PHOTOS! Finally a tank update!

[ryanj1105]

I'll let you know how it comes out. It's not starphire/low iron. Just standard 1/4 inch glass. I have seen photos of the guys work and it look flawless at least in photos. He just does this on the side. Told me yesterday that he had got my glass and was prepping it, and would be assembling and water testing this weekend. Should be able to pick it up on Tuesday Next week

 

My buddy owns the lfs, and he just gave me his logon to his dealer so I can log right on their site, fill his shopping cart with things I need, and pay dealer prices!!! Boom I'm psyched.

 

lucky you!!!! can i go shopping too? lol

[smeagol108]

So today I got all new ro/di cartfidges and membranes as I haven't used my unit in six years. Also got a duel inline tfs meter, salifert alkalinity test (hate this royal nature one I have) and a bottle of coral rx. Ac70, 75 watt neotherm, 15lbs of reef cleaners rocks, and a mr Aqua foam Matt are all on order. Best of all, got the tank!!

[smeagol108]

Okay Nano Reef, I need some help. So I originally thought I was going to do this tank transfer in one day (new sand, current live rock). Now I am questioning this mainly due to aquascaping. So in my current 6 gallon tank, I have about 7-8 lbs of live rock, with probably 45 different corals spread across the tank, many encrusting onto rock already.

 

if I keep all the coral on the rocks they are on currently I am forced to design my scape around where those corals were placed.

 

I also have 15lbs of brand new reef rock from reef cleaners and its some awesome stuff.

 

So multiple questions here, what would you guys do?

 

1. Setup new tank with new reef rock and let it cycle, than deal with cutting corals off old rock getting onto new?

 

2. Setup new tank with some new rock and all old rock that has corals on it (eliminate the cycle - mostly) and scape in relation to how the corals were on the old rocks? Or even just don't worry about the scape at first, get everything moved, and than start taking corals off rocks and smashing rocks to build a scape?

 

3. setup new tank with old rock and new but take corals off first and put in buckets while scape is done and tank setup, than introduce and reglue corals once the scape is complete?

 

lastly, whats the best way to remove things that have encrusted already? (acros, montis, favias, etc?) Do you chip at the rock and try to bring a small piece of rock with it? Or just cut it at the base (acros) and reglue?

 

Never thought getting a new tank would be so stressful. I was so excited for it and to do the transfer in one day, but now I am more concerned about the scape being perfect than transferring in one day, so I wanted some opinions from you all.

thanks!!!

[pgrVII]

I would mix the old and new together and leave the coral alone if possible just to cut down on work. When I started my new tank I had most the rock either in my tank a while or it was being cured for a few months in a tub in my garage. Just make sure to have water ready incase things start to get dirty and toxic.

It's fun setting up a new tank! No stressing enjoy it!

[metrokat]

If it were me I would sketch out the new scape I wanted. Shapes and things. Then I would see if any of my old rocks fit the new scape I planned. And use those rocks as-is. Then I would figure out the best way to remove the corals from old rocks to glue them to new places. Cold chisel and hammer works best along with bone cutters to get the encrusted part off.

You can;t cycle the new tank with corals in it so if you can put some new rock in the old tank to start to seed them, it would help.

You pretty much have to run 2 tanks till the new one cycles.

There isn't any right or wrong way to do things, nothing stopping you from doing it many different ways combined.

HTH

[pgrVII]

If it were me I would sketch out the new scape I wanted. Shapes and things. Then I would see if any of my old rocks fit the new scape I planned. And use those rocks as-is. Then I would figure out the best way to remove the corals from old rocks to glue them to new places. Cold chisel and hammer works best along with bone cutters to get the encrusted part off.

You can;t cycle the new tank with corals in it so if you can put some new rock in the old tank to start to seed them, it would help.

You pretty much have to run 2 tanks till the new one cycles.

There isn't any right or wrong way to do things, nothing stopping you from doing it many different ways combined.

HTH

Follow this advice^

[tibbsy07]

If it were me I would sketch out the new scape I wanted. Shapes and things. Then I would see if any of my old rocks fit the new scape I planned. And use those rocks as-is. Then I would figure out the best way to remove the corals from old rocks to glue them to new places. Cold chisel and hammer works best along with bone cutters to get the encrusted part off.

You can;t cycle the new tank with corals in it so if you can put some new rock in the old tank to start to seed them, it would help.

You pretty much have to run 2 tanks till the new one cycles.

There isn't any right or wrong way to do things, nothing stopping you from doing it many different ways combined.

HTH

This. I'm still figuring out what I'm doing with my own rescaping. Kat has it down pat.

