Switching Tanks

[Stanley]

Hey Guys,
Back again with a few more questions. I currently have a 29 gal FOWLER tank,11 months old, with a simple Penguin170 BIO wheel, Pro Clear Aquatics 75 HOT skimmer and a small powerhead in the corner. The tank has a substrate of about 2" of crushed coral, 30lbs. of live rock and is inhabited by 8 snails(not sure what kind), a small clown, and a Pac. Sailfin tang. What I want to do is this..I want to increase the tank size to a 56 or 65 w/overflow, change the substrate to sand, increase lighting, increase LR and get into corals. My problems are these... I want to put the new larger tank in the same place as the old, how do I switch substrates seeing as the crushed coral is already live, and should I use a sump, maybe the old 29 gal tank or go with the wet/dry system, skimmer and pump included that my LFS is trying to sell me with the tank?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Len]

Hmmmm. Is the 29 gallon sitting on a stand right now or is it sitting on a piece of furniture you want the new tank to also be on?

It might be feasible to move the entire 29 gallon by draining 2/3rds of its water into a clean buicket. Then, move the tank and fill it back up with the preserved water. Set up the new tank and once it's ready, slowly move over the inhabitants. When moving the tank, try to put as even a pressure on the entire underside as possible. A good idea is to buy a board that is wide enough to hold the bottom dimensions of the 29 gallon, then slide the 29 gallon onto this board to move the tank; this way, the pressure is evenly distributed across the bottom of the tank which will prevent tank failure.

I wouldn't bother saving the crushed coral from the existing tank since it's not a good particulate size for a full blow reef tank. Start the new tank with fine aragonite sand and seed it with live sand once it has cycled.

Since it's a reef, there's no need to waste money on a wet/dry. The 29 gallon, once emptied and clean, will make for a nice sump. Before using it as a sump, though, I'd baffle it first to prevent excessive bubbles (from the overflow and skimmer) being sucked up and spat back out into the display tank. few glass or acrylic sheets cut to the width of the 29 gallon and some silicone glue is all you'll need for this small DIY project. If you do a search for the word "baffles," you'll get some great ideas in the first two pages of the search results.

There are many good n-sump skimmers and submersible pumps you can choose from. I personally recommend Euroreef (ES5-2 is a very good, affordable unit). As for pumps, I've had good sucess with Eheim, Mag, Senn, and Sedra submersible pumps.

 

[PeeJ]

2/3 of the water? that is still going to be a heavy tank. plus that full, water will slosh.

i would just siphon all the water out into a large enough trash can...