help/advise need...transfer marine aquarium

[roti444]

hi all veteran and elite marine hobbyist, help.. help...I am going to take over my friend marine aquarium in 3 weeks time that is 23 June (need to transfer from punngol] to my house @ sembawang, transferring is a big headache). I am totally new to marine aquarium, but I do have a fresh aquarium at home.

I was thinking what preparation should I do now ?? The tank of my friend is 3ft X 1.5ft X 1.5ft aquarium with nemo, tanks fish (total about 10~11 fishes) no corals. The tanks is easily 3 years old with decent external filtration system,powerhead, i think no skimmer. Really need advise from u all to reduce the casualties after the transfer...

Some questions,

* what is the preparation I need to do now ?

* I have a spare 2ft * 1ft * 1ft tank. I have just use it to started a seawater tank yesterday 3 June hastily, I throw in the seasalt(aqua, seems low grade), stir, throw in the buffer 8.3 and put in 2 damelfish. I was thinking hopefully it can recycle as much as possible so as to buffer the effect when the 3ft tank is transfer over ? But in this 2 X 1 X 1 tanks I only have a air pump, some biological rings for the bacteria to grow, some hardy fishes(2 blue damsel), but there is no skimmer, no powerhead. Will it works or what more should I do. The reason I do not want to buy more equipment for this 2ft tank is becos I am taking my friend equipment in 3 weeks time.

* as that 3ft tank easily weight 300kg it is not practically not possible to bring the whole thing over from punggol to sembawang ? I think I goto drain at least 70~80% of the water out. Will the fish die out of shock ? as I intend to mix saltwater at my home couple days prior the tanks arrive,s ome of this saltwater will come from my 2ft tank.

* Other questions what salt should I use ? Is it ok to use the water from the tap and less it overnight ?

* what steps should i do when the 3ft tanks arrived ?

Thanks u,

from roti444(newbie to marine tank).

roti444

[RX_GAN]

Prior to that...

it will be better to take out the livestock first and put them into pails during transfer.

this is to prevent stress during the movement.

and best is to mix the saltwater or get seawater and pump air overnight before the transfer..

add in bacterias to the water to allow them to thrive first.

the new tank may suffer if u ahve alot of fishes...

the biological system maybe affected becos the liverock are exposed to air.

but the sand do host your aerobic bacteria...so shouldn't be too much problem.

basically u still need to start all over again if u empty too much water...

u will need to cycle the tank again.

but can be cut short if u can have some bioballs or biohome in your 2ft tank for your bacteria to colonise...

then transfer them to your new tank without exposing to the air.

[glim18]

Here's what I would do...not sure if correct or not: I'd suggest re-using as much of the original water from the old tank as is possible, i.e. put the fishes in a pail with the old water, and have an air-pump running. Transfer as much of the old water from punggol to sembawang. Do not transfer tank and water together...not a good idea. Set up 3ft tank with old water at new location and let it run for a little while to settle down, then you can add fish.