[smeagol108]

Thank you all for your responses. Sorry to pm u all!!! My initial goal was to have no cycle or a very mini cycle by transferring it all at one time with the water and everything but like kat said, that than forces me to use corals where they were. I think I'm gonna try to start with mostly new rock and a few pieces of old that don't have corals on them. Cycle, than deal with cutting things out of the old tank to get in the new tank or try to use some rocks as is.

I am very excited this is all coming together and to finally have a little space for fish more than my gobies and pink streaked wrasse. Thanks again!!

[metrokat]

Follow this advice^

 

This. I'm still figuring out what I'm doing with my own rescaping. Kat has it down pat.

It's trial and error. But I've been overwhelmed myself. And I just pissed off my 3 year old colony enough to kill it during the re-scape.

[pgrVII]

I had success my way when I transfered over but like I said I had established rock in my old tank and 50 lbs in a tub that had been seeded for a few months,also,I didn't have the coral collection miss kat has to worry about,I had coral to transfer but not as much and most were pretty run of the mill hardy corals.

[thecoralbeauty]

Gena might be someone good to weigh in on this as well as she just did a transfer too, and it was relatively an insta-reef.

I can't say anything that anyone else hasn't already said. Excited to see the new tank!

[smeagol108]

Gena might be someone good to weigh in on this as well as she just did a transfer too, and it was relatively an insta-reef.

I can't say anything that anyone else hasn't already said. Excited to see the new tank!

Someone get miss Gena in here or point me to the thread. I am excited to see the new tank too!! (theres a picture of it empty in the first post of this thread), im just been so busy on weekends not sure when it wil get set up. I am hoping this sunday I can at least get it wet, but I don't want to start unless I know I have all day to devote to it.

BTW, reefcleaners dry rock is awesome!!!

[thecoralbeauty]

http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/361784-the-pastel-garden/

there's her thread!

[ReefWeeds]

I agree with Kat as well. Although I'm really enjoying seeing the responses as I'm setting up my 12L and will eventually transfer over some of the stuff in my biocube and all of the stuff in my 6 gallon. I am planning on setting up the rockscape, then cycling it with the new tank. I will be adding a couple pieces of rock from the biocube and the 6 gallon to the 12L to help speed the cycle. But I like Kat's idea of designing first and seeing if anything you've got will work.

 

Gena definitely did an insta-reef. However, she also (if I'm not mistaken) used all the rock from the two tanks she combined, so she definitely saw little to no cycle.

[smeagol108]

I want to do an instareef, but I don't think it will be possible as I think I want to end using more of my new rock than my old, although I will definitely use the old to get it started. I have already been playing with the reef cleaners rock ont eh table last night making scapes up so now its just time to try and see if anything from the six gallon really works well in that scape.

 

step 1, use some fishing line and derim my fluval edge. than have it running derimmed while I figure this out. I cant even get the rocks out without doing this. It was one thing before they had corals on them, but now that they do, I think theres only like one that would make it out of the opening. I would really like to take a few out for a few minutes and see how I can fit them in with the new rock - this will help me decide what to bring forward and what to not.

[Steensj2004]

Whatever you do, have everything planned out second by second. Inevitably things wont go exactly as planned, but take it from someone who learned the hard way. The better you plan, the easier it will be.

[smeagol108]

Whatever you do, have everything planned out second by second. Inevitably things wont go exactly as planned, but take it from someone who learned the hard way. The better you plan, the easier it will be.

This thankfully is something I'm good at. I have to make plans at work 100s if not thousands of steps long. Lol. I'm an IT engineer

[Steensj2004]

This thankfully is something I'm good at. I have to make plans at work 100s if not thousands of steps long. Lol. I'm an IT engineer

That will be to your advantage. If it was me, I would use as much of the old rock as you can( assuming it is good and not covered with stuff you don't want to transfer like bad algae). Kat has you headed in the right direction, she is right on! Good luck!

[smeagol108]

So here's the final question i think. If I am gonna stack rocks to make structure what's best to hold them together?

[brandon429]

in all of this transfer, can you delay the fish inclusion or do they have to go in fast too

 

my brainstorm is a small set of cured live rocks, even if the minority in the new scape, can run all your frags in terms of ammonia oxidation. its fish that require changing that ratio

 

with pics we can get the right ratio

 

preventing a cycle imo is predicting where raw ammonia might and wont show up

 

rotten sand bed organics (hey, dont transfer em lol)

 

rocks kept out of water so long you kill six fireworms and they rot in new tank (don't emerse em)

 

fish pee (delay em)

and off hand I cant think of any others. using api is known to cause ammonia in .25% of the testing population

 

da dat ding

[smeagol108]

I can definitely hold off on the few very small fish. I really was just trying to figure out the best way to make a scale in a new tank incorporating both the rocks from the old (mature live rock) and some of the new dry rock while figuring out how to deal with the corals on all the rocks. I think kat answered that by taking them off like I thought. It's really the only good way I can use the old rocks in the new scape without designing the new scape solely based on where I had the corals on old rocks (height wise). Definitely in for some fun breaking removing corals from the old rocks so they can be incorporated into an entirely new scape and than corals placed back!

