[robvia]

Please help. I guess this would be considered a tank move.

I have a 90 gallon tank currently with nothing in it. I have a friend with a 90 gallon tank that has sand and live rock. There are currently no fish in the tank. He has a protein skimmer and sand filter.

We would like to take the sand a live rock out of his and into mine. They are different dimensions, so I can't just trade tanks with him.

Niether of us are experience saltwater people. We are looking for some guidelines to get this done.

Should I get saltwater and filters in my tank running without any substrate? Maybe fill it halfway full and get the chlorine out and specific gravity right. Then put the rock and sand in buckets with water and transfer.

How fragil are the rock?

Should I get a sand bed in my tank first, and then add his to it?

If we end up using say 30 gallons of water from his tank and the rest new water, is the shock likely to kill anything? There are no fish in the tank. Just rock and some annemone.

Thanks,
Rob

[Ninong]

You should not attempt to transfer all of his sand into your new tank. What you should do is set up your tank with new sand -- just plain old calcareous sand such as Southdown (aka Oldcastle) or the more expensive Carib-Sea product -- and then add just a thin (1/2"-3/4") layer from the top of his existing sand bed on top of that new sand. I would use no more than the top 1" layer of sand from his tank. I would throw away the rest of the sand from his tank and not use it.

After you have your sand bed in your tank (new sand plus some of the top layer from his sand bed), add pre-mixed saltwater to a depth of an inch or so above the sand bed to get the sand to settle down. Then you could add the live rock from his tank and then finish filling your tank with more pre-mixed saltwater.

I strongly urge you not to attempt to transfer all of his sand bed to your new tank. This would complicate the process and increase the risk of failure substantially.

If possible, try to use half of the water from his tank with half new pre-mixed saltwater. There is always going to be a certain amount of die-off in any move of this sort but if done properly the die-off will be minimal and not a problem. That assumes that you do NOT attempt to transfer his entire sand bed.

[robvia]

Should I use any living sand in the substrate I am creating in my tank?

I have two 5 gallon buckets for use with the tank. If I fill them, de-chlorine and add salt to get the right specific gravity, can I immediately add that bucket to the tank?

Is it better to have different types of sand in the tank? Would one bag each of 3 different types be better then 3 bags of Southdown?

I think I will need close to 1.5 cubic feet of sand for my substrate. That would be 3 inches of sand. Any idea how many pounds that would be? Is 3 inches a good estimate?

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by robvia

Should I use any living sand in the substrate I am creating in my tank?

If you intend using live sand from an existing tank to juice up your new sand bed, then I would go with just plain old dead sand as the foundation of your new sand bed. Then add some live sand from the existing tank on top of that. Just scoop off the top 1" layer from the existing sand bed. That will contain a lot of good critters and avoid the more problematic stuff lower down.

I have two 5 gallon buckets for use with the tank. If I fill them, de-chlorine and add salt to get the right specific gravity, can I immediately add that bucket to the tank?

I wouldn't. I would go out and buy a 32-gal Rubbermaid Brute container (gray, yellow or white only) and use that to mix a larger batch of saltwater. You could use it within an hour or two of mixing if you absolutely had to but it is always much better to wait at least 24 hours before using it. I would never add freshly mixed saltwater that has not "aged" for at least an hour unless I was extremely desperate.

Is it better to have different types of sand in the tank? Would one bag each of 3 different types be better then 3 bags of Southdown?

If you have access to Southdown, you are extremely lucky and should go with that. It is a good mix of particle sizes all by itself. And it is cheap! If you want to go with the more expensive products, use at least 60-70% of the smallest particle size you can find (sugar-sized or smaller) and then use something slightly larger to thoroughly mix in with the small stuff. Do not use more than 5-10% maximum of the larger particle stuff (1-2mm).

I think I will need close to 1.5 cubic feet of sand for my substrate. That would be 3 inches of sand. Any idea how many pounds that would be? Is 3 inches a good estimate?

I think 3" is a reasonable minimum depth. I happen to have a much deeper sand bed than that in my tank but I sort of over did things a bit. I suggest you shoot for a minimum of 3.5". You will probably need a total of about 160-lbs of sand. It all depends on how much you use from the other guy's tank. If you are buying Southdown in the 50-lbs bags, get three bags of that and then just add enough of the live sand from the other guy's tank to bring your sand bed depth up to at least 3.5". Don't forget that the dry sand will compact once you add water to the tank. I would add 3.5"-4" of dry sand first, then add enough water to just barely reach the surface of the bed so that it will compact down and then start adding live sand from the other tank on top of that.

[Poseidon]

When you take the rest of the sand out of your friends tank to throw it away, you will KNOW WHY you didn't want to add it to your tank. It is the MOST PUTRID ROTTEN NASTY smell ever. And in my old 55 that pretty white sand had actually turned BLACK at the bottom. I'd say the last 3/4 to 1 inch of sand was NASTY!!!

[sfaribault]

Originally Posted by Ninong

I wouldn't. I would go out and buy a 32-gal Rubbermaid Brute container (gray, yellow or white only) and use that to mix a larger batch of saltwater.

I have some blue ones I was going to use. Why these three colors only??

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by sfaribault

I have some blue ones I was going to use. Why these three colors only??

Because they meet USDA meat and poultry equipment specifications. BTW, I didn't know that Rubbermaid made Brute containers in Blue. Are you sure you have Brute containers? This recommendation is based on a series of communications between reefers on this board and the Rubbermaid Commercial Products Division. That's because people were experiencing problems with R.O./D.I. water stored in new Rubbermaid containers that were not the ones recommended. Rubbermaid told us the other containers would leach chemicals into the R.O./D.I. water. Someone tested his freshly made up R.O./D.I. water and got a reading of 0 TDS, then when he tested it again a day or two later he got a rather high TDS reading.

P.S. -- I guess Rubbermaid makes the Brute containers in various colors but I am sure that only the gray, yellow and white ones meet the USDA specs for meat and poultry handling and those were the ones the guy at Rubbermaid told us to use for R.O./D.I. water storage.