Preparing for the big move! need help

Conski

Conski

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May 8, 2009
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due to a loss in my family i dont get a graduation partty so my parents are buying me a 34 gallon solana and stand for my graduation (alot of stuff happened i didnt get a party so this my gift)

I am going to take everything from my 14 gallon bio cube and put in into there.

Alot of questions i guess.

i would have to buy more sand but what does it mean to seed it with my already in use sand in the BC?

I wont obviously be able to take the coral into the new tank right away becuase of ALK and Ca. how long should i wait before the fish and everything goes in? and should i add them slowly?!

Approx how much more live rock should i get? ( i want a little more then i have now and probably need more anyways)

Anyone know the specs in the Solana? does it have a pump? the power of it? i was gonna replace it with a maxijet1200 and then i already have money saved to buy a mp40.

Anything else i really need to know i appreciate the time taken to help if anyone does! thanks!
 
I went from my 29G to my 75G the same day. All my fish and corals moved over. I had about 80lbs of live rock in my 29G though that I used to move into my 75G so I didn't have to worry if the rock was good.. I knew it was. I used all new sand since my 29G had a SSB that was 7 years old and pretty nasty at that point. To seed the new sand just scoop a cup of sand out of your old tank and stir it in your new tank. I just let my live rock reseed my new sand though.

Not sure what your referring to with Alk/CA. Just mix up new SW and test the Alk/CA levels (and adjust with 2 part if needed) before you put it into your new tank and you will be fine.

At first I went with 1lb per gallon in my 75G but over the year I have removed probably 1/3 of that rock because it was too much for me asthetically. As long as you have other filtration methods (sump/refugium) then the 1lb per gallon "rule" isn't as critical. It is only critical when you are relying on the rock as your primary/sole filtration.

Not sure the specificals of a Solano, only seen them online, so not sure what they come with. MP40 is a little extreme for a 34G tank, the 20 would work fine, but the 40 will also work fine since they are adjustable in the 34G and you can use the 40 for many years/upgrades down the road if you wanted.
 
wow so i can just add the SW into the tank move all the rock then if my ALK and CA arent high enough just add it until it is?
 
would i need to acclimate them as well? (stupid i know but i want to know everything)

im sorry to say it again but i don't understand what you mean by (adjust with 2 part) wouldnt the ALK and Calcium not be high enough in the new tank?
 
Why wouldn't your CA and Alk be high enough? That is a parameter in the water you put in the tank... just make sure whatever water you put in is within proper ranges. Do not put sub-adequate water in the tank with livestock first then try to fix the problem, especially quickly. You can do it quickly in a bucket/trashcan, but not in a tank with livestock or you will cause harm. 2 Part=things like B-Ionic.

If you are going to add more rock when you setup the new tank, that is going to be a little "iffy" because it is unknown rock your adding, ie, not sure exactly how "cured" it is, so that could cause problems. I made sure to have all the rock I needed ahead of time so I didn't run into that exact problem.. because it isn't something you can do 1/2 way, ie, take out all the rock from your 14G and add more unknown rock with it to your 34G.. obviously your 14G would start to suffer immediately, not to mention where would you put your corals and fish.

Best bit of advice for upgrading.. make A LOT of saltwater. 2-3x the 34G tank so you have water on hand for quick waterchanges. I always go overboard to ensure safety and I am sure I could do much less and still be fine, but first month I setup my new tank I did 50% waterchanges 2x a week just in the off chance I had a mini-cycle. Also have good liquid test kits handy and do daily tests of Ammonia/Nitrites/Nitrates CA and Alk the first week. If you don't see any spikes in the first 2 then you won't have a mini-cycle and are good to go from that stand point, but still test and adjust your Alk/CA daily the first couple weeks at least. I have found new tanks do cause wild swings in those parameters, but as long as you test and dose approprietly (DO NOT OVERDOSE ALK) then your tank will be good. After the first month of setup then everything will settle down and start to get into a good balance. So many analogies I can think of.. just one popping in my head is a person closing there eyes and spinning around 100 times then trying to walk a straight line.. really hard to do at first but as the spinning head starts to slow down the line gets easier to walk.. that is how I think of upgrading a tank and how it goes the first month. It is just "dizzy" the first month, but not critical/going to crash if you keep on top of testing/waterchanges the first month.