[smeagol108]

Okay, so yesterday was the day...

 

20 gallons of saltwater mixed and at temp, rockspace decided on, so I decided it was time to go. First step was moving the fluval edge to a temporary spot so its space could be reclaimed by the new tank. Drained edge, moved it, set it back up. Cleaned table, cut foam pad, and placed new tank. I then rinsed my caribsea live oolite sand over and over in tap water for like two hours. I didn't really want all the nasties that normally come in the bag and the die off from it all. once done, I did a final rinse in some RO water and placed in the tank. Began filling with new water and water from my edge. My edge prob underwent 3-4 1.5 gallons changes yesterday and my corals were all probably like WTF!!!

 

 

I wish I had the space to keep both tanks up to make this a little easier, but I didn't. So I ended up building the scape I wanted with the new rocks and taking many photos. lol. As I really couldn't keep the other tank up, I kind of sloppily piled all my old live rock and corals into the new tank with the new scape. so pretty crowded in there now but not too bad and not what I want it to remain as. I also moved two small scoops of my old sand bed to begin seeding the new. My hope is, by moving all the rock over that I wont experience any cycle/ a very very mini cycle, as I have not increased bioload at all during this move. I will be watching closely with water on hand.

 

 

Now I just need my nanobox duo. I plan on leaving the tank alone for like a month to let the old live rock seed the new dry rock, and than will most likely rescape to the original design I came up with using just the new rock. Is one month of this up and running with all new rock, all old rock, and the same inhabitants long enough to get the new rock fully bio-capable? I would like to eventually pull out all the old live rock the came from my edge and just use the new reef cleaners rock in the scape I came up with. Heres some pictures of the scape I came up with, embarrassed to show how it is currently.... lol

 

The tank is setup peninsula style, so the first pick is the front and the second pick is the back.

[pgrVII]

Okay, so yesterday was the day... [/size]

 

20 gallons of saltwater mixed and at temp, rockspace decided on, so I decided it was time to go. First step was moving the fluval edge to a temporary spot so its space could be reclaimed by the new tank. Drained edge, moved it, set it back up. Cleaned table, cut foam pad, and placed new tank. I then rinsed my caribsea live oolite sand over and over in tap water for like two hours. I didn't really want all the nasties that normally come in the bag and the die off from it all. once done, I did a final rinse in some RO water and placed in the tank. Began filling with new water and water from my edge. My edge prob underwent 3-4 1.5 gallons changes yesterday and my corals were all probably like WTF!!![/size]

 

[/size]

 

I wish I had the space to keep both tanks up to make this a little easier, but I didn't. So I ended up building the scape I wanted with the new rocks and taking many photos. lol. As I really couldn't keep the other tank up, I kind of sloppily piled all my old live rock and corals into the new tank with the new scape. so pretty crowded in there now but not too bad and not what I want it to remain as. I also moved two small scoops of my old sand bed to begin seeding the new. My hope is, by moving all the rock over that I wont experience any cycle/ a very very mini cycle, as I have not increased bioload at all during this move. I will be watching closely with water on hand. [/size]

 

[/size]

 

Now I just need my nanobox duo. I plan on leaving the tank alone for like a month to let the old live rock seed the new dry rock, and than will most likely rescape to the original design I came up with using just the new rock. Is one month of this up and running with all new rock, all old rock, and the same inhabitants long enough to get the new rock fully bio-capable? I would like to eventually pull out all the old live rock the came from my edge and just use the new reef cleaners rock in the scape I came up with. Heres some pictures of the scape I came up with, embarrassed to show how it is currently.... lol[/size]

 

The tank is setup peninsula style, so the first pick is the front and the second pick is the back.

Like the scape man!

[smeagol108]

Like the scape man!

thanks! I really dig it too, and it leaves some good open areas and creates nice shadows. I just need to wait until the live rock seeds the dry rock enough that I can remove the live rock. Do you think a month is gonna be long enough for this to happen?

 

heres a not clear wet pic, not all the way filled yet, and no live rock or coral yet from about my halfway point in the project yesterday. I setup the scape just like in the pics above in the tank, and than like I said I filled it all in with my live rock as temporary way to eliminate a cycle on this guy.

 

The edge is already in the trash. lol. it had a huge crack in one corner and was gonna blow at any time. wasn't really safe to keep up and running.

 

[pgrVII]

Yea a month should be just fine my friend,I cooked mine for I think a month or two, I have a 65 gallon drum in my garage for said purposes lol. I should probably put the dry pukani in there and cure it awhile just for the heck of it.