Tomorrow is upgrade day!

[oldedb]

After 2 months of diving head first in to a complex new build and learning a LOT of lessons about plumbing, water flow, and system design... At this point, I hope I have made all of the greatest mistakes in this process.

I am finally ready to move all of the livestock to the new tank... I am moving from a 60 to a 120. I have roughly 60-70 gallons of water that is about 50% new and 50% from water changes on my existing tank. I also have about 50 gallons running in the sump room on a frag tank. All in, I should have enough water. I put 80 lbs of new live sand in the tank. I may need more but wanted to wait and see. I will re-check again before I start, but I have the param's, and temps matched across both tanks.

My Plan:
1. Shut the 60 down and move the rocks/corals in to either the new tank or the frag tank downstairs
2. Siphon tank water in to 1-2 totes
3. Net fish and put in to one tote w/ heater and power head
4. Try to leave inverts for last but if that doesn't work, will probably move them right to the new tank
5. Try to get rock work into a workable aquascape (I know that I will redo once the tank settles down)
6. Add fish and any corals that might be in frag tank or another tote
7. Pump remaining water in to tank and put system online
8. Clean old tank and put up for sale!
9. Depending on the time I finish, I will probably leave the lights off the rest of the day

Should I add a cup of old sand to the new tank? I have had about 10 lbs of live rock in the frag/sump and I am not adding any new rock at this point (I have 50lbs of BRS Pukani that I need to clean/cure).

Any other tips, or things I am forgetting?

 

[nickg]

I would say add a few cups of sand.

And good luck with the build..

 

[marquiseo]

GL, I will be ordering my tank next week for my upgrade.

 

[bobz]

JD,
I did the same thing a couple weeks ago, although I went from a 210 to a 120. My move went well. Couple of things to consider, try not to let the rock sit out in the air, keep submerged if you are not moving from one tank to the other. My fish were in buckets for a few hours with out any issue. Also, you will probably end up with less water than you think since the tank will still have a good amount of water in it with the rock, etc. If your fish are like mine, I pretty much had to take out all the rock to catch them, which of course stirred up a lot of detritus from behind the rock work, etc... good luck!

 

[oldedb]

Bob - good point on the water... I am making a few extra gallons just in case.... Certainly wouldn't be the first thing I misjudged in this project.

 

[oldedb]

Long day.... Got all of the tank transferred over to the new 120 and got most of my Apex programming back up and running. Doesn't seem like a lot of work until you look up and the whole day is gone!

 

[camellia]

Hey if it only took you ONE day your doing great!
Assuming you are going to be using different lighting in the 120 and that your corals are in different positions than they were in the 60 consider if you need to acclimate to new lighting.
Also, if you have any nem's in the tank they may or may not like there new position. Mine moved the same night I moved (physically moved tank and set it back up). I thought it was very close to same rock scape, but it didn't. It ended up in the power head!
Only issues I could come up with to beware of ATM.
GL

 

[oldedb]

Thanks Camelia! No Nems (yet!)..... And I am actually using same lighting w/ more fixtures. I assume some level if acclimation b/c if the increased depth if the water.