transferring two tanks into 1

[Juan]

I have a 5-gallon and a 3.8-gallon tank, the 5-gallon has been running for a year and is good but the 3.8-gallon tank has only been running for about 5 months now. It is already showing coralline algae and all that good stuff but I'm moving to college. They only allow 10 gallons and below to be accepted in the dorms. I plan on buying an 8-gallon tank. My question is how does the transfer between both tanks into 1 go about? I plan to transfer 2 small rocks from my 5-gallon and 1 rock from my 3-gallon tank + the sand. How bad of a cycle will I get for the new tank? I'm just planning to add the sad + rock from both tanks into that new tank but is that safe to do? I'm scared that because both the rocks + sand are different everything is going to die. I do not have anything type of hard corals. Mostly soft. I'm just scared of not knowing what to do. I'm at a loss, I wanna combine both tanks, I'm scared the new water will kill everything. Do I combine both waters? Do I put new water first then rock and sand from both tanks? I just need help and clarification. Thank you

[ryans.salty.crew]

Hello Juan and good luck at college! I commend you for taking your tank to college. 

 

First I'd just like to say that I am NOT an expert, just speaking from experience of moving 2 tanks successfully in the past (Pic for proof 😆)

 

 

To my understanding you are taking the 5g tank and the 3.8g tank > emptying them > taking the sand from the bottom of both and putting it into 10g > taking rock from both into 10g 

 

If this is correct, YOU'RE GOOD MAN! It would be the same as taking rock and sand from an already established tank and adding it to your tank. It is just combining 2 already established tanks into one. 

 

I would try to keep some water from one of the tanks (or both doesn't really matter to much) especially since you'll need to keep the rocks wet when traveling. This will help the coral travel better since your water is already at correct temp. Will it "hurt" everything to do a 100% water change?..... not really.

 

For the sand, try to keep that wet as well. If you're draining the sand, it's fine to just put it together in a container, just put enough water in it to have a light layer of water across the top

 

PS. You should take pictures of the move and upload them to here! The community loves seeing progression and success. It could also help someone in the future when they see this thread

[mcarroll]

Just to pile on....

 

Re-use as much of the rock, sand and water as you can from both tanks....especially the older one.  If you have to throw anything out, make it from the newer tank.  Also, get buckets with lids that fit properly (any hardware store; sometimes from resturants, etc) so you can take whole buckets of rock+water with you without making a mess.