Upgrading Tank and Moving livestock

[tacosalad]

I'm upgrading from a 20 gallon to a 40 and was wondering about the best way to go about moving livestock. My 20 gallon has been setup for 4 months with livestock and 45 pounds of LR and a 4 inch sand bed.

Should I setup the new tank and cycle it first, or can I just mix an extra 20+ gallons of SW and move all the LR, sand and critters over in an afternoon?

 

[fishfreek]

Prepair the extra water in a rubbermaid trashcan and set aside. You will do best with some buckets or plastic tubs for holding of the livestock as you move. First thing is to remove your corals and live rock from the tank and place in buckets or tubs. Drain some tank water into these to keep them covered in water. Then remove your fish and place in a bucket of tank water aswell. Drain the water down to the sand bed keeping as much as you can. Then scoop out the sand and transfer to the new tank. Then start filling the tank with old tank water. To do this the easy way you should get a decent sized pump an dhose and you can pump the water back in. Then replace your live rock and your livestock. Then pump in the remaning balance of water.

 

[evenings]

feels like dejavu... we upgraded from 30 to 65 not too long ago. Kept all of the old water, placed all fish on a bucket with the heater and a powerhead there to keep the water areated. Kept the live rocks with some old water in a separate bucket. and the rest of the old water on another bucket (or with the live rock if bucket is big enough)

Next step, transferred live sand from old tank to new, then we transfered most of the old water to the new tank, then our live rocks, did the rockscape, hokked up all equipments and stuff.

Then, we topped off the remainder of the tank with some nutri-sea and some declorinated water (nutri-sea is like 11 bucks for 4.5 gallons)

Then, checked water parameters, PH etc.
Then, acclimated the fish to the new tank water (combination of old water and new)

We acclimated anyway to make sure, but when i thought about it, it's really more like doing a 50% water change.

All fish survived this ordeal and they are very happy with new and more tank mates now.
Goodluck

 

[tacosalad]

Super! Thanks for the advice guys! I'll collect the supplies and give this a try.

but first....

Any ideas on stabilizing a tank stand on some semi-soft carpeting?

the tank is basically a 37 gallon cube 24 inches wide by roughly 20 inches deep.. the stand is about 30-36 inches high with a footprint the same dimensions as the tank... will the weight of the water help stabalize the stand, or is this thing going to be too top heavy for carpeting?

I've gone to home depot and gotten some squre rubber feet with a 1/4 inch raised lip on the bottom and some plastic feet with the little spiked pads on the bottom, but so far (with the tank still empty) the stability seems questionable.. the stand doesn't sway per say, but it does rock a little bit if coaxed...

 

[dralarms]

Any ideas on stabilizing a tank stand on some semi-soft carpeting?

If it' snot stable enough then you can get a couple of "angle brackets" and screw it to the floor. If you ever have to move it you will never see the holes, espec. if its deep carpet.

 

[tacosalad]

that's an interesting thought!

 

[dralarms]

Yea, that's what I had to do for a 30 long that had a stand that to me was sturdy enough just unstable. felt like it was wobbling.

 

[lando]

I just went from a 40 gal reef to a 72 gal reef a couple of months ago. it was pretty easy but took over 8 hours. Get a 30gal rubbermade tub and put in all of your stock and LR then all of your tank water. get a 5 gal bucket and scoop out the sand. Remove old tank and set up new one. You will need some more substrate so put in the new CC or LS first then your exsisiting over the top. Fill up your tank half way with new (hopefully aged) saltwater. rock goes back in, then stock, then old water from the tub. With the old substrate and rock you should avoid a "mini-cycle" but check water parameters daily for a week. Good luck! Lando