Help Moving Tank... Questions? Long Post... BUT REALLY NEED FEEDBACK!

[jtreath]

Hi All;

I have a 75G that has been established for 14 months. I am in the midst of planning my upgrade to a custom 220 G. I will be doing some work in the house to build the cabinet in a dividing wall between my rec and family rooms so that both long sides are visible. It is where my 75 G is now.. but I will be cutting and adding studs, gyproc etc..

I will need to move my 75G at least 30 days prior to even setting up my new 220G. My plan is too ultimatly have my 75G set up upstairs in my Living room as an Amazon Basin Freshwater tank.

In my cuurent Reef I have 80Lbs of LR, and a 6" DSB of questionable Sand (I bought the system used and he didn't remeber where he got the sand). My buffering capacity is horrible and I am having to adjust pH nearly weekly to average out 8.1. I use RO/DI water with TDS 0 and 0 Phosphates

I have a number of softies (all very hardy) a BTA and 6 fish, Brittle Star some hermits and snails.

So here are my questions:

Am I playing with fire planning on;

keeping tank water in Brute Garbage Cans,
move LR to holding tank,
catch Livestock and keep in Holding Tank
moving 75G with sand in it upstairs
Adding old water back to tank (with 40% new salt mixture)
Putting LR back in
Putting Livestock Back in

***Question Here*** Will disturbing the sand during the move upstairs release toxins? Should I leave LR and Livestock in Holding Tanks for a period of days and run Charcoal through a canister filter for a few days? I have a Yellow Watchman and Pistol that keeps the existing DSB Churned up a fair bit in about 40% of the bottom

Then... during next 30 days, build new walls, finish exterior work on walls.

Then... put new tank into place, water check and plumb (say another 2 weeks).

Then... add new sand and old LR to aquascape plus additional cured LR to take total up to 150 Lbs (So more than double existing LR).

Fill tank with fresh mixed saltwater.

***Question Here*** Do I need to let new setup Cycle? if so.. how long? Will it be a full cycle?

Add new cleanup crew.

Add existing softies with careful acclimation process

Add existing livestock (Least aggressive to most aggressive) with careful acclimation process.

When I had moved the 75G from friends house to here we did it all in 1 day... over the following 3 days all Livestock perished, but existing softies survived. Was never sure if it was toxins in water, stress or perhaps it was the gloves we wore (Found out later they were antibacterial treated).

I live in an area where there is very little experience in Marine tanks.. guy at LFS says.. no problem just throw everything from tank to tank.. and he laughs when I mention toxins from the DSB.

***Last specific Question*** How in Heck do I catch my burrowing Watchman Goby and Pistol Shrimp???

Thanks for reading!

[Sk8r]

A. Ignore the guy from the lfs and find another store: no knowing what he does to his own stock before you buy it.
1. Do not wear antibacterial gloves or gloves with talc on them.
2. Prepare to spend all day on this.
3. Have a lot of ro/di water prepared. Keep the fish and rock in half the old water until you're set. LID all containers with fish with eggcrate---not solid lid.
B. Watchman---you're going to have to become a sandsifter yourself: remove all rock first.
1. You'll need a heater, a bubbler, and filter/ pump at least (and I'd get a good one) if you're going to keep fish in a deep barrel. You won't know what's going on down there. I'd keep the fish in one barrel and most all rock in the other.
2. test the water in that barrel daily. Keep it shielded from all dust and chemicals of the construction. A towel thrown over the top will suffice if you kick up something unexpected.
C. You're going to have a cycle in your new tank. Get a huge cleaning crew, 1 snail per gallon, get a conch, and if it were mine, I'd get a rabbitfish pretty soon after the move, because you're going to need him if you're going to try to reassemble this and run livestock WHILE you have a mild cycle. The more cleaners, the more likely everything is to survive.

Far from a comprehensive list. I hope others will chime in and critique.

