Just bought a 220 :) now a few questions about the transfer.

[launch]

first, i wasn't 100% sure which forum to put this in so mods please feel free to move it if it needs to be moved.

I just bought a 220 from a friend of mine. he has had it for two years and has about 100-150lbs live rock & 200lbs live sand. I'm going to pick everything up on sunday. but the problem is i don't like the color of the stand so I'm going to stain/modify it (so i'm sure that'll take a couple weeks).

I have a few questions about how to do the transfer.

So here's the current plan, please let me know if i should do this differently. pick up the tank, ditch the sand, put everthing in my garage and keep the live rock in circulating water for the week or two (or three) it takes me to do the stand.

when the stand is done here's how i plan to do the transfer. (please let me know if any of this is a bad idea)

1) First, I was going to take out the fish, critters, rock, coral and put them in clean buckets & tubs. pump out all the water into trash cans in my living room (of course clean ones).

2) break down the current tank and set up the new one.

3) then put in my 100-150lbs live rock plus the 100-150lbs from his tank (that was circulating the garage).

4) add sand. I was going to try to keep some of my sand (from the top) but add some new live sand as well. is keeping any of my sand a bad idea? (it's 2 years old)

5) add my water plus enough new water to fill the tank

6) turn everything on

7) acclimate the fish & critters & coral, then add them

Now, a question....will my critters survive? I currently have a 125 with a wet/dry and bioballs and the new tank has a filter sock and refugium sump. will the change from bioballs to refugium hurt them?


Some of the stuff included with the tank:

Oceanic 220 glass tank & stand
Aqua C 400 protein skimmer with MAG 24 pump & waste overflows
4 96Watt PCs
3 250Watt HQI halides with electronic ballasts
1/15 hp dolphin return pump
¼ hp JBJ Artica chiller

 

[theyoungaquariest]

Well Im not that experienced in tanks that large but I would keep some of the old bioballs and put some of what was in your last fuge into the new one. Im sure one of the experts will know exactly what to do.

 

[intimatecple]

just be aware that you will have a cycle....maybe just a mini cycle...keep your eyes open to that...also while the LR is in the cans....feed with a little fish food once a week....Just a little bit

 

[Erok7620]

Sounds like a plan. have some water ready for multiple water changes in the days and weeks to follow. Don't waste your money on "live" sand. Buy new dry sand and seed it with a few scoops of your current sand.

 

[Ziggy953]

Depending on how much you have in the 125 now I think acclimating everything over to it for the time being is a better idea then keeping the fish in several containers. As Erok7620 said don't waste your money on live sand. Buy dry sand and use a few cups of your sand to seed the new stuff. You may see a mini-cycle though I doubt it if you keep the rock in water through the process. Personally I would ditch the bioballs and go with LR rubble in its place. I'm not a fan of them.

Do you have a skimmer that is going to support the larger tank? Are you planning on doing this as a FOWLR or a Reef?

 

[launch]

I plan on slowly turning it into a community reef tank. I currently have a blue hippo tang, yellow tang, cleaner shrimp, 3 pj cardinals, firefish, royal gramma basslet, six line wrasse, 2 large rocks of green stary polyps and 2 rocks covered in ricordeas. I plan to add more corals and fish after the new tank is up and running for a while. the new tank will have a AquaC 400 protein skimmer.

so do i buy dry "live sand" or just ask for dry sand? how much should i expect to pay at my lfs for dry sand?

Thanks.

Depending on how much you have in the 125 now I think acclimating everything over to it for the time being is a better idea then keeping the fish in several containers. As Erok7620 said don't waste your money on live sand. Buy dry sand and use a few cups of your sand to seed the new stuff. You may see a mini-cycle though I doubt it if you keep the rock in water through the process. Personally I would ditch the bioballs and go with LR rubble in its place. I'm not a fan of them.

Do you have a skimmer that is going to support the larger tank? Are you planning on doing this as a FOWLR or a Reef?

 

[Ziggy953]

Check online for Arogonite Sand. You can expect to pay about $30 for 30lbs at your LFS you can probably get it for half that online. I found mine for $18 at Petsmart.