+olaggie01 Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 Hey Ty, I did that on an older external fan. Get some thermal paste and put a computer fan on the back. Should help out a lot. Just watch the temp of the pumps. Maybe get a baseline temp reading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted December 31, 2013 Author Share Posted December 31, 2013 You're always two steps ahead of me. Thanks for the tip bud! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 OR get a DC return pump. JUST. SAYIN. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Long Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 Very nice corals Ty. Take your time moving those guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted December 31, 2013 Author Share Posted December 31, 2013 Long and painful is my goal for the move... and just for kicks, I'm going to dip all corals before going into the new tank. The eventual plan is once the new tank is cycled, to tie both systems together so that the eventual move with be more like a change in location than a change in tanks. I'm still mulling over the pros and cons of this, as introducing roughly 260 gallons of newly cycled water to my current system has me "concerned", but the hope is the stable nature of my existing tank will help to stabilize the new tank versus the new tank crashing my old tank. If it feels too risky, I may just do some tank water "transfusions", where I periodically exchange water between the two systems until both are stabilized and as homogeneous as can be before I start moving corals and fish over. Once both systems are stable, I aim to move a section of the tank at a time. Basically, move over one metal halide setup and at the same time, move over any corals that are under it. Since I have 3 metal halide setups, I'd essentially be doing this 3 times over, each time letting the tanks both stabilize before continuing further. I have been toying with the idea of setting up a cleaning station for live rock. Have a separate tank (or sump section) where I can house an overstocked and hungry clean up crew to pick clean each rock as I transfer them over. Perhaps a mix of emerald crabs, hermit crabs, snails, peppermint shrimps, and maybe an aiptasia eating filefish for good measure. Each piece can sit in there for a couple of days to be picked clean and then tossed into the new system. All these ideas... probably most will not come to fruition but its good to think out loud. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 Whats the risk with the new rock as far as linking tanks? Seems to me that the parameters that matter wrt to RTN/STN (alk, temp, salinity) aren't going to be affected by the inclusion of new rock. Pests i guess? But those would be there eventually waiting for the new coral anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted December 31, 2013 Author Share Posted December 31, 2013 The risk I was thinking was more based on parameter swings of introducing that much new water at once. I'm guessing if the new tank is cycled already and parameters are stable, there wouldn't be that much of a shock to introduce the new water. I'm just like an overprotective parent right now with the coral. They haven't been through a water change in 3 years so adding 260g of new cycled water scares me a bit. For new rock, it's all dry rock so I'm not worried about pests. Sorry if I forgot to mention that. The rock cleaning station I wanted to setup was more to pick clean my currents rocks before transfer to the new tank. I don't have anything I would consider a pest but its nice to have a crew there ready and waiting to clear off anything that should or shouldn't be there. I just want only coral and rock coming over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 I dunno, I kinda like the idea of getting your new tank setup completely, match parameters to your old tank, then set up the drain to temporarily shunt from the new tank to the old sump with a very small pump returning water to the new tank. You could kind of follow the mold of richard's FragZoneTM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbo662 Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 Maybe set the new system up more like drip acclimation...rather than doing a full siphon start with a much lower flow draining into the existing system and let that run for several days before ramping up to a higher flow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted December 31, 2013 Author Share Posted December 31, 2013 I like both of your lines of thinking. What I may end up doing now is to make a hard switch to the new sump. Move all of my reactors to the new sump and plumb the old tank drains into that one. I will have it return right back to the old tank. It shouldn't have any impact as I don't run a refugium in the old sump so it was basically just additional water volume and a place to run reactors. That will allow me to start using my new skimmer and return pumps which is my goal for now. Once the new tank is cycled, I can just run my normal plumbing and slowly pump small amounts of the new tank water through the sump and let it slowly mix over time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbo662 Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 Bingo! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobR Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 Great pics of the corals. Some really good ideas in this thread for taking it slow and getting things moved over to avoid any type of major swings. Things look like they are coming along nicely, can't wait to see the finished product, gonna be one sweet tank!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 The new tank is missing one key ingredient that the old tank has; a high biological threshold. Your mature system has bacteria everywhere, on the glass, on the pumps, and even suspended in the water column. I would act as if you're going to cycle a completely new tank. I think every rock you have is covered with awesomeness, but if you have anything in the sump then I would move those first. Do a tank transfusion, moving the mature water to the new system and the fresh water to the old. How much water is up to you, but I'm too conservative to connect the systems immediately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 He's not adding an livestock though, and he's just adding dry rock. What's the risk? