Help to transfer!!
 

I currently have a 65 gallon mixed reef tank and am setting up a 180 gallon tank. How do I transfer everything over without killing it all? I heard to take the water out of the old tank and put everything in buckets and then add your old water and slowly add new water to the big tank and put everyhting in. Is this the way to do it?

Yes :-) This in effect is like doing a giant water change. Just make sure the New Salt Water going into the 180 (that already has your old salt water) has the same salinity and temperature, and you're good to go! :biggrin:

Do i need to transfer the old rock as well? I only wnat to take a few pieces the rest I don't want. Can I already have my rock work done in the new tank and put the old water in or will everything go sideways?

You will definitely need to transfer your old live rock to the new tank. Your live rock is what has the beneficial denitrifying bacteria on it.

Yes, you can place your rock in the new tank first and then fill it up so long as you don't allow the rocks to completely dry up. If you do this quick enough you can avoid any die off.

Here are my rocks out of the water while I drilled them and started my aquascape.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1249493882

To help them stay wet I kept them in a bin with salt water near where I was working with the rocks. Then when I was done working with them I plunked them into my new tank..

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1249494734

and started to pump water from my old tank to the new tank..

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1249501545

My older tank was 90g, my new tank was 150g so after pumping the old water into the new 150g tank I pumped in new salt water to make up the rest. Everything worked out fine.

My tank transfer.

If you only want to use some of your old live rock what i would recommend is to put whatever pieces you don't want to use (long term), into your sump. Or, if you don't have a sump put it on your sandbed in the tank somewhere easily accessible where you can take it out later. This allows the tank to remain biologically in balance after the transfer. As time goes on new bacteria will culture your sand bed, various surface areas, or any new rock you might put in. Then you can slowly take out the pieces you don't want that's sitting in your sump or sand bed.

If you don't transfer all of your rock at once you may be able to get away with it, but you will also risk the possibility of not providing enough biological filtration which will send your biological balance out of wack (sideways).

I understand that about the live rock but not all the rock that I have no will help my "vision". Most won't work in the aqua scape. I won't start plumping the tank for the next 2 weeks, so would it be possible to buy new rock and submerge it in my old water in another bucket circulating the water and then i can use that the day of the transfer?

Yes :-)

Ya I do have a sump, so I guess I could put what ever I don't want into the sump but would the idea that I mentioned of buyin the rock now and circultaing it in my existing water before the transfer work?

Sorry! you reply fast! ok Well thanks for your help I hope this works. I don't want to loose everything!

If you go with your approach of putting new rock into a tub and curing it there before using it in your new tank, just be sure to test that water for ammonia and nitrites before using the rocks in it. Both should be zero. This will tell you that the rock has been cured and ready to use. If you're buying live rock from a store chances are it's probably already cured or close to cured anyway.

Ok perfect! Thanks for your help!!

One thing I did before transfer was put sponges into sump for a while then when I was curing Marco rock put sponges from sump into holding tank with new rock.

Don't know if it did any good but didn't hurt