Breaking my tank down for Home Remodel...should I save my water?

[shanker]

I have an Oceanic 58 gallon that has been up for 6.5 years. When I moved here from Waco I transported everything in a HUGE cooler along with all of my water change buckets.

I am going to be remodeling my Formal Dining room and seeing as my oldest fish (1 of 2) just passed away (was 6.5 years old) I am thinking about releasing the other fish in my bosses canal and breaking down my tank.

I am also in the process of builing a 200g tank and was wondering if I should try and save my water for the new tank, will take about 6 weeks to setup again. Or should I just start over from scratch completely?

-Patrick

[Rychek]

If you have the room and containers, It might not hurt to save the water. It won't retain any bacteria though. What kind of fish are you going to release into the canal? Is this a freshwater or saltwater tank? Either way it isn't a really good idea to release aquarium fish into the wild, especially if they aren't a native species. Depending on the type of fish, you could probably find people here on MAAST (like myself perhaps) who would adopt it.

[aquasport24]

I think the fishes will have a better chance at some else tank than going back to the wild, since they so used to the aquarium life. You may want to sale them or give them to other reefers.

[ismvel]

I would not save the water for 6 weeks....but would much rather invest in an RODI unit so you can fill the tank up yourself when the time comes....you can get a decent one for $150 - $175 (I paid $177 for mine after shipping and a couple of accessories)....going to the store for saltwater on a 200+ gallon will be 1. expensive depending on how much it is per gallon and 2. lots of trips to the LFS. This is somethign that you will have for future water changes or what not and it would have cost you just as much as purchasing water from the LFS...

[LoneStar]

I don't remember....do you have any live rock in your tank? If so is it cured yet? Or uncured?

Either way, if you have live rock already, keep enough water and start curing your rock in vats. This will work out pretty good since in about 6 weeks it will be cured and ready for your tank when you set it up again.

If you don't have any rock already and just have sand and water, don't bother saving the water since its not worth it.

[barderer]

don't release your fish unless they are naturally occurring or stocked by TPW for the THAT particular water body.

[speakerguy]

Never release anything from an aquarium back into the wild.... even if it's a one in a billion chance something might go bad.

See: caulerpa :(

[ErikH]

www.myspace.com/caulerpa

[shanker]

the fish is a rockhind grouper that I caught at the jetties 2 summers ago, he's about 9" long, nobody would want it in their tank.


Since I dont have any live rock im going to go ahead and not save the water.

[Kristy]

Good luck on the remodel and tank upgrade. Is "formal dining room" code for future fish room?

[hobogato]

even tho the rock hind is a native fish, you have housed it with non native fish. this could have exposed it to bacteria and parasites that are not normally found here. if you release it, those could expose the local fish population to something they have no defense for and could cause major issues. please do not release any fish - native or not - from an aquarium where non native species were also housed.