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 Hey Jeeper, Just curious about a couple of dipping your corals. If you are moving rock over (undipped) and plumbing the two systems together, it seems that whatever may be killed in a dip have plenty of other methods to transfer. So effectively you may be stressing your corals for little gain. As for plumbing the systems together, I agree with victoly. sort of, actually. i'm not even sure you need to let a full cycle happen in your new system first. your mature system can probably handle the ammonia and nitrite you toss at it in very short order. of course, i'm not a super clean SPS guy, so you may want to be more conservative than me. i kinda like the idea of the rock wash station. i'd probably sit there watching it singing the oompa loompa song for days, or until my g/f clocked my in the head and told me to shut up. if i rotated in with "i've been working on the live rock", "bubble while you work", and a few others it may limit the risk of head injury. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted January 2, 2014 Author Share Posted January 2, 2014 Sometimes I'm too wordy for my own good. Here's the plan: 1) cycle new rock and sand in new tank 2) slowly do my transfusions of old tank water into the new tank to help jumpstart cycle 3) once new tank is cycled, slowly mix the water from the two tanks together, probably by sharing a sump. Aim to have all water mixed 100% between two tanks over the span of a week. To control the mixing rate of the water, I will be using a very slow turnover rate for the new tank water in the combined sump. 4) aim to dip all sps during this transfer 5) move over fishes Understandably it isn't a totally clean procedure to dip the corals and not the rock, but only pests I'm concerned about reside on the sps colonies themselves. Yes, planktonic forms are not accounted for but knowing that I don't have pests on my colonies, this is more for my own piece of mind then it is a totally fool proof form of pest control. As for my old system having the capability of absorbing any nitrite and ammonia spike from the non-cycled water, I may have tried that with softies or LPS but for SPS, I'd rather just be safe. Also, the new tank is a larger volume of water so having my old tank system account for that much new non-cycled water seems like it would be asking for trouble. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted January 2, 2014 Author Share Posted January 2, 2014 If I set up the rock cleaning station, I'll record you a video that you can put on loop and run the oompa loompa music in the background. That'll probably get me a smack on the head by my wife as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juiceman Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 I'd say, start moving your old water into the new system 10-20g at a time and add the new water to your current system. Maybe do that once a week. This way it's like small water changes that eventually equalize the water between the two tanks? That would be the slower version of what you're planning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+olaggie01 Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 Don't say that word. Ty will never allow a water change. Just think of it as switching out good water for old. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted January 3, 2014 Author Share Posted January 3, 2014 Water change? We talking about water changes!? Never! You can't make me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted January 3, 2014 Author Share Posted January 3, 2014 Juiceman, that's what I'm doing right now. I'll continue to do this to aid the cycling in the new tank. Once its cycled, then tie them both together using the same sump and do a very low turnover from the new system to mix it slowly over a weeks time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 It sounds like you've got yourself a plan brother! Give to charity. Donate your ambrosia water to sps keepers less fortunate than you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 If I set up the rock cleaning station, I'll record you a video that you can put on loop and run the oompa loompa music in the background. That'll probably get me a smack on the head by my wife as well. sure, but some things are worth the smack on the head. until she goes for tools... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted January 4, 2014 Author Share Posted January 4, 2014 Hey, look at that. Behind all that cloudy water was an actual saltwater tank! If you look real hard, there's already coral in my new tank! Had a fun incident while doing my plumbing the other day. While testing fitment, I flexed my plumbing just a bit too far and broke my glass brace that holds the two drain lines. I am borderline happy that I finally had my first accident. That means I'm in the clear now. Went ahead and drilled another hole and this time added a small section of spa-flex tubing to give it some... well... flex. Not the prettiest right now but I intend to just cut the jagged portion off and run with just the half piece as it seems to be functioning just fine like that. Got my plumbing finalized and glued into place yesterday. Let everything dry and gave it a test run tonight. Some observations: 1) After plumbing two Iwaki 40XLTs into the sump, planning on one to be the main return pump and the other to run my reactors via solenoid (and also being the backup pump), I realized after seeing it in action, that one Iwaki, being the return pump AND running all the reactors is more than enough. Those bad boys can sure move water! I guess I didn't account for the very little loss of flow due to head pressure as my Mag12 doesn't feel anywhere near as strong as the Iwaki though similarly rated for flow. I don't even think the 2nd pump will ever run. I'll just have it hooked up and the valves closed off for the day my main pump ever dies. Running both would be overkill. 2) After dialing back the flow on the Iwaki, the return overflows are actually pretty quiet. Realized they have a stepped cascade on the other side of the overflow to prevent the sound of crashing water into the overflow. Nice design feature that I never noticed but sure do appreciate it now. 3) The sound of the Iwaki is pretty moderate but I think that will be tempered once the stand is skinned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted January 6, 2014 Author Share Posted January 6, 2014 Did a good round of testing this morning to check levels in my current tank and also the new tank. Here's what I got: Parameter Old Tank New Tank Target Concentration Notes Alkalinity 8.0 dKh 9.7 dKh 8.0 dKh Interesting that the alkalinity in the new tank is higher than I expected. Coralife salt is what I used. Phosphate 0.1 ppm 0.23 ppm 0.02-0.03 ppm PO4 has been higher ever since I moved the old tank. Expected higher PO4 in new tank but cycle is just beginning. Calcium 460 ppm 520 ppm 425 ppm Ca increased after a couple water changes. That's why I HATE water changes!!! Calcium in new tank high! Magnesium 1,640 ppm 1,480 ppm 1,500 ppm Mg was at 2,200 ppm after bryopsis treatment last summer. Nice to see it go down over that time. Salinity 1.025 1.026 1.025-1.026 Right where I want it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.