Moving tanks

[chasingcorals17]

So I have a 20 gallon that’s been running for a while with rock and fish and corals. 
 

I just set up a 40 breeder with 20 gallon sump two days ago. Put in the Bio-Spira and my clowns from the 20 to start things. 
 

Can I theoretically move all my live rock to the sump of the 40 and have an instant tank? I would be moving over a newly bought dwarf hippo tang (about 1-2 inches so don’t come after me fish police), a fire fish, a YWG, and a gramma. Would the fish be safe? 
 

in my mind I’m thinking yes because the bacteria is already there on the old rocks that would be placed in the sump and therefore would already be available to process ammonia-nitrite-nitrate without a cycle (or regular cycle). 
 

thanks! Would love to know very soon!

[seabass]

5 hours ago, chasingcorals17 said:

I would be moving over a newly bought dwarf hippo tang (about 1-2 inches so don’t come after me fish police)

What's a dwarf hippo tang?  Does that mean that it Is just a juvenile?  What's you plan for this fish going forward?  Maybe another tank size upgrade?

 

5 hours ago, chasingcorals17 said:

So I have a 20 gallon that’s been running for a while with rock and fish and corals.  I just set up a 40 breeder with 20 gallon sump two days ago. Put in the Bio-Spira and my clowns from the 20 to start things.  Can I theoretically move all my live rock to the sump of the 40 and have an instant tank?...

 

in my mind I’m thinking yes because the bacteria is already there on the old rocks that would be placed in the sump and therefore would already be available to process ammonia-nitrite-nitrate without a cycle (or regular cycle). 

The rock from the 20 gallon tank will be able to support the life from the 20 gallon tank.  It should also support a small increase in bio-load, but not a large increase.

 

I'm assuming that you have some new rock in the display tank.  What type of rock (dry rock, live rock, a mix)?  If the new rock isn't an ammonia source, you'll probably be alright.  However, even dry rock can have dried organics on it which will break down into ammonia.

[chasingcorals17]

12 minutes ago, seabass said:

What's a dwarf hippo tang?  Does that mean that it Is it just a juvenile?  What's you plan for this fish going forward?  Maybe another tank size upgrade?

 

The rock from the 20 gallon tank will be able to support the life from the 20 gallon tank.  It should also support a small increase in bio-load, but not a large increase.

 

I'm assuming that you have some new rock in the display tank.  What type of rock (dry rock, live rock, a mix)?  If the new rock isn't an ammonia source, you'll probably be alright.  However, even dry rock can have dried organics on it which will break down into ammonia.

Most likely will house the baby tang until it can no longer live in my tank and either see if I want to upgrade or sell it off. That’s a long way down the road though. 
 

DT is dry rock and new sand, sump would have all media and rock from old tank. 
 

So you think I should be good to go?

[Jakesaw]

1 hour ago, chasingcorals17 said:

Most likely will house the baby tang until it can no longer live in my tank and either see if I want to upgrade or sell it off. That’s a long way down the road though. 
 

 

My clown grew from a baby to a good medium sized clown in about a year.  That baby tang IMHO will outgrow a 20 gallon quickly and it's not enough swimming room for it to establish a comfortable territory. 

 

Hippo tang

https://aquariumstoredepot.com/blogs/news/blue-hippo-tang

 

So we have learned that a blue hippo tang can grow to a foot long, can outlive your cat or dog, and swim miles every day. What does that mean in a salwater aquarium? After all, you likely have seen a small 1 inch blue hippo tang for sale at your local fish or chain store. Please do not let this fool you. A small 1 inch blue hippo tang will quickly outgrow a small aquarium and needs a needs a proper tank tank size for a long and healthy life.

A Blue Hippo Tang (paracanthurus hepatus) needs a proper tank with plenty of space to move around because as we all know Dory just loves to keep swimming! So what does proper tank mean? Well, I’m going to be very honest with you. Dory is a large fish and therefore requires a very large tank with lots of swimming room.  So this means the following:

• Minimum tank length – 60 inches
• Minimum tank volume – 120 gallons
• Recommended tank length – 72 inches
• Recommended tank volume – 180 gallons

-----------------

I say no to Hippo Tang for small tank ( read 20 gal sorry ). - edit Maybe 40 gallon for a while, but the fish WILL outgrow the tank.  

 

 

[chasingcorals17]

18 minutes ago, Jakesaw said:

My clown grew from a baby to a good medium sized clown in about a year.  That baby tang IMHO will outgrow a 20 gallon quickly and it's not enough swimming room for it to establish a comfortable territory. 

