Upsizing

[Purevil21]

I am relatively new to saltwater fish, I started my first tank a year ago. I have a 35 gallon hexagon tank with 30 lbs of live rock, two percula clowns, one orange conical star fish, and several hermits and snails. I am using a magnum 350 canister filter, and have a small set of power compact lights.

I have decided to upsize to a 72 gallon bowfront with an overflow and sump. Got a great deal on it, but now I am not sure how to move everything over safely. I don't want to endanger my livestock, but their tank is not going to suffice much longer, the pump is leaking slightly and I broke the glass top doing a water change so now the light is rigged up, but a lot of light isn't making it into the water. I was not sure if I could just mix up 35 gallons of salt water in the new tank and add the 35 gallons from the old one, and just leave the livestock in a 5 gallon bucket until the pump runs for an hour or so to settle things out. Does anyone have any ideas?

 

[melosu58]

Just move everything over to the new tank. I would probably get another 30-40 lbs of LR that`s already cured. That should keep yoy from having an ammonia spike. Dont carry the sand over just get new aragonite sand and start you sand bed all over. Welcome to AA

 

[Purevil21]

So mixing the 35 gallons I currently have with 35 gallons of freshly mixed salt water shouldn't hurt the livestock. I guess it would essentially be the same as a 50% water change for them. I am picking up about 50 lbs of base rock to put in the new tank with the 30 lbs I already have. How long can the live stock be in a 5 gallon bucket while I am moving everything over?

 

[melosu58]

They should be OK for a few hours. I would get the BR and cure it first so you can put all the rock in at the same time. We have a good article in our SW articles section on curing rock.

 

[Purevil21]

Cool, the rock I am buying is cured, the guy has about 200lbs of it in a 210 gallon tank. So my plan is to mix up 35 gallons of salt water and get it into the new tank. I am going to make sure the salinity is the same as that in my hexagon, add the new rock then add my rock from the small tank. After that I am going to get the live stock into a bucket, put all the remaining water into the new tank and let the pump start cycling it till it clears up, hopefully about an hour or so. At that time I should be able to add my live stock to the new tank. Should that work?

 

[melosu58]

It should work as long as all the rock is cured. Good luck.

 

[Purevil21]

Thanks for the advice. Like I said about the rock, it is coming out of a tank that is being broken down. The tank was running for about 2 years, he decided to get out of it, sold all the fish and now he is parting out the tank. I think 50 lbs, plus the 30 I have should be enough for the new set up. Thanks again for your help.

 

[mr_X]

i would transport that rock fully submerged in sw to limit die off, depending on how long of a trip it is.

 

[melosu58]

That much LR should be good to go. Good luck on the tank.

 

[Purevil21]

It's about an hour trip, would it need to be fully submerged?

 

[mr_X]

i would..just in case.

 

[melosu58]

I agree with Doug.