Moving an established reef tank?

[helitaiwan963]

Hey guys,

I'm just wondering what your thoughts on moving an established reef tank to a larger tank? I've done my research on moving established reefs. This is the best article I've found so far.

http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/saltwater/Ziegler_Moving1.html

Anyway, Is it ok to rush to move the tank in one day? I don't really want to rush moving the tank over especially with the jump I plan on making. I'm currently looking to move my 29gal nano into a AGA 90gal with one overflow into a sump. Thats a 60 gallon difference and my main worry is that in all the cases i've read,if i move all the coral and livestock outof the 29 gal and put it into a spare tank i have and setup a temp home, I'd be using about 15gallons of the established water just to keep the livestock and keep the live rock live.

So the my plan is:

1) Pick up the tank and setup the plumbing and do a FW dry run to make sure everything is plumbed right
2)Put in 40 lbs of this live sand, the original grade:
http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.com/Product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=16764
3) Buy about 60-75 pounds of the "reef saver" dry rock from BRS and do the aquascaping by using epoxy.Going for a 2 island look, with an arch between. More or less minimalist kinda look. Will 75 lbs of dry and eventually about 45lbs of live rock from my new tank work for this?
4) Fill up the tank with saltwater
5) Start all the pumps and run the tank and do a final check
6) Start dosing with supplements (kent marine Iodide, Strotium/modylem(sp??),Liquid calcium, Pro dkh buffer for pH)
7) Throw a few pieces shrimp to start the cycle
8) Seed the dead rock with a nice piece of rock from the established tank
9) Run the tank for about 4-5 months till about december while checking parameters constantly and trying to replicate the parameters out of the old tank and add the CUC in the 90gal about 1 month.
10) Then once December hits, move the livestock i have from the 29gal into a spare tank for a few hours and put the rock in some new trashbins
11) Drain the water out of the 29gal and keep it in another bin. also drain about 50% of the water out of the 90gal and keep that water as well so i can move the 90gal where the 29gal was before)
12) Next, obviously the 40lbs of sand i originally put in there won't be enough ( read about 80 lbs will give me about a 2.5" bed) So i will scoop the sand out of the established tank (i have a pretty fine white reef sand in the 29gal tank now) and put that sand into the 90 gal.
13) Add another 40lbs bag of that sand to cover the old sand. At this point, this should give me a pretty nice, deep sand bed.
13.5) Move the live rock from the 29gal into the 90 gal, do some quick aquascaping.
14) At this point, fill up the 90gal tank with whatever water is left from the original established tank and then top it off with the water drained out of the 90gal.
15) Start up all the pumps and run the tank, check if everything is running right, and let the stuff in the tank settle while getting the tank back up to the right temp.
16) Once it's ready, put the fish and inverts into ziploc bags and start aclimating the livestock. Put those in there.
17) Then put the coral in ziploc's and aclimate them and use superglue gel to glue the coral where i want.
18) If i get this tank, i will be using 2x coralife 150watt MH clip on fixtures with phenoix 14k bulbs. the coral will be going from T5ho to MH so i'm gonna turn on the lights and start the light cycle for about 4 hours a day.
19) keep an eye on the fish and coral and see their behavior over the next few weeks.

So thats my plan... but i do have some questions regarding some fine details I'm also hoping people can help me with.

1)I don't have a RO/DI water meant for reefkeeping, just for our families everyday drinking water. I've been able to do fine with the 29gal but how would i do the initial fill up of the 90gal?? With the new costs of setting up a 90 gal, i don't think i'd have the budget to setup a new RODI setup just yet. maybe awhile down the road. So what would people suggest on filling up the 90 gal?
2)Is my plan decent??
3) For the sump, should i put some live rock rubble in there?
4) For my substrate, should i put a bigger grain gravel like crushed coral layer in the middle of the sand bed to promote bacteria growth before i put the final 40lbs of sand in the 90 gal?



Sorry for the long post, but i hope i can get some information.


Thanks
Eric

[jzdad]

IF you are moving the 90 to where the 29 is . That is to much work. Just move the 29 to the side somewhere and set up the 90

buy some liverock to set up the 90 and move over some over from the 29 to seed it put in the new sand.

let it cycle . add a clean up crew then add suppliments to get the parameters right and slowly move the corals over from the 29 (a few pieces a week )until it is all transfered and you are done.

from the old 29 dispose of the old sand,water and then add the leftover rock if any to aquascape the 90 or the sump

This process shouldnt take 4 - 5 months maybe at least 6weeks or more

[helitaiwan963]

the thing is, i want more or less to give the tank some "age". I'll be leaving for college in iowa at the end of august, thats why i'm in no rush to move anything over. My dad can take care of the basic maintence while i'm gone, but i don't think it can go beyond that like moving corals, etc.

