Moving questions

[rngrjt]

How do you move this stuff from one location to another? In Feb. I will be leaving the great state of Florida and going to where every the army sends me. With fresh water fish I would just give them away however with live rock, and fish ECT I am not sure what to do. SO what do I do? I don’t really want to just trash it all and lose everything. I heard it would be ok in a bucket with aerator for about a week however I would need like 3 weeks... any ideas?????

[TimD]

Do you know anyone locally that can take your stuff temporarily? It would be a real pain in the neck, but maybe what you could do is move it once locally, to a friend's house (it doesn't have to be set up perfectly, just set up with everything in it so that the water is still being filtered properly. Then, once you're settled in at your new place, you could come back, bag up all the livestock, put the rock into a Rubbermaid container with as much water as you can safely tote, and then haul it to the new home and set up there? Better than having to haul a bunch of it around for three weeks if you're not certain what your living arrangements will be right away.

[rngrjt]

That is a good idea however i dont know anyone with a tank at all. Not to mention if they did have a tank, them having room for 55 gals worth of stuff.
problems problems problems!!!!

[TimD]

No, I mean, do you know anyone at all who would just be willing to have you move your tank to THEIR house for as long as it takes you to get settled in at your new assignment, then you can take a weekend or however long you'd need to come back, break the tank down again, and move it to your new place.

It would be two complete moves, but you'd probably lose a lot less in the process than if you were going to move it all with you now and try to keep live rock, fish and corals alive in a bucket for 3 weeks. Of course, how feasible this is depends on the distance you end up moving. For instance, if you get stationed in California, driving back and forth to move this stuff will probably not be an option unless you can take a week or so to do it. You have to figure that tearing down and setting up will each take a day, depending on the size of the tank and how much livestock you need to catch and bag (including putting corals into containers that will be safe for transport without damaging them too much). Plus transit time... the best you could hope for is to stay relatively close to Florida. Otherwise it might just be better to do like you said, try to keep things alive in a couple of buckets or Rubbermaid containers with aerators or powerheads.

[adickerson0]

Your rock can live in a trash can with a power head. (dont think you need a heater). The fish and stuff can go in a friends tank. Then you can move the tank and rock and let it mini cycle while you friend ships your fish to you or you go pick them up. There are some big fish stores in that area that do a lot of shipping. You may be able to get them to ship it for you.

[rngrjt]

I may try the bucket thing, my question now I guess is if I try to put them all in buckets and use my battery powered aerators until I could set the tank up again (which would be about 3 weeks would the rock and fish live once the new tank is set up again. I ask this because in order to move it I would have to drain and clean tank so that I could move it to its new location. Doing this would make me lose the cycled water correct? Meaning the fish wouldn’t make the trip... not to mention they would be without light. I don’t have coral at the moment and I don’t play to get any at this time if I did it would be really small stuff just to play with so that I can learn from it while I am still here and for future use. I hope this make some kind of sense. I have about a million things on my mind at the moment and I am having a hell of a time trying to make question out of these thoughts.

[DASPES]

Try a LFS. Some will hold your livestock in a QT tank and ship it to you FEDEX for a nomimal fee. I know there a quite a few good ones in St. Augustine and Jax that probably would. But not as far south as you. But an idea worth trying...

[DASPES]

Side note If you think your in a bad way. I'm in the navy stationed in Indiana, and just got my PCS orders to transfer to Hawaii. Great to be going there, but just in no way cost effective for me to ship any of my livestock or rock there.

[Mr.Lloyd]

I think you are going to have to wait on your orders.Then you can make an informed choice on your tank.You can always sell off most of it on RC.

[rngrjt]

thanks for the replys guy i for some reason cant seem to get this web site to load on my desktop now so i am using my laptop which is a big pain. i keep getting the default (i am not going to load page) when i log on to reef central. I cant figure it out. But anyhow DASPES
can you tell me where or the names of any in St aug. i would like to not only check out there store for fish, rock ect but look into that. I dont really go to St aug. very much. I normally just hit daytona. Also, your going to love Pearl Harbor. I was stationed at Schofield Bks from 93-98 it was a blast. Have fun there.

Mr.Lloyd thanks for your post also however i cant seem to find the area where people post to sell and buy... but then again that is why i am having problems for some odd reason...

cheers

[DASPES]

rngrjt,
I left Jax 3 years ago, I remember some of those stores and i'll post the info, but the one in St. Aug, I cn't remember for the life of me the name of the store, though I know that they have a website (ran accross it the other day). I would recommend that you post on either of these forums or someone local to help ya out also.

http://www.nfmas.com/

or

http://reefcentral.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=147

that is a local group for your area.

