Tank swap advice...

[gREEF Stricken]

To the collective,


I have to assume many if not all of you have undergone what I am about to undergo. I have a rectangular 90 gallon mixed reef that is about two years old and very mature that I need to move to redo the flooring. I have an empty 90 gallon corner tank that I have been waiting to fire up until we move to the new house. Well we were unable to purchase the property we wanted so that is on hold, but I still need to move that tank to do the flooring. So my question is do any of you have any major advice for helping me move one tanks contents into another? I already recognize some of my animals that have grown onto the glass will come apart in a pile of bits, not much can be done but make a lot of frags I guess. What is my best method of proceeding in regard to my sand bed and sump? It is a very well established tank and fuge... Any and all advice is welcome. Thank you.

GS

 

[SantaMonica]

I too had to move a 90 because of the floor. Get a poly bin and put everything in it. Lights on top, and two powerheads. Simple, cheap, and unbreakable. The longer version of this is:

Consider a reef pond in a black plastic bin. Extremely cheap, unbreakable, unscratchable, and the most natural view there is (top-down) for both viewing and pictures. The best part is probably that there's no glass to clean; matter of fact the more periphyton that grows on the plastic walls, the better it looks and the better it filters and feeds. So this way you get natural filtering from both the surface of your rocks, and the surface of the walls too.

The types of plastic bins to consider are used for horse feeding, dog washing, koi ponds, etc. The one we used was from here: http://www.tufftubs.com/htdocs/KMR75.htm

With just rock and sand, and a powerhead or two, it will be as easy and cheap as possible. Maybe a net over the top if you will have jumpers. Of course you could also build a floating algae scrubber, and float it in the corner, out of the way.

A pendant light probably makes the most sense, since it would leave almost the whole above area open, but you could also lay some waterproof LED strip lights across it like we did.

 

[Ugla]

I swapped out tanks a couple of years ago. Went from a 100 gal to 125 with the same footprint. Bought a 150 gallon Rubbermaid stock tub on crags or RF and sold it when done. Bought several new rubbermaid trash cans. Put all fish and corals in the tub with a return pump plumbed to the drain plug on the tub. Put all bas rock and sand into a tracy can with heater and power head. Had to rebuild part of my stand. Did that ion the garage, then set it up again.

When setting up the new tank, I used 3/8" acrylic sheets, drilled holes and added fiberglass rods. I then drilled my rocks with a concrete bit and put them on the rods. 2 years later, I have had no rocks move. Also added short rods to keep all of the rock off the sand. Placed the rocks, added sand and new water, waited overnight and then added corals and fish.

All went well except for a 15 year old clown that got into the drain to the pump. I also scrubbed many of the rocks without corals in a trash can with old water before putting them in the new tank.