Transferring tank and reusing sand/rock question

[wh1skey6]

Long story short, I am taking over a neglected 29G. It has signs of vermetid snails in the rock, moderate green bubble algae, and micro growth in the DSB. Since I have to break the tank down and move it, I decided I wasn't going to try to revive or save the current set up. Rather, I am going to fire up my old Evo 13.5 and transfer. Here comes the questions:

 

1) Should I reuse anything (sand, rocks, etc) from the 29G? I'm nervous I'd just be transferring one problem to another tank. 

1a) Is it "safe" to seed the new tank with some sand or maybe a rock to start the cycle? Or should I use bio-spira instead?

2) Stock are two clowns, yellow goby bonded with a pistol. Pistol has low bioload but three fishes seems like its pushing it for a 13.5. I am considering making this a BB so the goby and pistol may find a new home. Thoughts on keeping all four?

3) In breaking down the 29G, I was going to do it slowly until the Evo is up and running. Water change, take a rock home, wait a week, take a rock, etc. (I have all the time in the world to move the tank). Hoping this doesn't cause a crash in the 29G.

4) Corals are two softies (zoa and something I'm not sure). Should these be ok to transfer without bringing diseases into the new tank? Provided I can get them off the rock? 

5) For the rocks that have vermetid or green bubble algae, is scrubbing them in a bucket with tank water good enough? Or will they require a nuke/cook and start over?

 

[seabass]

11 minutes ago, wh1skey6 said:

1) Should I reuse anything (sand, rocks, etc) from the 29G? I'm nervous I'd just be transferring one problem to another tank. 

1a) Is it "safe" to seed the new tank with some sand or maybe a rock to start the cycle? Or should I use bio-spira instead?

2) Stock are two clowns, yellow goby bonded with a pistol. Pistol has low bioload but three fishes seems like its pushing it for a 13.5. I am considering making this a BB so the goby and pistol may find a new home. Thoughts on keeping all four?

3) In breaking down the 29G, I was going to do it slowly until the Evo is up and running. Water change, take a rock home, wait a week, take a rock, etc. (I have all the time in the world to move the tank). Hoping this doesn't cause a crash in the 29G.

4) Corals are two softies (zoa and something I'm not sure). Should these be ok to transfer without bringing diseases into the new tank? Provided I can get them off the rock? 

5) For the rocks that have vermetid or green bubble algae, is scrubbing them in a bucket with tank water good enough? Or will they require a nuke/cook and start over?

1. You could rinse the sand very thoroughly with tap water.  You'd want to wash it until it rinses clear.  If you really want, you could save a cup of sand taken from the top layer to seed the other sand that was washed.  If you feel there is nothing worth saving, then just wash it all.  Of course you could use all new sand if you wished too.  As far as nitrifying bacteria, it could come from sand, rock, a bottled bacteria culture, or nothing at all (in each case you'll eventually end up with nitrifying bacteria.
2. I'd probably re-home the goby/shrimp pair, especially if you really want it to bare bottom.  All of that livestock might be a little much for a 13.5 gallon.  However, it might be "possible" to keep them all.
3. How do you plan to remove the vermetid snails from the rocks?  If you insist on starting without any, maybe new rock would be the way to go.  You could do fishless cycling with new rock (building up the biofilter), then just transfer the livestock afterwards.  But if you want to use the old rock, I'd probably move them all the same day.
4. If the corals are healthy, there's a good chance they don't contain predators.  Sometimes it can be difficult to remove zoanthids.  Plus, there's a chance that vermetid snails have made a home within the colony.
5. Vermetid snails can be difficult to fully eradicate without killing the rock.  You might be able to deal with the bubble algae by using Vibrant (although that with likely take many weeks of dosing).  Sounds like your goals align more with using new rock.  The old rock can be cleaned and dried for use sometime in the future (or given, or traded to another reefer, or LFS).

[wh1skey6]

13 hours ago, seabass said:

1. You could rinse the sand very thoroughly with tap water.  You'd want to wash it until it rinses clear.  If you really want, you could save a cup of sand taken from the top layer to seed the other sand that was washed.  If you feel there is nothing worth saving, then just wash it all.  Of course you could use all new sand if you wished too.  As far as nitrifying bacteria, it could come from sand, rock, a bottled bacteria culture, or nothing at all (in each case you'll eventually end up with nitrifying bacteria.
2. I'd probably re-home the goby/shrimp pair, especially if you really want it to bare bottom.  All of that livestock might be a little much for a 13.5 gallon.  However, it might be "possible" to keep them all.
3. How do you plan to remove the vermetid snails from the rocks?  If you insist on starting without any, maybe new rock would be the way to go.  You could do fishless cycling with new rock (building up the biofilter), then just transfer the livestock afterwards.  But if you want to use the old rock, I'd probably move them all the same day.
4. If the corals are healthy, there's a good chance they don't contain predators.  Sometimes it can be difficult to remove zoanthids.  Plus, there's a chance that vermetid snails have made a home within the colony.
5. Vermetid snails can be difficult to fully eradicate without killing the rock.  You might be able to deal with the bubble algae by using Vibrant (although that with likely take many weeks of dosing).  Sounds like your goals align more with using new rock.  The old rock can be cleaned and dried for use sometime in the future (or given, or traded to another reefer, or LFS).

From your suggestion, I may just go with clean rock and start fresh. I don't have a sure fire way to get rid of vermetid or gba so nuke/cook and reestablish the biofilter may be the correct way.

 

I don't have that much spare dead LR in my storage. My plan (now) is water change the 29G, take a few of the better pieces of LR, and do a true kill off. Then use those along with my dead LR and start a new cycle in the 13.5 - whether with bacteria in a bottle or seeding it with a little of the sand in the 29G.

 

My question/concern is how much LR can I take from the 29G without causing a crash? I was hoping the water change before and subsequently after would help keep it stable until the 13.5 is ready for the live stock.