The stores I know of in jax are (customer service is better at some stores than at others):

Fish mania 904-290-1208
aquazoo 268-3804
ocean reef 221-0770
fishbowl 823-1700
rob's reef 272-7202

Check with the stores for a nominal fee they maybe willing to house your livestock and rock for you while in transit.

Hope it helps

[rngrjt]

You are the man, jax is about an hour and a half... so one weekend soon I will have to check them out and try show my face a little maybe even make a few purchases and see what I can arrange for the future. But first thing I need to do is get this water straight... It’s annoying as hell waiting for this crap to cycle. My LFS gave me 3 bottles of TLC which is supposed to provide helpful bacteria to help the tank cycle. However when I read the bottle it says for freshwater only so I am thinking that the bacteria that was in there was probably killed on contact with the salt water.

Can you tell me what nitrites are, and how I can bring them up with out destroying the Ph.? I added some reef buffer to level out my ph however my nitrates went thought the roof. The color of the tube is the same at the ph color which is a dark red or even a purple. Either way my damsel is stilling kicking and doing just fine.

[DASPES]

give up some info about your tank. size, filtration, amount of LR, etc. In a brief, when cycling your tank. Amonia is created by fish waste, die off of organics on LR, etc. This amonia is broken down to nitrite by bacteria in your rock and sand. it will then be broken down farther after some more time to nitrate. you usually know when you are at the end of your cycle by a diatom bloom (it's a dark brown algea on your rock and sand). give us some more info on your setup and what's going on and we'll try to give you a clue of where you are at. need to know your amonia level, nitrite and nitrate level and what type of test you are using.

[cougaraug]

If you're going OCONUS, best to just ditch your livestock and rock and start over. For a CONUS move, you could always do a DITY of partial DITY and haul it in a Uhaul (LR and stuff anyway). You can use a good power inverter to run a Powerhead in a trashcan and keep it all going.
I also did it once where I just shipped my LR with Household good (of course it dies), and then reactivated it with Garf Grunge when I set up again (before anyone gets ****ed about killing the critters on it, it only had corraline (much of which came back) and pods, which are adime a dozen).

[rngrjt]

Ok my tank is a 55 gal bow front. The lights that are on it now came with the tank 7 years ago. It is just a single bulb, it reads
Coralife
Colormax
F30-T12-Bp
Made in Germany
And on the other end 36
I guess that is the watts.
I know I need to get a better quality which I am. The one I am getting is recommend by the Lfs (you know how they are) it is a double bulb with a moon lighting as well. What ever that means. He told me it would be sufficient for the different live rock and corals ect. Back to the tank, the filtration is a UFG with all 4 out-takes hooked up to aerators and I have 2 over the back filers that have the carbon, sponge and some bio rock crap. The over the back filters provide a lot more filtration then I needed with the freshwater set up however I like a clean tank. I have crushed coral for the bottom along with about 10 pounds of rock which isn’t live. I added 2 pounds of live rock last week just to try and help the cycle. And I have one damsel to add to it as well. I don’t want the damsel when the cycle is done because I heard they are mean boogers and territorial. As far as the test kits go I have currently a hydrometer along with a ph and nitrite test kit made by aquarium pharmaceuticals inc. the latest test has the Ph at a 8.1 , 8.2 the nitrites are horribly at some where in between 2.0 and 5.0 the color doesn’t match either but falls in between those too. The saliency is now low and around 1.021.

[DASPES]

oh boy... I don't have time to hit all this now rngrjt. i'm still at work and on th e governments clock. I will respond in a few hours at home where we can talk a bit about your current 'setup'

[DASPES]

Alright, yes you will definately need to replace the bulb for even a fish only tank. after 7 years its pretty much on it's tail end for use. If you want any coraline algea, raise any type of carals or light sensitive inverts (i.e. anenomes) you must upgrade to at least a power compact (PC) light. am interested to see what the LFS recommended. moon light is not neccesary, but is nice to have. If you want to have corals at all you will have to have that light putting out @ 220 watts combined for your tank.

