Need Help for a 225g 100% Water Change

I have a 225g FOWLR that I maintain in Urbandale at a Japanese Steakhouse. I say 'maintain' while biting my tongue, because all I really have done for a while is provide top-off water and change filter pads, because PWCs got to the point of uselessness.


The client is now all-in on making this tank a Reef system. So I'm going to re-boot the system. The plan is to nuke the rock with Hydrochloric (Muriatic) Acid/powerwash/vinegar/powerwash/soak etc, and change all the water.


I need help with the 100% water change. The plan is to do the drain and fill in one shot, pull the fish out into a temporary QT tank on-site and acclimate them out of the bad water to fresh SW while draining and re-filling the DT, then put the fish back in.


The problem is, it's 225g of water, plus the sump, plus acclimation water. Probably a total of about 250g or more. I have about 20 5g buckets + lids, and 2x 44g Brute cans, but that's not enough. I need access to large amount of pre-mixed SW that can be brought to the location.


I know a few people that have large storage tanks in town, so I'm hoping that I can have all the SW mixed up ahead of time for 24 hours (Reef Crystals) and then I would need someone to do the transportation with me or for me.


This all needs to be done during off-hours, luckily on Saturdays and Sundays they don't open until 4pm, so an early start on either of these days and we can knock it out.


As for the rest of the plan, for anyone interested:


Nuke probably 1/2 of the rock ahead of time, plus some of my stock.

Form this into one half of the final structure, secure together with rods

Remainder of rock will be nuked after the water change, and eventually will form other half of structure (using the Golden Ratio concept)

Change out sump to eventually get rid of bio-balls, incorporate filter socks instead of poorly functioning pad.

Re-install skimmer and carbon

Install Algae Scrubber, which was not working due to ultra-high nutrients and possibly chemical warfare from cyanobacteria

Replace lighting with LED

Remove aggressive, non-reef-safe fish and sell (rectangulus tigger, niger trigger, yellow stripe maroon clown)

Add community friendly reef fish

Add corals


I would consider selling the aggressive fish at the time of the water change, but they should probably be QTd to make sure they are not over-stressed.


Thanks and let me know if you can help. No time frame set on this for sure, but I would like to get the water change done by the end of the month

 

An update: Owner has agreed to let me QT/sell the fish, but still wants the tank fish free for a minimal time.

I am trading 100g of SW with Matt N for the Niger Trigger and he might take Yellow-Stripe Maroon Clown also.

I need to find a home for the Rectangulus Trigger. I will de-acclimate him at my house and QT for a few weeks unless you wish to do this. He's about 5-6" long.

I will be keeping the Desjardini Sailfin, Sorry.

I'll be re-stocking with probably a bunch of Chromis to re-start the tank before considering any fish or corals.

So the drain & re-fill can take place without pre-mixed SW to some extent. Now I just need a way to transport a lot of RODI

 

Some pics

 

Ok, thanks to BigD and his incredibly good deals, the Taki tank is going to be the lucky recipient of all of his rock, sand, snails, crabs, and fish.

So this has turned into a multi-stage process instead of a one-day shot.

I'm planning to set up multiple small tanks to house all of BigD's rock, sand, and fish. I might need a few temporary tanks for this project. Might start a new thread for that request.

First I will be replacing the sump so that they can run the skimmer, scrubber, filter socks. probably carbon for a while, and bioballs for a while as well. For this, I'm going to modify a 40 Breeder.

I will be removing and selling or QTing all fish. Removing all rock, and all sand, and emptying tank. None of the sand/rock needs to stay alive so this will probably all happen the same day as the re-stock.

Then I'm going to add the sand, probably add the rock from BigD's tank, and let it settle in for a few days.

Then I will add all of the small fish - about 20 Chromis.

After that, the Desjardini Sailfin Tang, Yellow Tang, and 10" Vlamingii Tang

After the Angels are verified to be safe on softies (they are on SPS, but this tank won't have much of that) then the Bicolor, Flame Back, and Coral Beauty will go in.

The regular Sailfin Tang that is in the tank now will need a new home after a long QT period, but I might have one for him at Grove & Platt.

So, I'm still going to need help but I'm also getting BigD's 100g polypro mixing station so I can make up about 180g of saltwater myself, but will still need another ~100g and will need it transported.

Dates of all of this are yet to me verified.

I will probably also need a ride-along to Belle Plaine and back to get all of this stuff and bring it to my house. Road trip anyone?

 

I'm planning the trip to BP on Sunday, taking the minivan with the stow-n-go seats which makes for a 4' x 8' storage area and room for a passenger, so Troy let me know if you're available Sunday and when. I prefer as early as possible to get if knocked out plus I want to be there before BigD gets into the race and gets drunk and belligerent. LOL