transferring old reef tank to new bigger tank

Wow. Good luck!

 

Hey thanks. I put more water in the tank and I figure I'll empty some of it out in the morning so I can move it but now I'll have more warm water so I won't have to wait so long to acclimate.

 

This is what it looks like now at 3 am. Will I ever go to sleep or more importantly, will I be able to get up and be ready to do this?;D

 

My new 120 gal reef tank part 1

I started at 1 pm and Mike alias mnm ( fellow reefer and 3reef follower) came over not quite expecting this would get so involved. We had to empty some of the saltwater I had into the new tank temporarily so I could have buckets to break down my 65 gal. I had 11 buckets 4 18 gal bins and 4 5 gal gas cans. Still it was a struggle. We emptied out the water and fish and rocks and coral from the 65 gal tank. We put the fish and coral in an 18 gal bin. Put a battery powered airstone in that had about 16" of airline hose. That was a pain to set up and took away valuable time. I got a heater and put it in. Took all the live rock and wrapped them in wet newspaper and filled an 18 gal bin with them. Found that stinking Stone Crab that ate my baby hippo tang and put him in a jar. Then we proceeded to move the 65 gal tank with about 2" of sand and a full sump and a couple inches of water across to the other side of the room.
Now we had to move the new 120 gal tank into place but it meant we had to empty about 15 gallons of water and some of the rocks. We got it over and it was heavy. Then we put water in to the top to check all the plumbing. One of the overflow hoses had a cut in it and luckily I had a replacement handy to save a trip to the LFS. Remember you can always return what you don't use so save your receipts and overpurchase to save you some grief later.
It was then that it dawned on us that we have to drain about 10 gallons of water out to put the live rock in.
Pictures below are as follows:
1 cloudy start, 2 getting a bit clearer, 3 my buddies Ned and Nemo, 4 My refugium with 6" sand bed with live rock and coming soon is some cheato.
Part 2 is next

 

After I got the rocks in and the water started to clear we set up the canopy on top of the tank. Plugged in the lights and OMG! That's all I could say is the light is so powerful it blew us away. It's an 8X54 T5 48" x 12" retrofit fixture I got on ebay for a very reasonable price and I was thinking about adding 2 metal halides later. Are you kidding me! I was blinded by the light. I might have to cut down on the 10K or something. There is no comparison to the 36" 39w T5's. Don't get caught thinking that way as I had no clue. I was trying to get a 10X54W T5 and I'm glad they didn't have it. This is a minor fix. I might just use 4 of the lights and get the Metal halides anyway or adjust the bulbs. My 65 gal had 4x39W T5's and a 175 MH. It never gave off the light this one does. It could also be that the 65 gal had a completely closed canopy and stand. I'll figure it out. Anyway, after the tank cleared up I took a check on the water parameters and all was well, 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrites, 0 Nitrates. 0 Phosphates. PH dropped to 8.0 (I'll check it daily til it picks up), Calcium 400, 1.026 gravity. Good to go. In went the coral and then the fish. Everything looks OK no casualties Amazing day is all I can say. Finished at 2 am. Whew!
Pictures below are as follows:
1. my power supply has 2 separate shut offs, 2. timers and moonlight dimmers for the lights, 3. Done Deal, 4. Good Night

 

Looks AWESOME! Fine Job! Fine Job!! I know what you went though.. This is one of those things that you say.. "oh, it shouldn't take us that long... " LOL..

 

Yeah I know usually that is the case but this one I knew was going to be a marathon. I'm getting ready to go to the LFS for supplies. Need more rock and water and maybe some cheato. Anybody know a good way to work the light in the fuge? I can hook it up to my timer to go on with my moonlights or 24/7.

 

I did the same thing a few months ago.....from a 75g to a 90g. I started my tank thread when I did the change over. My only major mistake was using the old sand and just dumping it in there. Had a two month cycle as payment. So take what you can use.......

http://www.3reef.com/forums/show-off-your-fish-tanks/pharmrjohns-90g-thread-52614.html

 

Here is some recent pictures of the tank. Yesterday my LFS the Barrier Reef got a fresh batch of West Coast Florida aquacultured rock. It is some great looking rock.: The first picture shows the rock on the left side of the reef. Sorry about the cloudiness but I just dosed with Liquid Reef. There are 3 pictures I took before I got the new rock.

 

excellent job!!