Moving the tank and new refuge.

[ellisz]

Alright, Squishy has been very helpful to me on getting the design for what I want to do on the refugium but I have more questions.

When I tear the tank down I figured I could take some of my current DSB and put that in the fuge. I am not sure if I should replace the sand or just let it go. The DSB talk of late has me wondering.

Anyway, when everything is set back up should I let the system(sand,LR,refuge,sump ...) run overnight to get some of the cloudiness down before adding any livestock? Should I expect an ammonia spike from disturbing my DSB? My DSB is about 7 months old.

I have a 29 gal running that I can place my fish into but not sure about my corals. I have some shroom, xenia, star polyps, yellow/brown polyps and a zoo frag. I assume sitting in a container overnight won't be too stressful but if I get an ammonia spike at all, it might be longer. I need to be prepared ....

Thanks

 

[SquishyFish]

When I tear the tank down I figured I could take some of my current DSB and put that in the fuge. I am not sure if I should replace the sand or just let it go. The DSB talk of late has me wondering.

Its really up to you. If your concerned about it, place the sand in the fuge and go bare bottom in the DT. Best of both worlds. Sand is easily removed, but still gives the benefits. The one thing I would caution is that if a rock falls in a bare bottom tank, there is no padding.

Anyway, when everything is set back up should I let the system(sand,LR,refuge,sump ...) run overnight to get some of the cloudiness down before adding any livestock? Should I expect an ammonia spike from disturbing my DSB? My DSB is about 7 months old.

I have unfortunately had to break mine down and set it back up about 5 times in the last 3 years. (moving into a house in 2 months..hopefully thats the last time for a while) Anyway...I always break it down and set it back up as quickly as possible. The cloudieness wont bother the fish at all. Set the rock back up (pumps off) as best you can. Coral in...fish in. Fiddle with the rock the next day if you need to. The less stress the better.

Unless you just had an unusual amount of detritus in your tank, you should not see any cycle. From what you have told me of your tank, its shouldnt have any problems.

I have a 29 gal running that I can place my fish into but not sure about my corals. I have some shroom, xenia, star polyps, yellow/brown polyps and a zoo frag. I assume sitting in a container overnight won't be too stressful but if I get an ammonia spike at all, it might be longer. I need to be prepared ....

Again...I would just take it down and back up as quickly as you can and still be careful with the rock. Dont rush it, but be quick.

Use a dust pan (new) to remove the sand.

 

[ellisz]

Cool, thanks.

One more thing I forgot to ask about ... water. I plan on keeping all my water since I am just moving from the upstairs to the downstairs but I need a good way to move the water down.

I had heard that you should not use a garden hose for water but I did so on my old FO tank with no ill results. I would hate to have to move 90 gal of water, 5 gal at a time. I was hoping I could just use a hose and lower in out the window to the basement window and use my Mag7 to pump the water out.

Any thoughts/ideas

 

[SquishyFish]

Personally I have never used a garden hose on the tank, but I do not know of any reason not to. Maybe someone else does though.



Squishy