advice on switching tanks (NEW USER)

[ribki]

I have been running a 40g tank for about a year now. All of the contents in the tank are as follows: protein skimmer, penn plax 500 canister filter, heater, 5 pieces of live rock, 1 sun coral, 2 peppermint shrimp, 1 hermit crab, 2 mexican snails, 3 chromis, 1 yellow-tailed blue damsel, and 1 hoevens wrasse.

I recently posted a thread about my wrasse jumping out of the tank and was advised that I either get rid of him, create a netted lid, or I get a larger tank. This weekend I found a great deal on a 55 gallon tank and built a stand with my bf that should be done in a couple of days. Before I begin moving everything into the new tank, I want to be sure that I do it the right way. I have had crushed coral for the bed and want to switch over to sand. Is it necessary to get the plastic egg crate for the base? I don't have that in my current tank.

I'm looking for ideas and tips for switching to my new tank in a safe and efficient way. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

[gweston]

I recently upgraded my system... 29g to a much larger 245gal total multi tank system (including sump).

I'd suggest setting up the 55, get it together the way you want it. Add some liverock and livesand to seed, and let it cycle. Once it cycles, do a good sized water change with water from the 40 (it'll help equate out the parameters for easier acclimation), then the fish and such can be moved over. *Now, that was safe way canned answer.*

As the upsize from 40-55 isn't too huge, you probably aren't going to need a heck of a lot more rock (if any), though sounds like you are going with all new sand. You very well may be ok to just move from one tank to the other in one day. But, I'd wash the new sand well, then rinse well with RO prior to putting it in the tank. Also when moving rocks from one tank to the other, rinse (just a few shakes is fine) in salt water and/or blow off detritus from the rocks, then into the new tank they go. While this should work, and a lot of people do it, it is important to closely watch ammonia. A potential side effect of disturbing stuff. May not be an issue for you though as you'll have so much established live rock (most likely) to move over.

You don't need eggcrate on the tank bottom, but I usually put it there anyway. Mainly as an extra layer of protection in the event a rock falls, or I drop something when messing around in the tank. At the least, I'd put it under the rocks, and fill sand in around it.

For sand, check out Caribsea special reef grade. I just used it on my new tank and it is awesome. While coarse, it is fine enough for inverts. Plus it seems to be rather easily cleanable with a vacuum siphon. If one were to want to do that. Secondary to that, I used the fiji pink sand in my 40b. Looks quite nice, much finer grained though than the reef sand. My complaint with it is the price. The reef grade was much cheaper. Marco sand is nice too, but it is super fine and soft. If you like very fine sand, I'd go with that. But... with fine sand comes some considerations with flow, etc. I use that sand in my fuge.

I have 2 hoevens (melanurus) wrasses myself. Great fish... though my 'pair' didn't quite pair up. Both juvi's are turning male... so I put them each in a separate tank. I had some aggression issues the past few days. The old plastic bottle fish trap hooked up to a fishing line trick worked!

[thegrun]

The egg crate is not necessary but it helps anchor the base rocks in place. Over time the pressure of the shifting sand and the weight of the rocks piled on top of the base rocks will cause them to shift around. As the rocks shift they can cause the rocks above to topple. The grid of the eggcrate grabs ahold of the rock and prevents it from moving.

[Donkeykong]

Ok first to your questions, no the egg crate is not needed it is just an extra precaution. Many, myself included, do not run it. Yes the safest way to switch tanks is setup the new tank and put in the sand and live rock and let it cycle. But I am guessing you will be using alot of the same equipment when switching so having two tanks running is probably not really an option for you. So yes you can move everything over in one day. One thing I would do is remove as much water before you start to disturb the rocks. As soon as you start to move stuff around everything gets pretty murky. You are not make to large a jump so I dont see any any problems, but you may get a mini cycle as everything settles. So make sure to test your water every couple of days and have some new saltwater ready to go incase you need to do a water change.

Now to a side point, yes a larger tank will give the wrasse more room to feel safe but that will not prevent him from jumping, I have known fish to jump from 225g tanks. Some sort of top even just a thin screen mesh is the only way to guarantee they cant get out.