Need Advice with transfering from Nuvo16 to Nuvo Fusion 20

[J11293]

Hello Everyone,

 

In the coming week I will be preparing to move everything from my Nuvo 16g to my new Nuvo Fusion 20g. I have everything from coral to fish so its going to be an interesting move. The other thing is that im moving houses so the fusion will be set up at the new house. I have some questions about the moving process to make it as succesful as possible.

 

Now for my question, my plan is to add new live sand to the fusion and transfer everything over from the 16g including all the water. I will put about 30% new water in the new tank. With the new live sand will this cause the tank to cycle again or crash? Or will this work fine? After reading on multiple forums it just doesnt seem like a good idea to keep the same sand. Also has anyone ever tried washing out their live sand to avoid the cloudiness? In regards to the water is this okay taking it from the one tank to establish the other?

[kimberbee]

Can you add some more info? I am curious since my lease is up in 6 months and I may have to move my whole tank, but might upgrade at that time too.

 

How long has your tank been up? Can you provide a pic so we can see how full it is?

 

My Biocube was set up at someone's house when I bought it. I kept all the same sand, rock, and water since it had minimal life in it at the time. I drained most of the water into 5 gal buckets (only water left was too low to siphon out) and put the corals in the buckets with the rocks. Drove it all back to my apartment and put everything back in. It took a day for the water to clear, then I re-scaped to my liking. I'm convinced that my strange algae issues around weeks 2-3 were caused by disturbing the sand bed and mixing everything up.

[cindyp]

i've done this from a 3g to 8g with no issues.

no extensive cycling needed. i DID add new live

rock though (which technically, needs a new cycling,

but i tested params and they were cool, so you know,

patience, not a forte) and one old live rock and a handful

of old live sand to "seed" the new tank.

 

the tank is 7 weeks old and i've been running without

any issue at all. but i have to wonder if a bigger tank

might pose a bigger challenge? i really don't know. i can

only tell you how i moved my tank. but from research,

many people do it all in one go. i'd google a bit or maybe

someone who's gone through with larger tanks can offer

insight.

[Polarcollision]

If I had the live sand to do over again, I'd wash it in salt water to clear out some of that cloudiness. You can take some rinsed sand from the established tank to seed the new tank too. Not sure how far you're traveling: If the live rock and sand stay wet and warm and oxygenated you should have minimal die-off. Maybe have test kit for ammonia and nitrite and something on hand to neutralize it just in case.

 

I'd be careful about adding old water to the new tank if it's going to be a long time without heat or aeration and also if it's water from a disturbed sand bed. When I lived on a sailboat, water pumped in from the ocean had an awful smell from everything in it dying (after about 6 hours).

[cindyp]

i'd use NEW live sand with maybe a cup

or half cup of old sand to seed. and maybe

just a small portion of old water as well.

[Mariaface]

If the rest of your biological filtration is good (live rock, filter floss, etc), you shouldn't have a problem replacing the sandbed. Do rinse some of it in tank water (likely after you've removed everything else) to bring with you and seed the new sand. And don't bother taking all the water with you if you'd need to disturb the sandbed to get to it. Just make sure you keep the rocks/corals/fish in tank water during the trip, maybe get an air pump that'll connect to your car (or run on batteries, I dunno).

 

Try doing a relatively large water change a day or two before the move, too, to bring the tank water closer to what 'brand new saltwater' parameters are. That way the acclimation from old tank to new tank water won't be as stark, and you won't need to bring all 15 gallons with you.