# iTS happening! Its Happening- I am getting a full set up 110 on Sat- HelP!!



## Letigrama (Jul 6, 2008)

Hi all, 

After months of looking and looking, I am finally picking up a 110g tall system with 30g sump, with everything, including fish and corals. I am TERRIFIED! 

So im preparing big rubbermaid buckets etc. its 80 pounds live rock filled with buble tip anemones, OMG!. I am not taking any chances and transporting everything in water.... but of course, questions questions.

1. Do i bring all the water home, or do I bring say 50% and make another %50 here?

2. Do I add some new live sand? Crushed coral in existing tank is 3 inches deep and supposed to be 1 year old.

3. Any special care with the anemones, and what about any coral or anemone that is attached to the glass of the tank, what to do?

4. when i set up the tank in place- order- place cabinet- place tank- place plumbing and sump- put water in- run it- place live rock and coral- place fish last - or different order?

Any other tips that you might have on moving livestock is greatly appreciated!. Pics will follow soon!


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## wtac (Mar 17, 2006)

Take a breather and get organized and prepared 



Letigrama said:


> So im preparing big rubbermaid buckets etc. its 80 pounds live rock filled with buble tip anemones, OMG!. I am not taking any chances and transporting everything in water.... but of course, questions questions.
> 
> 1. Do i bring all the water home, or do I bring say 50% and make another %50 here?


Not sure what size RM buckets you are using or timeframe you are anticipating from beginning of teardown, transport and have a running system but prepare for "delays".

Using the Brute trash cans for NSW is a start but I suggest that you get the "storage totes" to put the LR w/anems into at your place should things take longer than expected...they usually do, IME. Having a heater and powerhead/pump-air stone for each will give you plenty of time to get the system up and running to your satisfaction.

Try to save ~1/3-1/2 of the original water.

*NOTE:* fill the buckets w/water prior to removing LR and livestock. You want that water as free of debris/crud as possible.

Have enough of buckets with lids for the LR w/ anems and it also fill with water.

With fish, fill bucket 1/2 w/water for 2-3 fish each.



Letigrama said:


> 2. Do I add some new live sand? Crushed coral in existing tank is 3 inches deep and supposed to be 1 year old.


After you've drained the water and removed the LR and livestock, let the water settle and it's draining w/gravel vacuuming. There's going to be ALOT of crap. Vacuuming or not, scooping it out will disrupt the O2 gradient for de-NO3...why not get as much crap out of it anyways.



Letigrama said:


> 3. Any special care with the anemones, and what about any coral or anemone that is attached to the glass of the tank, what to do?


With anems you can use a plastic card and work the foot off the glass. Generally only SPS and soft corals will encrust/grow onto the glass. I use a single edge razor for softies and SPS..well...it can challenging if you don't have a system prepared for them.



Letigrama said:


> 4. when i set up the tank in place- order- place cabinet- place tank- place plumbing and sump- put water in- run it- place live rock and coral- place fish last - or different order?


It really depends on your energy level and mental alertness once you have the system in place and not "hooked up". This is where you don't want to make mistakes late into the night. As in 1., this is where having the storage totes come in handy . Get some rest and carry on if you need to.



Letigrama said:


> Any other tips that you might have on moving livestock is greatly appreciated!. Pics will follow soon!


Beg/borrow/steal buckets!

Once you have your system plumbed up, you have two choices:
1. FW run for leaks and integrity
2. Roll the dice and go for it.

Add substrate
Add saved water from buckets
From Storage Totes:

pump out 1/4-1/3 of water and add to system
replace pumped out water from storage tote with prepared NSW
add one bucket of prepared NSW to system
repeat

All the while, start aquascaping and leave areas for LR with anems, coral.

Once you have the display ~3/4-4/5 full, doing that repetitive water transfer list, start adding water from the storage totes.

As gruelling, long and PITA process as it seems, there are short-cuts/time savers but you really have to know what you are doing or have an experienced reefer with you through the process from start to finish.

HTH


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## Car2n (Jun 7, 2011)

Keep in mind that buckets and bins full of water and rocks will be very heavy.
Good luck.


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## Letigrama (Jul 6, 2008)

Thank you all. Definitely some great advice. 

Time dedicated is full day
Expecting tons of delay
Level of energy is too high 
Weight is not a problem. Husband is coming along.
I'm definitely will give a run at the system for leaks before putting livestock and LR.
then I will take some water out enough to let me aquascape, put in LR top up again with the water previously taken out, check again, and then fnally add fish. I will have an airstone and heater for buckets with fish as I'm think this will tak several hours... starting with BTAs wasn't my plan but I got a good deal and I'm dedicated and do research. I hope everything will be good. 
With the interchanges of used SW and NSW, would you say 50% and 50% or more of used SW?
I'm terrified of an ammonia spike. Should I put anything to prevent it? You guus recommesn any product I should put on right away?
Thanks a lot!!


