Moving to a new tank

[GatorAviator]

Hi! I'm trying to setup a 55 gallon tank at an assisted living facility. We mixed the saltwater a few days ago. I bought 50lbs of sand (20lbs of which was live sand) and added it to the tank yesterday. There are no rocks, fish, or corals in there. Today, I agreed to buy the contents of a 75 gallon aquarium on craigslist. This includes 50 lbs of live rock, 5 fish, an anemone, a kenya tree coral, and some green star polyps. Do I need to drain my tank and use all of his water and sand? Can I move everything into my tank at once if I do that? If not, what am I going to do with everything while I wait?

 

[chuysvt]

You can use it..just make sure the levels are ok and do a water change before you add to the new tank...WHAT LIGHTS DO YOU HAVE?...GOT MAKE SURE ITS THE RIGHT LIGHT FOR THE CORAL AND THE ANEMONE...

 

[GatorAviator]

I'm buying the light fixture from his tank so it should be okay, it's an aquatic life 2x54 T5.

But if I just use the water and sand already in my tank, won't it cause that "New Tank Syndrome" when I add all of his live rock, fish, and coral at one time?

 

[chuysvt]

I WOULD USE everything that comes with the tank and later add what you have,wait for the tank to settle down because of the move..you will need a stronger light for the anemone..you want 3-5 watts per gallon....try to sale the anemone there very hard to keep in a tank that has not been up for a long time..

 

[chuysvt]

if you have live rock and its cure you can add it right now but only if its cure..

 

[little_fish]

I would take all the live rock from that set up but ditch the sand. Sand collects crap over time and will cause huge water quality issues when you disturb it after a long time, and its a rather pain to clean out to reuse it again.

Transport the rock in the water, then add them right to the tank. Make sure the ones of the bottom are sitting on the glass bottom. The sand will shift around over time and could cause a rock slide, which in a glass tank could cause a real disaster.

You will want to buy some dry rocks to bring the amount of rock up to 1-2 lbs per gallon. My favorite place to buy dry rock is MarcoRocks Aquarium Products Its much cheaper than purchasing live rock and in a few weeks it will be live anyways, leaving you with more money for the good stuff.

I would either take the fish to the LFS and return them or see if they can hold on to them for the several weeks its going to take before you can add them. You will need to cycle the tank or monitor for a cycle after moving the rocks (do you have test kits yet? You need the ASAP!). Then you can add the fish back one every 3 weeks. Can you tell us the fish you are purchasing? Adding them in least aggressive to most aggressive is important, and other fish dont do well in new tanks.

The lights that come with the tank arent enough to support any corals, and definitely not an anemone. Nems (anemones) are very challenging animals to keep, requiring pristine water conditions and higher than average lighting. We dont recommend them in tanks younger than a year old. So until you get better lighting, I wouldnt recommend keeping any photosynthetic animals.

Also do you know why this guy is getting rid of the tank? You dont want to buy his problems if they are so bad he wants to quit.

 

[kevdogg]

Hi! I'm trying to setup a 55 gallon tank at an assisted living facility. We mixed the saltwater a few days ago. I bought 50lbs of sand (20lbs of which was live sand) and added it to the tank yesterday. There are no rocks, fish, or corals in there. Today, I agreed to buy the contents of a 75 gallon aquarium on craigslist. This includes 50 lbs of live rock, 5 fish, an anemone, a kenya tree coral, and some green star polyps. Do I need to drain my tank and use all of his water and sand? Can I move everything into my tank at once if I do that? If not, what am I going to do with everything while I wait?

I would leave his sand alone and use your sand. Using his sand would require a quite intensive cleaning process which would kill all the bacteria in the sand anyway. Your sand will turn live if a few short weeks due to the live rock. From what I know you are going to want at LEAST a 4 bulb T5 fixture, a 6 bulb would be preferred.

Make sure to keep the live rock (LR) wet when transporting it. Any exposure to the air will be killing off the bacteria that it holds. If possible I would buy more LR before you transfer anything. The rule of thumb is 1.5-2lbs per gallon. The more LR the less chance you have of having your tank cycle.

To reduce the stress on the fish I would use as much of the old water as possible. The shock of different water parameters along with the stress of transport may be to much for the fish.


As far as the nem, watch it like a hawk. If it dies in your tank there is a very good possibility that it will nuke the rest of the tank with it. Most of the time it is recommended that you wait at lest a year before adding one. Since you will be adding everything at the same time I think you will be fine, but I did feel the need to warn you.

Hope I didn't scare you to much! Look forward to seeing the tank progress! :mrgreen:

 

[kevdogg]

Ninja'd :mrgreen: