Movin' on up

[ufcd98]

So i'm gonna move from my 10gal to a 40g long.
Should i move the 3" deep sand bed from my 10g to the 40g?
If so, when in the move?
I'd planned:
1. fill the 40g with h2o and salt about 3/4 way, mixed to 1.025sal
2. pour in enough sand to do a 3" bed across 3/4 of the tank floor.
wait a day or two and get everything running and perfect
3. move the rock and inverts
4. catch and move the fish
5. scoop and move the existing sandbed

any ideas/advice/warnings?

thanks everyone.
steve

 

[brandon4291]

Steve I think that sounds just fine. Are you wanting to keep more fish>whats your reason for exiting nano-reefs?

I don't blame you, in time my dream system is a custom 180g.

 

[ufcd98]

i don't think of it as leaving nanos - more of a 4ft long nano. I considered the 33long, which shares the same height/depth as a standard 10gal, but is 4ft long. the 40long is just 4 inches taller, which makes my wife happier because the tank looks more "normal"

My goal is to reproduce the eclipse tank feel on a longer (read: more space for inverts) scale. I still consider it a nano. I'm gonna run a totally sumpless, closed system with a protein skimmer and a hang on filter as a place to put carbon, etc. I HATE replacing evap water constantly, so I'm trying to keep heat to a minimum. The two NO lights on my eclipse keep the softies i want happy, and so i'm going to start with 2 4ft NO bulbs, which at the shallow depths of the tank can keep my current inverts happy. i'm going to look into maybe adding either 2 more NO's or LED bulbs later.
I hope you won't kick my questions in the future out of the nano forum, because it's the best! Thanks for your interest and response.

steve

 

[brandon4291]

He he, never! If it's about reef it belongs in here somewhere. Do you recall that member Sahin? His entire tank was ran with NO's, and he had some LPS if I remember correctly.

Also, Takashi Amano makes some of the most outstanding planted aquaria, considered the best ever, mostly using No's. His magazine spreads hardly mention halide or power-compact setups, it's usually 2-6 No's that support an entire aquascape we could only hope to attain.

For me, normal output flourescents emit a fine spectrum just not very intense. Doubling or quadrupling them has been shown to work for certain approaches, where aquascaping would expose corals/animals to the maximum light possible. Good luck, post pics when you can.
Brandon M.

 

[Anonymous]

steve,
I've moved a few sandbeds, and this was what worked for me:

Buy a rubbermaid, 10 gallons would work.
Put your water, rock, and fish in that.
Add the sandbed to your new tank with the new sand, add some (maybe a gallon) old water, fill up 3/4 with newly mixed saltwater.
Let this sit a few days, maybe even a week, with pumps running in your new tank and rubbermaid of course. Your fish should be absolutely fine. The first time I did this I left them in there for a month.
The sand will settle, and a lot of nutrients will be released into the water in the process of moving it. I did a 75% water change with new water again before then adding my rock (just dump it in, but you can acclimate it if it makes you feel better) and fish, corals (definitely slowly acclimate them).

Corals won't really appreciate the weeklong sandstorm that will result from moving your bed. Fish will be fine, but corals will get pretty stressed from it.

 

[ufcd98]

Brandon - Thanks! I really appreciate the support for the NO approach, despite it's being less "cool"

Matt - What about the lighting for the corals in the rubbermaid container? Just leave them "in the dark" for a few days? Your approach certainly seems to make sense, it's just VERY frightening to consider keeping fish and corals in a rubbermaid without much support machinery.

steve

 

[Anonymous]

I would keep the light over the rubbermaid. No reason not to. What machinery would you be missing? As long as you have water movement, live rock, and a heater, everything should be fine.