[smy168]

From my experience moving my 120 with a 8 inch SB, you do release some toxins but not enough to ruin the system. I would say that after you move the tank upstairs, reload with original water and some new water and skim for a couple of days. I'm sure this isn't what you're looking for as an answer but it's the safest way. Skim aggressiveley before you place you rock and live stock back in. I doubt you need to do a full cycle, just make sure the LRs are in a can that has a ton of water movement while it's stored and maybe a light.

I was told by Dr. Ron that even DSBs when aggittated could require skimming.

[jtreath]

Sk8r.. I was planning on putting softies and livestock into a 20 G tank I will fill with existing water.. but no sand...sice the softies are all attached to some LR, can I run my skimmer as HOB and a heater and Canister filter here for a few days until my 75G settles again? The rest of my LR I can keep in a Brute Garbage Can until my 75G runs charcoal for a few days. Does this make sense?

How long could I house Livestock and softies in this set-up?

[BucNtears]

Tagging along also need to move my 75.
Moving the tank a couple of feet.Tank will be moved with sand bed left in.Will I get a cycle doing this?

[Sk8r]

I think you should be ok with that 20 gal with skimmer running and sump: BucNTears, if you get a sand bed overturn on setup, you may want to run a 1 micron filter maybe more than once to get the water polished: gill irritation can set up other nasties. Be very careful of tank flex moving anything with sand: getting a board under it rather like they move pianos, and strapping down (gently) may help. A cycle can happen about anytime parameters change radically...test, test, test. //Jtreath, I think you're going to be all right. You can keep a salmon in a 50 if your waterflow and filtration/skimming are good enough---that's the whole thing. Again, test, test, test. And---I think you know this---don't plan to use anything saltwater in your new Amazon Basin tank: the two sets of bacteria would produce a frothy mess. Scrub it out well before converting to freshie use. Heat buildup is going to be an issue with all that highpowered gear in a 20, with summer coming. My best advice is: build fast! Get that new tank going asap. ;)

[BucNtears]

SK8rI'll be moving the tank and stand together.Move will be a couple of feet.Total time with rock,livestock and corals should take 3 to 5 hours.

[ERICinFL]

I bought an established tank and had to transport it an hour and a half to my home. The time from breakdown, to transport to, rebuild was probably 4-5 hours. Everything was taken out of the tank except the sand. I left about an inch of water in the tank so the sand wouldn't dry out. Six months later, everything is just fine, so I'd assume since you're doing everything in your home, you shouldn't have any issues. It was a pain in the butt trying to lug a 112gal tank with a 4" sand bed and enough water to cover it, but I was able to get three friends to help me carry it. Good luck and congrats on the upgrade. :)

[RaveChild]

I upgraded from a 55 gal to a 75 3 weeks ago. It took around 7 hours non stop. I did loose a hammer coral but all other live stock pulled through perfect. Just be sure to keep all live stock at the proper temp and well oxygenated. You don't need to reuse the old water as it has absolutly no bearing on the aquariums benificial bacteria. All the water does is store the by products (ie nitrate).
Your new tank shouldn't cycle as long as you are not adding any new uncured live rock or any new livestock. You will basically have the same system in a bigger container.

Good luck and take your time.

[jtreath]

Thanks for the replies all.. but back to the Cycle Question....I will not be re-using my sand.. going to replace it with new Argamax Select .. and I am adding 80 - 90 lbs of new Live Rock to the system.

So having said this... will it cycle more... or will the existing 75 lbs of LR minimize this quite a bit. Not sure why I am obsessing over this... it is not like I will be keeping my fish in plastic bags for 6 weeks...lol

[Sk8r]

Your rock is going to make it negligible---literally. I had worms of every sort, snails, the whole cleaning crew, mushrooms, and a bit of bubble coral survive my cycle when I set up with new sand and about as much heavily corallined rock. I don't blame you for worrying! But I think it's going to be fine.

BTW, BucNtears, get some of those round Moving Men slides at Lowes. They work for moving fridges and other heavy objects like a loaded hutch.