 

Hippo tang

https://aquariumstoredepot.com/blogs/news/blue-hippo-tang

 

So we have learned that a blue hippo tang can grow to a foot long, can outlive your cat or dog, and swim miles every day. What does that mean in a salwater aquarium? After all, you likely have seen a small 1 inch blue hippo tang for sale at your local fish or chain store. Please do not let this fool you. A small 1 inch blue hippo tang will quickly outgrow a small aquarium and needs a needs a proper tank tank size for a long and healthy life.

A Blue Hippo Tang (paracanthurus hepatus) needs a proper tank with plenty of space to move around because as we all know Dory just loves to keep swimming! So what does proper tank mean? Well, I’m going to be very honest with you. Dory is a large fish and therefore requires a very large tank with lots of swimming room.  So this means the following:

• Minimum tank length – 60 inches
• Minimum tank volume – 120 gallons
• Recommended tank length – 72 inches
• Recommended tank volume – 180 gallons

-----------------

I say no to Hippo Tang for small tank ( read 20 gal sorry ). - edit Maybe 40 gallon for a while, but the fish WILL outgrow the tank.  

 

 

The tang is going in the 40. Maybe I worded it wrong or you confused my established 20 gallon 

[Jakesaw]

55 minutes ago, chasingcorals17 said:

The tang is going in the 40. Maybe I worded it wrong or you confused my established 20 gallon 

Yep,  was going to delete post when I re-read your OP of 40 gallon instead of 20.  But couldn't find a delete option, so I edited instead.

[seabass]

12 hours ago, chasingcorals17 said:

DT is dry rock and new sand, sump would have all media and rock from old tank.  So you think I should be good to go?

It's like I said in the above post, if the dry rock is 100% free of organics (and about the only way to know for sure is to soak the rock in water for a few days and test for ammonia), and if you don't significantly add to the bio-load, then it should be fine.

 

There are some unknowns here, so I won't definitively tell you Yes or No.  The truth is that you purchased the new livestock too early.  You should have run the new system and established a working biofilter in it by using the fishless cycling method.  Then after the tank was able to process 2ppm of ammonia down to 0.25ppm of ammonia within 24 hours, this tank would be ready for the transfer (of rock and current livestock), and a limited amount of new (quarantined) livestock.

 

12 hours ago, chasingcorals17 said:

Most likely will house the baby tang until it can no longer live in my tank and either see if I want to upgrade or sell it off. That’s a long way down the road though. 

I'm not, as you say, the fish police.  However, purchasing that tang for a 40 gallon tank was a misinformed purchase.  You say it will be a long time down the road, but that fish could easily triple in size within a year.  The truth is that your new 40 gallon tank is really only suitable to quarantine it.  Unless you have another tank ready for it, I'd return it as soon as possible.  I'm sure that's not what you were hoping to hear (but did expect, based on your preemptive fish police statement).

[chasingcorals17]

7 hours ago, seabass said:

It's like I said in the above post, if the dry rock is 100% free of organics (and about the only way to know for sure is to soak the rock in water for a few days and test for ammonia), and if you don't significantly add to the bio-load, then it should be fine.

 

There are some unknowns here, so I won't definitively tell you Yes or No.  The truth is that you purchased the new livestock too early.  You should have run the new system and established a working biofilter in it by using the fishless cycling method.  Then after the tank was able to process 2ppm of ammonia down to 0.25ppm of ammonia within 24 hours, this tank would be ready for the transfer (of rock and current livestock), and a limited amount of new (quarantined) livestock.

 

I'm not, as you say, the fish police.  However, purchasing that tang for a 40 gallon tank was a misinformed purchase.  You say it will be a long time down the road, but that fish could easily triple it size within a year.  The truth is that your new 40 gallon tank is really only suitable to quarantine it.  Unless you have another tank ready for it, I'd return it as soon as possible.  I'm sure that's not what you were hoping to hear (but did expect, based on your preemptive fish police statement).

Dang. I’ll definitely return it then. What about a flame angel in a 40? I would really like a bigger sized fish in that size/shape

[seabass]

40 minutes ago, chasingcorals17 said:

What about a flame angel in a 40?

Yeah, that's about as small of a tank as I'd go for one, but I feel it'd be alright.  Keep in mind that they are not 100% reef safe.  It might even be a model citizen for a year or two, and then one day decide to nip at your favorite corals.  Then other people report no problems (although I'm not sure if they are just reporting that it's safe too soon).  Do some more research and see if you are willing to risk it.