I'm getting a new tank for Christmas, and want to avoid killing anything as I set up the new tank.
I currently have a 100 gallon tank up and running with healthy corals, clams, fish and a ton of inverts, shrimps, crabs, snails and all the cool stuff).
I am replacing it with a 150 gallon tank.
The problem is the new tank is going to be positioned in the exact same spot as the old one.
So I have to tear the old one down completely before I set up the new one.
This is what I plan to do:
Remove water in buckets and totes.
Remove corals and place them in the totes.
Once the corals are out I plan to remove most of the rock.
I'm going to try to not disturb any sand.
Once most of the rock is out, I am going to drain more water out.
I'll then remove all the snails and crabs that I can find, and the last of the rock.
At this point the water will become to cloudy for me to want to reuse, I assume it will be about 20 gallons of water, I'll remove the rest of the water in a tote that I plan to dump later.
I'll check to see if there are any more critters in tank.
I'll then move the old tank and stand out of the way.
Put the new tank and stand in place.
Remove the sand from the old tank and place it in the new tank. Add some additional new sand, and put some water in the tank.
Once I have enough water I will start to place the base rocks and then all more old water and place the rocks and corals in the tank.
I'll continue to fill the tank with the rest of the old water and at this point will start to add new water, I'll have at least 50 gallons of new water to place in tank plus what ever was removed earlier.
All the new water will be room temperature about 70 - 72 degrees. I generally keep the tank at 78 degrees, but I expect to loose heat and have the whole system down to room temperature.
Once everything is up and running, I'll turn the sump back on, I'm not going to replace filter socks yet.
I'll let the system run for a few hours and check the water clarity and check for ammonia.
If I see ammonia, I'll deal with it, but I don't expect any yet.
I'll place the old lights on the tank for a day or two, and will then replace them with new LED lights.
the old lights are 2X250 DE MHQI + 2 t5ho bulbs.
I'm replacing it with 2 Kessiel a360X pendents.
I'll run daily water quality checks, and watch for any signs of trouble.