transferring old reef tank to new bigger tank

I am getting ready to move all my Live rock, corals, a cup of my old sand for seeding new live sand and my fish from a 65 gal penninsula tank to a 120 gal 48x24 All glass tank with dual overflows. My biggest concern is my fish and coral. I am also taking my first stab a DSB refugium/sump. The manufacturer recommended I use a 6" deep sand bed. He told me to just seed the new sand with a cup of my old sand. I was going to use plain sand but my LFS saleslady told me I should use live sand instead so I have 100 lbs of Carib Sea Arag Alive sand. By the looks of my inhabitants listed below how many will not be able to handle a possible spike. Anyone ever have a similar situation that you can share with me. I picked up 80 gal of fresh saltwater from my LFS today and I Plan on getting the tank Friday and get it ready for the move on Sunday. The new tank is going where the old one is to complicate matters. Anybody out there that can help please leave a thread. Thanks

 

if its possible i would move everything over in 2 parts.
also shake your rock in a bucket of saltwater to remove the grime thats built up.

... you may need enough water for a few buckets it will turn murky pretty quick.

 

When we moved our 75 and 85 to our new house we used large bins with tank water and placed corals that can be together with the fish. And try to save most of your water w/o stirring the sand so you can reuse it since you upgrading to a 120 from a 65. We didnt lose anything during the move. I had 2 others helping and we did it in 5-6 hrs. We also did a 50% water change on both tanks. Try to refill your tank w/o stirring the sand up. It should not take more than a few hours to do all of it. Make sure you acclimate all your fish again. Wouldnt your sun coral be the most likely to be hurt? Maybe it would be best to cycle your new tank and then tear it down enough to be moved into its final place. Then acclimate everything over to that tank.

 

Make sure you acclimate all your fish again. Wouldnt your sun coral be the most likely to be hurt? Maybe it would be best to cycle your new tank and then tear it down enough to be moved into its final place. Then acclimate everything over to that tank.[/quote]

Interesting thoughts.:-/ I never thought about the fish having to be acclimated. I guess I'm going to need some plastic bags or should I do the drip method?
I expect that I will lose some inhabitants as this will bring major stress to all of them. With the exception of the Royal Gramma who is a little skittish and possibly the Lemonpeel only because she's an angelfish or the Disbar Anthias because they're timid by nature I think they are a very hardy bunch. The Cleaner Shrimp will help clean up any parasites they might get too. Any ideas on acclimenting the fish would be helpful.

 

Maybe it would be best to cycle your new tank and then tear it down enough to be moved into its final place. Then acclimate everything over to that tank.[/quote]
I couldn't imagine moving a 120gal reef tank. That is a very heavy undertaking. Tearing it down is an option but only if I can't get the water to have somewhat reasonable parameters. My biggest problem is my old tank stand is on a 4" platform and could be a problem to move. My new stand is 36" high so it doesn't need a stand. I prefer the tank be high.

 

Im going to be upgrading from my 75 to a 120 too. I boought a bunch of bins to drain my tank into. I'll put all my fish and corals into them while i plumb and aquascape the new tank. To make things just that much more difficult the new tank will be in the same place as the old one. I dont expect too much of a cycle since i'l going BB on the new tank. I do expect a sore back though.

 

when i set up a new tank and leave the old one rite how they are. as i fill one i need another to fill. one day my house will be full of tanks. then ill buy a new house. hopefully a small warehouse big open areas and level concrete floors.

 

What do you mean by BB?:-/

 

Why not just leave the old tank as is?? Here is what I did when I upgraded to my 120 from my 34 gallon Red Sea Max.

- Set up and plumbed my 120 and let it cycle

- Once Cycling was complete I moved all fish to QT tank treated with copper for a week. Remember just because the tank is yours does not mean you are not capabile of bringing bad things in to your new tank.

- From there I added the fish is as I felt it was safe. so some fish were in QT for a week and others longer as I wanted to make sure my bioload was not going to be thrown off.

- Once all the fish were in I started to move the corals and inverts a couple at a time until the move was complete. Move any filter sifters as late in the game as possible as your new tank may not have what is needed to support them.

Others may have other methods but this did work well for me... Good Luck!!!

 

I decided to get the tank today as a burst of energy got me going. Nothing beats a good shower!;D So I got my son and went out to Big Al's and picked it up. I brought a two wheeler and it came in very handy getting it from the truck into my house. Once I got it inside we took the cardboard wrap off of it and gently picked it up and slid it into place. Whew! That wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Then I did the plumbing which is easy for an All Glass dual overflow. I found that heating up the ends of the hoses made them much easier to apply. I layed my eggcrate in and added some base rock and about 20 gallons of seawater and I'm still able to move it slowly on the tile floor. I just added another 5 gallons as the 500W titanium heater is kicking butt and heating up the water much faster than I thought. I have it set at 85 degrees because I'm going to be mixing in some cooler water later. This is shaping up better than I expected. I still have my fingers crossed about the parameters. Sunday I will do the transfer as mnm ( a fellow 3reefer ) is coming over to help me out. I'll have more pictures tomorrow. Wish me luck!