That is a good choice if you are nervous about a cycle for sure. If you keep your live rock in water, heated and flow in the bin and you should be fine. If you see any pods when you remove the LR be sure to net them and put with the rock.

Hi
I don’t know what depth your send is/was but if it is over couple of inches I would handle it very carefully and wash it for sure. Don’t touch the send before you get all the livestock and rocks out. In some cases a toxic sulfide compounds can get into the water body and kill everything.

If you are planning to add rocks to the new tank and there are dry rocks you should cycle them in a separate tank/canister before introducing into the main tank.

One should keep in mind that the aquarium is a dynamic living system, cycling is an important part of it….your system always unnoticeably mini cycling and any major change will result in some more substantial cycle.

Good luck

I just purchased an *established* tank and a day after the move all of the fish were dead. If I were to do it again, I'd move the livestock to an established location and spend a few days testing to ensure everything will be ok. I'm no expert but it doesn't feel good when you flush $500 down the toilet.

All of the water to be kept was pulled out before disturbance and new sand / stability was used :cry:. The tank is now in a wicked cycle.

E god what was the cause of all the fish death, this happened to someone i know too. ive also heard of lots of cases where it goes without a hitch. Both systems are established and i will get as much water from the 180 as i can carry for the trip. (probably 100 gal) I was planning of having an in term system set up or heating some of the water from the 180 once home and putting the livestock in there with circulation then go at the teardown /set up. all rock will remain in water for the trip but the temp will drop. I will have new sand and ill look into Probio stability . Ill test closely. Is it better to wait a couple days and be ready for a big water change before putting any fish or corals back in incase of a crash and let the tank settle and clear.