Bringing 500 gallon monster home tomorrow

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
M

mmfarm

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 29, 2009
25
0
0
USA
Hello,
After over a year of looking/ waiting for the right deal, and researching this endeavor, I am finally bringing home a tank tomorrow. It is a full set up with lights, sump, etc. It is still running with a few fish and over 800 lbs of live rock. I will be using a bunch of garbage bins and other containers to transport the live rock with some water in it. The plan was to make about 250 gallons of salt water here, and bring about 250 gallons from the existing setup. I went to make the salt water this morning, and realized something: Its going to take a few days to make that much RO/DI water.

Question 1: Is it silly to begin with half tapwater, and use RO/DI from now on? There are no corals or inverts in the tank at this time, but I'd like to start adding them soon.

The tank has been set up for 7 years now. So naturally some of the powerheads, etc are a little grimy.

Question 2: How long can I leave the lr in the bins with water so I can spend a day or two cleaning up the tank before refilling it?

I will post a thread with pictures and info about the tank and the move next week. But right now those are the stones I realized I left unturned today. Any input is much appreciated.

Thanks,

Jeffrey A. Beer Jr.
 
mmfarm;4523691; said:
Hello,
After over a year of looking/ waiting for the right deal, and researching this endeavor, I am finally bringing home a tank tomorrow. It is a full set up with lights, sump, etc. It is still running with a few fish and over 800 lbs of live rock. I will be using a bunch of garbage bins and other containers to transport the live rock with some water in it. The plan was to make about 250 gallons of salt water here, and bring about 250 gallons from the existing setup. I went to make the salt water this morning, and realized something: Its going to take a few days to make that much RO/DI water.

Question 1: Is it silly to begin with half tapwater, and use RO/DI from now on? There are no corals or inverts in the tank at this time, but I'd like to start adding them soon.
There is nothing wrong with using half dechlorinated tap and half ro/di.
The tank has been set up for 7 years now. So naturally some of the powerheads, etc are a little grimy.
A new tooth brush is good for cleaning the finer areas of power heads, and a soak/run in a bucket with 50/50 water and distilled white vinegar will clean them well. Just be sure to rinse them before shoving them back in the tank.
Question 2: How long can I leave the lr in the bins with water so I can spend a day or two cleaning up the tank before refilling it? You can do that, but you would want an airstone and power head in each vat of LR to keep the water oxygenated.

I will post a thread with pictures and info about the tank and the move next week. But right now those are the stones I realized I left unturned today. Any input is much appreciated.

Thanks,

Jeffrey A. Beer Jr.
Click to expand...
Best of luck, that is a going to be a beast of a move.
 
that is one hell of a move but you should be fine.....idk about putting in the inverts and coral...but it does depend on how sensitive to chemicals they are..like ammonia nitrite and nitrate and the other stuff....your call
 
Thanks for the replies. I decided to bite the bullet and transfer all 500 gallons with me even though the drive is 45 minutes! I will use the RODI from now one. I have a 20 ft box trailer with 3 and a half ton axles, so it should hold the weight just fine. I am going to take pictures of the process and post a thread about the new tank when its all done.

Regards,

JABJ
 
Was there live sand in the system? If so what's your plan with them? Many tank transfers fail due to reusing of a disturbed deep sand bed causing huge nutrient spikes so be very careful with that.
 
very cool, cant wait to see the pics... if you ever run into issues where you need to run tap... I run tap and it should be ok... I would suggest testing the tap water first though. My tap happens to check out at 0 n/n/a/p but I know others have bad tap. Anywho always good to stick with what you got and good luck.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom