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tank tear down and rebuild.

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by mthomp, Jul 21, 2011.

  1. Jul 21, 2011 #1
    mthomp

    mthomp Inactive User

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    I have been putting some serious thought into tearing my tank down and rebuilding it.  I have never been very happy with my rock work, and that along with not really liking my sump setup, it  is just too big for the space its in  makes me want to do this.   I will want to replace/refresh my sand and save all my livestock.  The plan is to do this all in 1 day.    What effects do you think this will have on my livestock.
     
  2. Jul 21, 2011 #2
    FindnNemo

    FindnNemo Inactive User

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    Not sure what advice I can give but if ya need a hand let me know..if Im off of work when ya do I'd be more then happy to help...Im sure I could learn a few things from ya!
     
  3. Jul 21, 2011 #3
    mthomp

    mthomp Inactive User

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    thats cool. I am still on the fence about it, Ill have to get a sump put together first off. Going to go with a 20 long this time. I think that will allow me the room I need in order to correctly maintain that area of my system.
     
  4. Jul 21, 2011 #4
    vikubz Cedar Falls

    vikubz Well-Known ReefKeeper

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    The one issue I see would be the sand. Will your tank clear up in just a few hours? I have done tank upgrades in one day without incident, but I did not have a sand bed.
     
  5. Jul 21, 2011 #5
    mthomp

    mthomp Inactive User

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    thats a good point. My thoughts were it would clear up enough in 5 or 6 hours, although my gut tells me 24. Either way I dont think that will cause too much of a problem with the livestock. I was more concerned about a cycle killing everything.
     
  6. Jul 21, 2011 #6
    Killernights

    Killernights Inactive User

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    as long as you dont replace all of your sand at the same time it should be fine...a lot of benificial bacteria in the sand, also to put the new sand in just siphon it down there with a tube or PVC, i did this and it hardly clouded up my tank
     
  7. Jul 22, 2011 #7
    Taz

    Taz

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    I recently moved my tank (125gal) from my parent’s house in KC to my house in DSM and replaced all the sand. I had around 150-200 lb of live rock and both fish and coral in the tank when I moved it. The tank went through a cycle after the move but I never lost anything. I think you would be fine replacing all of your sand in your tank as long as you would have enough other live rock in there to make up for the bacteria you just lost. You might also think about buying live sand as that is what I used.
     
  8. Jul 22, 2011 #8
    Bud West Des Moines, IA

    Bud Loves Bacon Website Team Board of Directors Leadership Team GIRS Member Vendor

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    Just for perspective I had to emergency move a 120 (250-300 lb LR) and sucked out all the sand (only about 4g worth) but I rinsed it like it was new pool filter sand, with a hose and a tub until it ran clean and clear, and there was no noticable adverse side effects, I'm sure there was a large loss of BB and other life, but the LR held plenty of that. Taking established sand out and putting it back in as-is is just asking for trouble, you're going to release everything built up in the sand into the water column. IMO you're better off with new sand or rinsing the existing sand. As mentioned before, if you have a lot of LR this will help buffer the change. Changing 1/2 of the sand at a time is a good suggestion also, if you can do it.

    I put the base rocks down first (in an empty tank) then put the sand in around them (again, empty tank) and then started filling slowly as to minimize sand disturbance, and as I filled I stacked the LR so it was always mostly underwater, added fish last, no problems except one fish ate another.
     
  9. Jul 22, 2011 #9
    mthomp

    mthomp Inactive User

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    Well I am going to go for it as soon as i can locate a suitable sump. the 30long i have is just too big so going to go too a 20 long
     

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