Transfering my fish & coral to my new build....what should I do?

theblackpearl · Feb 15, 2017

I will be moving my fish/coral from my 125 to my 93 cube. 93 cube has been up and running for over a month. I used 50% old water from the 125 and 50% new water. 93 cube has new lighting , dead rock, & sand.
What is the safest way to transfer fish and coral?
What is the best way to keep cyano from my 125 out of my 93 during transfer?
Should I dip the coral in peroxide?

Any help would be much appreciated

CodyRVA · Feb 15, 2017

So, is any of your rock or sand from your 125 going into the 93? If not and the 93 is an entirely new system, you're going to run into a world of issues.

theblackpearl · Feb 16, 2017

CodyRVA said:
So, is any of your rock or sand from your 125 going into the 93? If not and the 93 is an entirely new system, you're going to run into a world of issues.

All rock and sand is new and has been cycling for 2 months. My water is from my 125 gallon so it had bacteria to start. Im moving some rock from my old tank to the new during the transfer

Maritimer · Feb 16, 2017

Most of the bacteria you want is in the rock and sand, growing on surfaces, rather than floating about in the water column. Adding water from the 125 to the 93 is likely to have given you only the smallest of boosts.

In your case, I'd consider transferring the creatures gradually, a few at a time, just as though you were stocking a brand new system. Test regularly for ammonia/nitrate spikes, and take it slowly. You'll essentially be running two systems simultaneously for a while.

~Bruce

badstorm48 · Feb 17, 2017

When I transferred my lfs helped me. He brought a couple big ice chests and we filled them with the live rock. Then added the water. Then livestock and coral. Rocks that had coral on them went last with the fish. I wouldn't reuse the sand unless you know what you are doing because it can kill all your stuff if you do it wrong because of the nitrogen that builds in the sand. Once we did that we removed the old tank and put in the new one. Added sand then rock then water then when there was a good bit of water in the new tank started to add live stock and coral. Finished adding the water and done. Took about 2 hours to do. Didn't lose a single thing from it.

CodyRVA · Feb 17, 2017

If you're reusing your established rock, you should be fine. A two month system compared to ... "an established one" is not the same thing. Why would you not reuse your existing rock?

Bdog4u2 · Feb 17, 2017

Most likely you won't keep 100% of the cyano out especially if you used old water and I see more people on here with it that used dead over live but hopefully it doesn't rear it's ugly head for you

theblackpearl · Feb 17, 2017

CodyRVA said:
If you're reusing your established rock, you should be fine. A two month system compared to ... "an established one" is not the same thing. Why would you not reuse your existing rock?

I wanted branch rock and pukani. So I only saved the rock that had coral on it