I did not acclimate anything because it was very hectic ones the ball started rolling. Sand went in the tank, then filled with water and run a little while to clear up (I prerinsed the sand for 8 hours outside then dried on on a tarp for a day so I didn't get milky water), then pulled out all my rock from my 29G and stacked it, then corals, then finally the fish were taken out of the 29 and put right into the 75G once I made sure things were good for the fish (water temp/clarity). It is a mad rush to get things moved over when upgrading tanks and it all happens within 30minutes once you start the process of moving.
 
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The new salt mix Ca and alk should right on the money. What I would do is mix it the night before you plan on doing this,heat it and keep it aerated wiith an air stone or a powerhead that has a port for airline tubing. I like rubbermaid tubs for this purpose. As long as you use as much of the old water as possible the shock to your corals will be lessened.

Just remember your livestock went through worse when they were shipped to get to you.

Sit down take a little time to draw up a plan of how you will do this and put it on paper as a plan.

Like my dad always said, plan your work and work your plan. HTH
 
Okay i think i understand now. If the water i put into my tank (which will be RO i will be sure to get three coolers full before i do this transfer) hasnt hit the ALK and CA i want it to right off the money i will have to dose it so that it does? Im sorry to be repetitive but when i set up my 14 gal i had to wait a month to get corals becuase the ALK was not high enough(without adding anything) at that point so im a little confused as to how i can just transfer everything in one day because i had to wait a month before... i take it it is because i am just dosing the tank with ALK and CA i dont have to worry?!

Would 17 pounds of live rock be enough for now?and then i can just add new live rock later after the stressful point is passed or would this throw everything off.. id be sure to get the same live rock i got for my 14 gal of course.

Everything will be transfered from the 14 gal. no fish will be in the tank so i will not be worried about the params in that tank.. i can always start over in it. (i dk what i want to put in there anyways)

I hope imn not confusing you guys and you understand whart i mean now?
 
You sound like me early on.. not quite understanding the whole Alk/CA thing and making it into something much more complicated than it really is.

Yes, because your dosing Alk/CA AFTER you test to make sure you know how much you need to add, that is the reason things are good.

The thing with dosing Alk though is it spikes your pH in the tank so you can really only add a few drops at a time to be safe. CA isn't a problem like Alk is. Even on my tank I only put in 3-5 drops at a time, wait 2-3 minutes for the pH to stabilize and do it again.. takes quite a while to dose Alk and that is why people like to put in automatic dosers that dose Alk at night for them. Say your pH in your 14G is 8.0 and you want it to be 8.3, 3 drops of Alk will spike your pH to almost 9.0 for a few seconds and then it will drop down.. if you put in more than just a few drops you can really spike your pH to the point you cause real harm to the inhabitants.

Does that clear it up at all? Again, I was the same way you are now so I know the feeling/frustration of "amost" getting it but not quite there yet.
 
Alright i think i understand now. That part is going to worry me.. ill see if i need to dose after i put the water and sand and live rock and if i end up having to do so i will and well see what happens

So the plan is.
Day 1
1.) Get 3 coolers full of RO
2.) set the tank up.
3.) Rinse sand for 8 hours and let dry in the sun for a day
4.) buy Alk and Ca Dosers

Day 2 (Transfer day)
1.) Put RO into tank
2.) Seed with sand from 14 gal
3.)check alk and dose appropriatly?
4.) add live rock
5.) let settle for 20 minutes
6.) Transer fish and corals?

After all done.. do 50% water changes twice a week for 2 weeks and test water daily?

Please edit the list if necessary (i really want everything to be alright and i really do appreciate the help so far man)
 
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