How would you move from 75gal reef to 275gal?

siropa · #1 09/25/2007, 12:29 PM

I currently have a 75 gal reef with a 30gal sump setup. It has a yellow tank, a couple of small clowns and a 6-line. For corals its probably 80% sps with the rest being a mix of softies/shrooms/zoas. My sps corals have been growing really, really well and I don't want to mess up this system.

So i'm just about done with a setup for a new 275gal reef. Its going to be the tank with a 75gal sump and a 75 gal fuge. Probably will plumb in some frag tanks to the system too, but that doesn't matter yet.

The 75 probably has 90# or so of live rock. I've also got maybe 300# of dry base rock that I was planning on using in the 275. I really don't want to buy any new live rock for this move.

What I was thinking of doing was doing some of the aquascaping with the baserock in the new system, getting it filled and running and moving over a few pieces of live rock from the 75 to seed it a bit. Maybe let this run until it seems stable then move over the rest of the rock and corals.

thoughts? better ideas? could I just move all the rock and corals right away? and if so, what is the risk? I assume with the new setup and the new volume of water i'm going to get some algae blooms to start.

LobsterOfJustice · #2 09/25/2007, 01:11 PM

Assuming you have the new talk all plumbed in, go ahead and put the baserock in, maybe run it like that for a while (week?) and test to make sure there is no cycle (dry rock can contain dead material as well). Then I would just move everything over at once - rock and coral, then fish. As long as the rock is only out of water for a few minutes, and you are not adding any new fish, it should be like nothing happened.

lshark21 · #3 09/25/2007, 06:42 PM

When I read the thread title the first thing I thought of was "With a smile on my face".

rppvt · #4 09/25/2007, 06:57 PM

I would pump both tanks to/from the same sump for a couple weeks-- in effect making a 350 gal tank, then move things over to the new tank. I'd imagine all the corals would love the extra volume. As long as the new skimmer was working...

2crazyreefers · #5 09/25/2007, 07:15 PM

I had the same thought as ishark21. But IMO that is a great deal of new water for sps and I would not chance putting everything in at once. I have done this with a 125 to 180 and also a 75 to 120 W/O much issues just some cycling but going from a 75 to aprox 350 is pushing it for sps IMO. I would run the new system for atleast a month or more, letting it cycle then add just a couple of your sps at a time to see how they do and go from there. Just my 2 cents.

LobsterOfJustice · #6 09/25/2007, 07:43 PM

Doing it slowly means you are working with less in each tank. All at once means at all times all corals and fish are under full filtration. Moving some LR over leaves less for the 75. You will be spreading yourself thin in the transition time and at some point some corals or fish will have to be in less-than-ideal conditions. I really can see no problem with doing it all at once, as long as you match the major water parameters and do some acclimation.

siropa · #7 09/25/2007, 08:21 PM

The common sump isn't practical. The tanks are in the same area, but about 12' apart and its a hallway that can't have pipes running in it.

Perhaps I should leave the 75 as-is and buy a couple of new pieces of LR to see the rest of the baserock and run that through a cycle and algae blooms. I didn't really want to run both systems that long, but that is probably better than the risk. Current water volume is about 100gals. the new system is going to be at least 380 gals and maybe more if I get the frag tanks plumbed in right away too. that does seem like too much of a change.

siropa · #8 09/25/2007, 08:21 PM

oh yeah, I like the 'smile on my face' comment. I have that