- Location
- Long Island
SimplyZBest2000
You can go to home depot and get a large 55 gallon garbage can (save the receipt because you will get every dime back after the conversion) with a good powerhead. Put everything you can from your existing tank into the garbage can carefully EXCEPT the live sand. After this is done, put the sand in Home Depot 5 gallon buckets (save receipt for return). Do your plumbing, tank relocation and all moves at this point. Make sure when you do your plumbing that you get all the right stuff because you will lose a lot of time going back and forth. Once you get your new tank in the desired location add your new live sand along with your old sand but make sure that your old sand is clean. If you use regular sand make sure you wash it thoroughly or your tank will be cloudy for a long long time. Just make sure the sand is clean that you are using.
Once you are ready, pour in the sand and shape it to your liking. You may want to use a plate in the sand so that water don't disturb the sand bed. Your water options are RO Water or Tap Water with PRIME (Seachem I think makes it). I used tap and prime and the appropriate dose of PH Buffer. Once you hit the half way point, I put my live rock in and then put as much of the water from the 55 gallon bucket into the tank with a heater to match the temp the fish and inverts were in. When the tank clears up, acclimate everything as if it was the first time you were adding them. I hope this helps, I did everything in one day with the help of a good friend of mine. I am no pro but I am learning.
This was a quick summary so if I missed anything, just ask me and I will explain better.
You can go to home depot and get a large 55 gallon garbage can (save the receipt because you will get every dime back after the conversion) with a good powerhead. Put everything you can from your existing tank into the garbage can carefully EXCEPT the live sand. After this is done, put the sand in Home Depot 5 gallon buckets (save receipt for return). Do your plumbing, tank relocation and all moves at this point. Make sure when you do your plumbing that you get all the right stuff because you will lose a lot of time going back and forth. Once you get your new tank in the desired location add your new live sand along with your old sand but make sure that your old sand is clean. If you use regular sand make sure you wash it thoroughly or your tank will be cloudy for a long long time. Just make sure the sand is clean that you are using.
Once you are ready, pour in the sand and shape it to your liking. You may want to use a plate in the sand so that water don't disturb the sand bed. Your water options are RO Water or Tap Water with PRIME (Seachem I think makes it). I used tap and prime and the appropriate dose of PH Buffer. Once you hit the half way point, I put my live rock in and then put as much of the water from the 55 gallon bucket into the tank with a heater to match the temp the fish and inverts were in. When the tank clears up, acclimate everything as if it was the first time you were adding them. I hope this helps, I did everything in one day with the help of a good friend of mine. I am no pro but I am learning.
This was a quick summary so if I missed anything, just ask me and I will explain better.
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