My main problem is that how am i going to get the 90 gallons of RODI water for initial setup. because most of the time, the water at the LFS i see people using 5gal jugs but that means i would need over 20 jugs!

[inigomontoya]

First- now that you have made the jump to a larger tank, get that RODI system. Especially if money is an issue then it isn't an option. Think about it- a 90 gallon with a 30 sump is 120 gallons. The LFS charges you a buck to a buck and a quarter for that premade water. That's 120 bucks+ when you can buy an RODI for $160 or so- one water change and you have broken even. Ok- 2-3 with the $45 for salt and accounting for displacement from the LR. Still, it only makes sense when you add in the hassle factor, long term cost and benefit of having RODI on hand for top off and SW for water changes and misc.
I agree with doing a big water change on the 29 and then moving it over- small enough to negotiate it. You can then use that water to start your 90 (unless it has issues).

[Typlus5]

So thats my plan... but i do have some questions regarding some fine details I'm also hoping people can help me with.

1)I don't have a RO/DI water meant for reefkeeping, just for our families everyday drinking water. I've been able to do fine with the 29gal but how would i do the initial fill up of the 90gal?? With the new costs of setting up a 90 gal, i don't think i'd have the budget to setup a new RODI setup just yet. maybe awhile down the road. So what would people suggest on filling up the 90 gal?

Thanks
Eric

This statement sounds like you have an RO unit only for drinking water...if that's true, just get an add on DI cannister and make your own. You can plumb that in with shut off valves and continue to "dual" use the system. If I read too much into that statement, you'll have to get the water somehow.
1) buy the unit and be done with it.
2) have a real good reef buddy make you some
3) buy it from the LFS or alternate source
Good luck.

[helitaiwan963]

First- now that you have made the jump to a larger tank, get that RODI system. Especially if money is an issue then it isn't an option. Think about it- a 90 gallon with a 30 sump is 120 gallons. The LFS charges you a buck to a buck and a quarter for that premade water. That's 120 bucks+ when you can buy an RODI for $160 or so- one water change and you have broken even. Ok- 2-3 with the $45 for salt and accounting for displacement from the LR. Still, it only makes sense when you add in the hassle factor, long term cost and benefit of having RODI on hand for top off and SW for water changes and misc.
I agree with doing a big water change on the 29 and then moving it over- small enough to negotiate it. You can then use that water to start your 90 (unless it has issues).
Yea... the more i think about it, my LFS is a dollar a gallon and thats gonna be 100 plus dollars right there plus the large garbage cans i need to transport the water from the LFS to my house. That is if i can bum a favor from a buddy with a pickup. haha.

I think i'm gonna start looking for a RODI system... The more i thin about it, i don't feel like paying over 100 bucks for initial startup water. Plus water changes out of a 90 gal i'm assuming i'll be needing 10-15 gals or more each time to begin with.

This statement sounds like you have an RO unit only for drinking water...if that's true, just get an add on DI cannister and make your own. You can plumb that in with shut off valves and continue to "dual" use the system. If I read too much into that statement, you'll have to get the water somehow.
1) buy the unit and be done with it.
2) have a real good reef buddy make you some
3) buy it from the LFS or alternate source
Good luck.

Ya, our family had the RO system already before I got the tank. when i started the 29 gal about 7 years ago, I made the mistake of using tap water to start the tank and battled algae for months to come. That was a nightmare. Never again will i make that mistake again.

The thing is with our unit now, it's got a TINY storage tank which is only like 3 gallons... lol. Its something made to go under the kitchen sink. LIke i said above, i think i'll just invest in a RODI system, the more i think about it, a water change in a 90 won't be just the 5 or so gallons i do biweekly on the 29gal

[helitaiwan963]

Well there is someone local selling a Kent marine RODI 60gpd system for 50 bucks which is a extremely good deal....

http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=4453

Needs new filter cartrages though. You guys think this would work for that system?

http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+4395+4413+21420&pcatid=21420

because i plan on making a big order from there if/when i do get the new tank so it would be nice to make jsut 1 order online