MACATUA
Aquarium Advice FINatic
A few people have asked about details, so at that request, I figured I would post how I moved my 55 to my 125. Maybe someone making the upgrade soon will find this useful.
Day One
Got the tank and kind of "dry plumbed" my system, tried to get the filter and stuff all run so I was not messing with tubes and stuff with water everywhere. Mixed up a bunch of saltwater a few days ahead to make sure I had some good aged water available.
Day Two
I started in the morning and filled up a rubbermaid tote with some water from the tank and moved one half of my live rock in to it. That way I had access to half the sand in the tank. I started scooping out the sand and putting it in the new tank with some water to keep it all good and wet. Got all the sand I could and moved the other half of the rock to the bare side of the tank. This way the fish all had somewhere to hide while I moved. I started moving the rest of the sand and then put the new sand on top.
Now I started adding fresh saltwater to the tank. Enough for what I thought would cover the lower levels of rock. Started moving the bigger pieces of live rock from the old tank and adding new baserock. Also had a heater running in both tanks set at 80 to keep the temps stable.
Got all my rock in except for a couple of small pieces still in the old tank for the fishies to hide. Topped off with some of the water from the old tank and the rest with my fresh saltwater. Now I had to catch the fishies. Checked my levels to make sure the paramaters were as close as possible and took a deep rubbermaid foodsaver (floated it, no lid) with old tank water and put the fish in it, one at a time. That way i could add some new water and acclimate just to be sure. I knew it would not be a huge swing, but just to be sure.
Started running all the filters and PH's to make sure everythign was cool. Got all the fish in after a few hours and everyone kinda poked around to see what was going on. They all seemed really confused for about 2 days, but now after a week everyone is happy, eating, noone got sick. The puffer did catch himself on a PH because I guess he was not used to the new location and the trigger scraped his head on a rock darting around, but everyone seems cool and happy.
Not my best writing, but if anyone has any questions about how i did it, please ask. I hope this helps make the move somewhat easier for someone.
BTW, make sure you have a FULL day to do this, and prepare very well.
Day One
Got the tank and kind of "dry plumbed" my system, tried to get the filter and stuff all run so I was not messing with tubes and stuff with water everywhere. Mixed up a bunch of saltwater a few days ahead to make sure I had some good aged water available.
Day Two
I started in the morning and filled up a rubbermaid tote with some water from the tank and moved one half of my live rock in to it. That way I had access to half the sand in the tank. I started scooping out the sand and putting it in the new tank with some water to keep it all good and wet. Got all the sand I could and moved the other half of the rock to the bare side of the tank. This way the fish all had somewhere to hide while I moved. I started moving the rest of the sand and then put the new sand on top.
Now I started adding fresh saltwater to the tank. Enough for what I thought would cover the lower levels of rock. Started moving the bigger pieces of live rock from the old tank and adding new baserock. Also had a heater running in both tanks set at 80 to keep the temps stable.
Got all my rock in except for a couple of small pieces still in the old tank for the fishies to hide. Topped off with some of the water from the old tank and the rest with my fresh saltwater. Now I had to catch the fishies. Checked my levels to make sure the paramaters were as close as possible and took a deep rubbermaid foodsaver (floated it, no lid) with old tank water and put the fish in it, one at a time. That way i could add some new water and acclimate just to be sure. I knew it would not be a huge swing, but just to be sure.
Started running all the filters and PH's to make sure everythign was cool. Got all the fish in after a few hours and everyone kinda poked around to see what was going on. They all seemed really confused for about 2 days, but now after a week everyone is happy, eating, noone got sick. The puffer did catch himself on a PH because I guess he was not used to the new location and the trigger scraped his head on a rock darting around, but everyone seems cool and happy.
Not my best writing, but if anyone has any questions about how i did it, please ask. I hope this helps make the move somewhat easier for someone.
BTW, make sure you have a FULL day to do this, and prepare very well.
