[Nikki]

Well, what at first was thought to be a bubble trapped behind the epoxy in the corner of the tank has now been determined to be an expanding crack. Seems it didn't make the move so well after all We are going to purchase a new aquarium, but I am starting to mentally tackle the issue of moving everything over into a new tank in the right order and becoming overwhelmed and concerned that I won't do it right. Is there a reference or paper somewhere that someone could point me to?

Most concerning is the moving of the sand and allowing it to settle before I add the LR and the cleaner shrimp, crabs, snails etc. Do I try to distribute it the same way in the new tank (keep bottom sand on bottom and top on top)? I do not have fish yet so that is one thing I don't have to worry about.

Any help is appreciated, thanks!

[wozza]

How deep is your sand bed?
if its a deep sand bed i would only trasfer the top 1" and dispose of the rest and purchase new sand for the bottom then pour the old sand on that.

As for moving things in to the new tank, u want to save as much of the old water as possible.

drain the tank about half way in to buckets etc...
then put fish and anything living in the buckets, drain as much of the remaining water out as you can in to more buckets of what ever you are using, try not to disturb the rock work and sand bed etc.. you want this water to be nice and clean.

Then remove the live rock and use some new salt water to give the live rock a wash off, just to remove any detritus and what ever.

Then put live rock in it new home, add water, wate for the tank to settle before adding live stock, then keep a close eye on the ammonia, nitrite.

[scubadude]

lotta work ahead of you but I would do like wozza said and put the fish/corals/invert into a seperate container while the LR and sand settle in the new tank....I would plan on the LR and sand settling for atleast 24 hrs...probably bettter to let it settle a bit longer. Check your levels real good and match them up to the container holding the fish/inverts before doing the final transfer.