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## sig (Dec 13, 2010)

Anemones should be never taken out of water.
Air stone is not highly necessary, but powerheads to move water are required.

with 50% of the used SW and lightly rinsed sand you should be OK, but you will go trough cycling anyway.
I switched 5 thanks in the last year and always got small amounts of cyanobacteria in the first 1-2 weeks.

for the small tanks and no sump I was using chemipure and it helped, but for the 100G you will need a lot and it is very costly.

Currently, I always use GFO and Carbon in TLF reactors running in the sump. You can use them as HOB, but they are ugly addition to the tank.
With this approach I went trough 3 big tanks swap and even with 70% water change never had outbreak of any algae and never lost Live stock

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## J_T (Mar 25, 2011)

What time does the move start? As I am down the road, if you need, I may be able to come over.

If this was me... I would take the fish, and coral to a store, and beg for credit. This will reduce a large amount of your stress. The rock is not going to mind a day or two of sitting in pails with power heads, and heaters.

I have some coming, and goings tomorrow, but if you need a hand, let me know. I have moved my share of tanks.


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## wildexpressions (May 3, 2010)

lots of good advice there. Good luck with the move. I'm sure it will go well. I agree about the cycle. It will cycle regardless of what you do. IME I can move a tank across the room and it will cycle


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## HapsCorals (Feb 7, 2013)

Also have moved my share of tanks and personally I would say :

-try to keep 50-70% of the water, have the rest already made up at home mixing with powerheads and if you can heated to the temperature of the aquarium water. 

-setup a brute or a rubbermaid bin with some rock at home for the nems and fish for while you work. (with heater and circulation)

-I would only keep the rock, moving and cleaning the sand will be a pain, and chances are it will cause a spike if its not thoroughly cleaned enough, imo you're better off tossing the old stuff and changing it out its not a huge expense in the grand scheme of things (just make sure your rinse the new stuff very well or even start with the stuff that comes bagged with water)

-Setup your equipment and aquascape however you like (do some research as there are some awesome techniques you can use on your live rock) 

-slowly introduce your inhabitants, I would say try to drip and/or temperature aclimatize them as they will have already been through alot of stress, 

if you go to a big als you can pick up the large styrofoam boxes they get fish and other goods shipped in with, they're great for transporting fish/coral/rock and hold the temperature well. 


Good Luck and have fun! its going to be a doozy as they say... 

-Hap


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## teemee (Aug 29, 2009)

I've done plenty of tank moves, too.
Check your water chemistry daily for 2 weeks.
I'll never forget I checked the first 7 days, thinking all was good in the world.
Day eight I got an ammonia spike and I lost a ton of fish and coral.
So, If you have the buckets for it (personally, I would get a rain barrel, the kind you can get from a hardware store), make as much water as you possibly can. And if your tank doesn't spike, fingers crossed for you, you won't have to make any next week.
If the tank has sand, and you guys can still lift it leave it in, which may mean leaving in a few pieces of base rock, too. I don't care how much you wash sand when you bring it home, it always seems to release ammonia after its been moved around a lot.
Very excited for you.
If want to borrow buckets, let me know. I think I still have 5 or six kicking around.
Very excited for you!


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## Letigrama (Jul 6, 2008)

Hi all!!!!!

Sorry it has been an amazingly busy weekend!

I have good news, the move was exhausting but absoluting rewarding, so far we have excellent parameters, fish and coral are really happy and we only had one casualty, a royal gramma died in a RM bucket and came floating. When I picked it up, her face look like this . im not kidding, she stress so much it seems she just watch evil dead. It was kinda funny and very sad i did that to the little thing.

I am posting pics and details of my new adventure in another post, thank you all, I did a few mistakes, but my new fish seem happy with their rookie new owner


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## wtac (Mar 17, 2006)

Congrats! Sorry to hear about the Royal Gramma.

So...how many hrs from start to finish?


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## Letigrama (Jul 6, 2008)

Aha! hence the question, we left at 10 am,. move started about 11am. got home at 2pm, finished with everything at 7 pm.

On Sunday I got up and I had to re-do all the aquascape and do some minor adjustments to the OF.... I will say overall, 12 hours for everything.



I just posted the whole story with pics on the general marine forum.. very excited!


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## J_T (Mar 25, 2011)

For the lazy...

http://gtaaquaria.com/forum/showthread.php?t=46165


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## Letigrama (Jul 6, 2008)

J_T said:


> For the lazy...
> 
> http://gtaaquaria.com/forum/showthread.php?t=46165


LOL., thanks JT!


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