Breaking Down:(

[Mixed Reefer]

Getting ready to break down my Red Sea 425xl. Not looking forward to it. I’ll be switching over to an Innovative marine 200ext. The tank is here waiting for me to start the transfer. The Red Sea has questionable seams. I’ll try to document my progress here. My first step was buying a trough that holds 150 gallons of water and plenty of buckets for moving livestock. Here are some pics of my tank. It’s less than three years old and thriving. Sad to have to break it up. But my tangs will be much happier for the upgrade!

If you have any advice or experience you would like to share I’m all ears.

 

[Discovery]

The buckets and trough are the critical pieces. And in that closet, I’m certain you have some pumps for the trough and an air pump and stones for the buckets for the fish. By default, you’ll have some frags after moving the rock - but it’s the perfect opportunity to rescape. It’s just a person-hour thing now. I have suction cups and a body to lend if you need a hand. And don’t forget to water test the IM tank before you load it up - you never know. And in a week or two - you’ll be staring at the new tank and smiling!

 

[Mixed Reefer]

The buckets and trough are the critical pieces. And in that closet, I’m certain you have some pumps for the trough and an air pump and stones for the buckets fir the fish. By default, you’ll have some frags after moving the rock - but it’s the perfect opportunity to rescape. It’s just a person-hour thing now. I have suction cups and a body to lend if you need a hand.

Thanks yeah definitely will be looking for man power lifting that tank. It’s just under 800 pounds. Appreciate it. Hoping to start breaking old tank down end of this week.

 

[Owen386]

Nice setup my dude! Not the funnest process I wish you the best of luck!

 

[Chris.Reef]

Is the new tank going where the old tank is? When I transferred over to my new thank I was fortunate enough to put the new tank in a different area so I could let it run for a couple of months and then quickly transfer everything over without and temporary holding bins.

 

[Mixed Reefer]

Is the new tank going where the old tank is? When I transferred over to my new thank I was fortunate enough to put the new tank in a different area so I could let it run for a couple of months and then quickly transfer everything over without and temporary holding bins.

Yes same spot as other one. But that’s ok needs to happen

 

[afboundguy]

@Mixed Reefer if you want some extra hands let me know I might be able to help with the swap out. I have already done 5 or 6 tank swaps/complete moves since I moved out on my own 20+ years ago and I'd be happy to help if our schedules align up.

As for advice I would suggest lots of buckets, fresh live sand, test for ammonia and have lots of extra SW to do emergency water changes and do extra water changes the first few weeks. That seems to be my recipe and has worked well so far!

I didn't do that method on my current "tank upgrade" as I wanted all new rockwork so it caused a recycle so I lost several corals but every other time I have done a total swap out with most of the old live sand and all the live rock and corals I have avoided anything worse than a slight mini re-cycle that doing a few water changes was all that was needed.

 

[stevebydac]

Good luck with your switchover. Beautiful reef. FWIW, I have a 25g Innovative Marine lagoon tank for 1 1/2 years and I've been very happy with the quality.

 

[Mixed Reefer]

Good luck with your switchover. Beautiful reef. FWIW, I have a 25g Innovative Marine lagoon tank for 1 1/2 years and I've been very happy with the quality.

That was similar to my first tank. I had the 20 gal. Loved it. This one is as impressive. Thanks!