[Gillis]

Just picked up a great 20g setup (Thanks Jim). I was wondering what the correct way to transfer everything over.

Here is what i got going

20g Tall-Setup Yesterday-1/3 established-2/3 new r/o salt mix-Southdown DSB-10lbs live rock

Questions are

1. How long should I wait to add livesock/corals etc to the new tank?

2. Should I 'seed' the new dsb with established cc bed from my 12g?

3. Will the 20 g go thru a cycle?

4. Would I be able to move most of the live rock from my 12 to my 20 and leave the fish/inverts in the 12 for a while (just a little rock in there)?

This is the first(i am assuming of many) tank upgrades. I just want to make sure i'm doing it correctly.

Thanks for you help!
Bryan

 

[Gillis]

Oh yes, I almost forgot. My lighting on the 12g in 24w JBJ, the new tank has 2x55w JBJ setup. How do I acclimate to the new light, coralwise?

 

[hjmtv]

When I bought both my 120g and the 125g, I took down the running tank and immediately re-set it up with no ill effects. If the 20g was up and running you should have no problems just resetting it up. Use as much of the old water as you can since that is what the corals/fish are acustom to. I would not mix the CC and the Southdown but that is a personal preferance. Good luck.

 

[Gillis]

Even though the new tank just started running yesterday? Would I encounter a nitrate spike? With a new southdown bed?

 

[hjmtv]

I wasn't sure from your first post. Are you transfering your 12g to this 20g and adding new stuff? Was there anything in the 20g when you picked it up? Clearify what your starting with and we can go from there.

 

[Gillis]

Ok, The 20g is a tall tank with nothing in it at all. I added southdown/ 10lbs of rock/ ro salt mix water yesterday. Salt at 1.023. 80degrees temp.

12g is established JBJ Nano-Cube/12lbs rock/cc bed 1 kenya tree/zoo's/leather/star polyps/mushrooms/2 percula clowns

Would like to transfer everything from 12g to 20g. Starting with rock....then what??

I hope that helps! Thanks for the help!

Bryan

 

[Jimbob]

Hey Bryan... If the 10 lbs. of live rock you added to the 20G is new live rock, then I would let the tank sit fallow until it goes through a cycle. I know it is hard to wait, however if you let it just go through and cycle for 4-6 weeks, not only will the biological filtration have established itself, however you will also allow the copepod and amphipod life to establish itself into the rock and sandbed a bit before you put fish in there that want to feast on it. Once it has cycled for 4-6 weeks with that new 10 lbs. of live rock, do about a 50% water change using half water from you existing 12G, and half fresh (though aged a day or two) saltwater, then transfer all of the rock, fish, and inverts over from your 12G all at the same time? Feel free to give me a shout if you want to talk about it.

 

[Gillis]

Cool, Thanks Jim. Fortunately, time is not of the essence. Should I set up some macroalgae for the fuge?

 

[Gillis]

Also, which sides did you have the fuge/filter on. I have the fuge on the right (output in center of tank) and the filter on the left. When facing the tank. Is that how you had it running? or was it the reverse?

 

[hjmtv]

Jimbob is correct if the 10lbs is uncured. Where did you get it? If it has been in a tank already and it did not dry out, you should be able to skip the cycle step. Drain enough water from the 20g and move rock, corals and fish from the 12g to 20g and replace with water from 12g. Use as much of the 12g water as you can. That will get you going much faster. It all depends on the 10 lbs of rook you have.

 

[Jimbob]

I had it set up the same way, fuge on the right, and filter on the left. I would let everything run for a week with just the filter and fuge running water through them only (plus live rock, sand, etc. in the fuge). Then, after about one week, I would start running carbon in the filter, add the macroalgae to fuge, and run the light on the fuge for about 12 hours per day.

During the first week, I would not use carbon or any filter pads in the filter... just let it create water flow in the tank.

I would leave the lights off over the main tank for the first two to three weeks. During the thrid to fourth week timeframe, I would have the lights on for a reduced photoperiod of 6 hours per day or so.

When you transfer everything over to the 20G, make sure you put your corals low in the tank for the first week or so, then every week, gradually move them up a couple of inches at a time. This will help reduce photosensitivity shock that would result in the switch from 24W of lighting to 110W. If you don't want to do this, get some layers of screen (3 or 4) to cover the top of the tank with. When you transfer everything, place it exactly where you want it then cover the tank with the screen. Then, every week or so, remove one layer of screen. This will accomplish the same thing. Just be careful not to subject them to the full amount of the 110W of lighting right away, or you will likely bleach and potentially kill them.

Once everything is moved over, I would start with a shorter photoperiod of ~9 hours or so, and gradually increase to 11~12 hours over the course of several weeks. Also, once everything is transferred, either run your fuge lighting on an opposite photoperiod from the display tank, or leave the fuge lighting on 24/7.

 

[Gillis]

Great. HJMTV-I got the 10lbs from Aquatic Discoveries (cured). Should be ok, right?

Thanks Jim, now I am starting to get a game plan!!

 

[Jimbob]

As you will see the longer you are in this hobby... there are a million ways to do things... and most of them work for some people and not for others. The best thing you can do is to take information from everyone, then formulate your own plan of attack and see what works best for you. The key in this hobby is patience. If you make changes slowly (and one at a time), monitoring the results of each change for a period of time while taking really good notes, you can get some pretty decent objective-based results of what the effects of the change were. You will find that 99% of my suggestions err on the side of conservatism (as do most decisions in my everyday life). As a result, I like to move very slowly and methodically, making sure to observe very closely after every change.

 

[Gillis]

Hey you guys...I have another question.

I just recieved a shipment of zoo's. Would it be ok to put them in my new tank that just started yesterday? Some of them are not attached to rock and if I put them in my 12, the hermits will knock them around and they will never attach. I know zoo's are tolerant, but I want to be careful.

new tank is at 80deg/1.023 salinity


Thanks!

 

[Jimbob]

I replied to you in a PM, but basically, you may be OK if you check other params such as ammonia and nitrite. Otherwise superglue them to some rubble rock and don't worry about the crabs.