for the best view and testing. I was also able to apply a good coat of paint. Several leaks and revisions later I rolled it into the house and started scaping.
The build took longer than expected but there is something nice about full access to the plumbing and having time to go pick up the part vs working on a running tank. I dislike trying to make middle of the night modifications to the plumbing with only parts on hand (never the right ones it seems.)
The build took longer than expected but there is something nice about full access to the plumbing and having time to go pick up the part vs working on a running tank. I dislike trying to make middle of the night modifications to the plumbing with only parts on hand (never the right ones it seems.)
burning2nd
Well-known member
i went from a 30 to a 75... but added about 100 lbs of Dry Fiji rock... so i had to seed the dry rock for a few months b4 i made the move to the 75.... AS a matter of fact i nuked that 30lbs of rock... i fragged everything and moved everything over to the new tank
guess i did it real diffrent.
but containors, useing the water moveing the inhabitants over slow after the water temps and salt are the same.... ACCLAMATION,
I thinking doing a bunch of stuff at once is dangerous... I say one step at a time
guess i did it real diffrent.
but containors, useing the water moveing the inhabitants over slow after the water temps and salt are the same.... ACCLAMATION,
I thinking doing a bunch of stuff at once is dangerous... I say one step at a time
