Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi everyone! I'm new here and here is my situation...
O.k. so my friend is going through a divorce and she has given me an ultimatum. Not sure how I ended up on THAT end of the stick, but... it was come and pick up her 50 gallon salt water tank, or she's dumping it in the back yard. SOOOO.. I told her I would take it and we are going to start the whole tranfer/move thing tonight. We are breaking down the coral and plants and fish into smaller tanks and moving the big tank to my place to start a fresh cycle of salt water. She's got over 2000.00 invested in this tank, and it's about 5 years established with fish/rocks/coral/plants/pumps/filters/heaters... you name it. Any advice? Does anyone here have experience in moving them?? I figured I didn't have enough work with 6 chams,4 dogs,3 frogs,5 geckos, 2 anoles, 150 crickets,1000 silkies, 500 kingworms, 100 butterworms and some goliath worms, working full time and teaching yoga/pilates. Hey who needs sleep!!! It's over-rated.
Any Advise would be greatly appreciated!!!!!!

I wish I could give you tons of advice but, unfortunately, saltwater is not my strong point. I hope that your friend is willing to help you learn about this tank. In the meantime, while a lot of this won't apply, give http://faq.thekrib.com/sbegin.html a look over. It's a good place to start.

I would highly recommend for you to read saltwater aquariums for dummies first then get a book called the simple guide to Mini-Reef Aquariums. I hope this will help you.

O.k. So it's been a month and a half since I "adopted" this salt water tank. It's alot of dang work. I've been testing the water weekly everythings been fine, The fish are all happy, the rocks look good. The corals are fine..... so now that everyone is stable I'm planning on moving them into the big tank. I've decided to go with the Indio-Pacific region as far as "type". I've got everything pretty much mapped out only I am MASSIVELY confused on which type of filter to get. I really personally don't like the wet/dry, but I'm not opposed to using one. I do like the canisters, but I don't know which kind is best, Rena/Fluval/Eheims.....Any suggestions anyone?? It's a 46 gallon bowfront tank with 2 ekip300 heater/filters, 1 bak pak protien skimmer, 2 1200 maxi-jets for water movement. I was also contimplating getting a fluidized sand filter.. do you think I need one??? I've read just about everything I can get my hands and I'm still confused.
Any idea's and suggestions are welcome!! Thanks sooo much!