movin up and need some ideas

[reefmister]

I have a new 280 on it ways and I will be doing a swap out of my 180. I am a little worried about the possiblity of a small or large cycle. I will be doing the following, do you think I will cycle and if it does do you think my SPS might be endangered. I will take the contents of a very mature 180. The following is my plan.


> All water will be saved from the 180 (approx 100gal) and the sump/ref will not be touched (another 125 gal)
>I have about 100 lbs of live sand in vats that will be placed upon 500 #'s of new dead sand. Thier is about 30 #'s of LS in the ref. which will not be touched.
> Hundreds of #'s of LR from the 180 which I will vat and keep flow and heat while transfer is in process.
I will add about a 100 gals (estimate) new Salt reef crystals
> coral and inhabitants will be vated and basically hospitalized while the process is in effect.
>I figure the total tranfer will take about 10 long hard hours.

Is thier any thing else you can think of that can be done to avoid any type of cycle or does this plan sound good enough

Questions.
How long would SW last in sealed buckets if I was to premake the water

Should I start make more LS. and how long would you estimate it to liven up.

thanks in advance.
Mike

 

[jsteinman]

I can't say whether you will not have a cycle or not. I would think the addition of the dead sand itself would cause a short cycle. Here's my experience.

I bought 4x 45 gln heavy duty trash cans and moved a 220 gln from Texas to Cinci, OH over two days. I used a dc/ac converter and had heaters and power heads in every 45 gallon. This can leave your SUV smelling pretty bad and cost me $100 to have the interior cleaned, so I do not recommend moving a larg tank across country. At any rate I was fortunate and did not any great die off. 250#'s LR, 200#'s LS, 5 fish (lost one due to it getting caught in one power head during the trip cause the plastic filter came off) and about 20 corals. Almost all corals are doing fine. I lost one leather and one hammerhead. The tank cycled 3 weeks, with occasional Algae Blooms. I mixed 50% water from original setup in TX and 50% newly mixed Reef crystals. I also added a detrivore kit from FFE and another from Jeff's Exotics, 20#'s of GARF grunge (it works for me) and the contents of my 90 gln tank. Today the tank has been doing fine, except for slightly high Calcium, small traces of Ammonia and Nitrate. BUT these are only recent. Tank has been up since August (Thought Sept, but was wrong) and after initial cycle, showed all measurements to be ideal. I do not have a great skimmer and this will be corrected VERY soon. I had a small, short outbreak of Red Slime, but adding current and new 7100 Ultra's and it is slowing going away. So as long as your skimmer is ok, you should be fine. Sorry for the long post.

 

[SPC]

Mike, your plan sounds fine and I don't think you will have any problems except possibly the LS you currently have. It has been my experience that anytime you mess with one of these sand beds you can expect some problem, but it may not make enough difference to matter. I think that the method you are using will cut down on any possible problems you might have.
Saltwater can be kept in sealed buckets I know for weeks, and quite possibly much longer. I would recommend that you might want to mix it again with a powerhead for about 15 minutes before placing it in the tank.
I would not make any more LS. To me true LS needs to be used for the top layer of a sand bed and it appears that you already have this covered.
Steve

 

[jmeader]

Newly mixed SW, as long as it remains sterile, will last indefinatly. Each time you move your LR keep it submerged in water. If you let the water drain out, oxygen will reach anaerobic areas and reduce or destroy your nitrate reduction capacity for a couple of months. It also helps to reduce the loss of sponges and other life. Syphon off and get rid of as much detritus from the top of the sand as possible. Remove as much water as possible before digging into the LS. Disturbing the DSB will release a lot of organics that will contribute to a cyano outbreak. Try to salvage life in the sand while eliminating dirt. A rinse with SW should help. Keep all old, non sterile, water circulating. Add some of your new water, up to 20% max, to the old water as you set up your holding tanks. It will help to make the change to the added water more gradual.

 

[reefmister]

I am not going to use any of the LS I have in my 180 as it is of a type I dont want. I have about a 100 pounds in a vat that has been running for a month or so. The rocks will be pulled out of the tank and put straigt into rubbermaids, wiht flow heat and lights I cant keep them submerged while removing as they are too large and the top of the 180 acrylic has very small openings. I thnk it will be out to air for only a couple of sec.'s