Now the tank. I would definately yank the UG Filter right now. It is a nitrate factory. Your hang on back filters are fine thoufgh it has been much debated to the benefits vice evils of carbon you should be ok with that equipment. If they are the "bio wheel" variety, I would pull the wheel off, because they will also begin to generate nitrate and dump it into your tank. Th CC bed should be fine unless it is deep, an inch maybe 2 and you should be fine, any deeper and you could be asking for problems. I've never had crushed coral but I've heard (someone please correct if i''m wrong) that if it is deep the lower levels will develop the wrong types of bacteria and cause your tank to crash.
Next...Rock, dont concern yourself with the dead rock, it will turn 'live' with time. However unless you want to run a massive skimmer the largest portion of filtration from a tank comes from the rock and you typically will need at least a lb for every gallon. 1.5 to 2 lbs is best. add it now, unless you have a GOOD lfs lfs close to your house that has CURED LR. if it is not completely cured or you must ship you will still have some die off and will cause another cycle.
Now the damsel...If you don't want him in the tank for ever (believe me they are a b***h to catch), then dont put him in. better off with a cocktail shrimp from the grocery store to jump start the amonia in the tank, when your nitrates go up pull it out. though after you yank your UGF, and from the sound of your curent levels I don't think you will have to add the shrimp.

Lastly You didn't mention anything about a skimmer...You will most certainly need one...not sure of your budget, but get the best you can afford. If you need advice on the skimmer there is a lot of info here on RC.

The cycle can take up to 6 weeks be patient like I said earlier, as soon as you see the diatom algea outbreak, you will be near the end of the cycle.

[rngrjt]

ok i am going to yank out the UGF and i am going to remove the only salt water fish i have :mixed: i will do that this sat... i guess i will also get more info on that light he wants to sell me and let you give your opnion. Your telling me that a regular shrip from the meat department at the store will work instead of the damsel? What do i do through it in raw and let if rot basicly?
Back to the light issue ya i would like to have an anenomes along with colorful rock and mushroom,starfish the whole nine yards... as long as it compatibly with a clown fish.. What do you mean by skimmer... you mean a protein skimmer... 150 is what the lfs told me they cost... is that what your talking about and about the avg price? Also what kind of test kit (brand) can i buy that is worthy, and that will test more then one item.. right now i have 2 kits one for just ph and one for just nitrites... is there an all in one brand... i know i need one for ammonia as well right?

Thanks for your help bro
Jeremy

[DASPES]

thats the shrimp I was talking about... the scrimp thing may not even be needed honestly...the purpose of the damsel or the fish, is to introduce amonia into the system. As a brand new tank there is no decaying matter in the tank to develop in to amonia, there fore nothing to start the amonia to nitrate to nitrite cycle and the helpful bacteria that accomplishes this. you usually want to keep the shrimpy in the tank (rotting) until amonia levels decline and nitrate levels begin to increase. Then you know that the good bacteria in your bed and rock have developed and are starting to make a 'cycle', once it starts you can yank the shrimp out. Follow?
Ok now since you've already have the damsel in the system for a little while and you have nitrates in your system I honestly dont think that you will need to have anything in there unles you drain and start over. I think the reason for your current levels being where they are is two fold. 1) the UGF is trapping that fish waste under your substrate and allowing it to sit there. 2) the wonderful bacteria which cycle the the amonia to nitrogen live in the sand bed and live rock, how well they do their job depends on how much water can contact those areas where they reside. with out much rock (2#s is not much, sorry) the cycle isn't making much progress. alright?

water test kits. I personally use 2 types 1 is similar to your but it is the 5 in 1 version... I use these for my regular tank maitenance weekly just to get an eye on what my levels are. The second is the fastest master kit. I use this only when I see a problem, or when I think something is out of whack... The reason why though they are much, much more accurate, they are also a pain in the but, and I'm to lazy to devoting 10-20 minutes just to check my ph level. It pays to get and use a good master test keit that will allow you to test everything. But for at a galnce like a situation like yours to see roughly where you are at on cycleing or what your PH is in a ballpark the strips are fine...but if you see something wierd, or PH looks a little low, etc, break out the master and double check and get an ccurate reading.
Skimmer 150 will get you a pretty cheap one, from personal experience stay away from the prizm brands. a good quality skimmer will run you from 200-450, depending on style etc. There are a lot of posts devoted to the pros and cons of each. First decision is wether you want in sump (if you have one?) or hang on back (HOB).
Lights, there are various differnt styles PC, T5, MH (in order good to best) you will need at least 220 watts of total power from your bulbs (probably 4 bulbs at 55 watts a piece) to do any type of coral. some types of coral (SPS) and some anenomes require even stronger amounts, so do your research on what exactly you want before you buy the light. Becareful of starish, most are not reef safe, try to stay with the linkia's if you want any corals...


Hooahh bro

[rngrjt]

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