All,
Tomorrow I'm picking up a 90 gallon system from another forum member. This will be an upgrade to my up-and-running 55 gallon. The 90 comes with a couple coral colonies, rock that started as base rock and is pest free, 2 urchins, 2 fish, sand, and equipment.
I'm NOT ready to set up the 90 gallon and get it running right now. I want to plumb it into the utility room on the other side of the wall and run the sump in there and I also still need to install a GFCI socket. I'm also thinking about tiling the floor. Long story short, the 90 gallon will sit in storage for a month or so.
Here's my plan
1) The two coral colonies will be placed in my existing tank, as will the fish and urchins.
2) Since I can't really keep the rock live for a month I'm going to let it die. How? I don't know. Maybe let it just sit dry? Or maybe run it in bleach for a while and then store it dry? I dunno. I need your help here.
3) The sand will be cleaned with bleach and rinsed thoroughly before being stored dry.
4) Get the GFCI installed, plumbing through the wall, and perhaps the floor and wall tiled.
5) Setup the tank with its original sand and rock with some sand and rock and water from my existing tank and let it cycle(thus running both tanks while the second one cycles). I can do this since I want the new tank in another place in the house.
6) Once the new 90 gallon is cycled I'll start moving my current livestock over. I'll probably move the fish over at a rate of 2 fish every 2 weeks. I'll have to move all the coral over at once so as to keep the same lighting over them.
What am I missing? Are there ways to do it better?
Thanks in advance!