Moving soon...

[newtoreef]

Hey guys,

 

I guess my biggest nightmare is coming up. We are moving soon. Fortunately we are moving locally and not to Florida anymore even tough I was hoping to... Well I would like to get some insights about moving and how to plan for a easy transition... I understand many of you here been through that and may have some good suggestions. I would like to take my system with me and not sell anything if its possible. My tank is doing pretty well and everything is just blooming right now even my clowns had babies lately. Please any tips are really appreciated. Thanks a lot,

Sidney

[epleeds]

biggest question is how far are you moving from one location to the other.

 

The other is can you transfer all the livestock into a tub and set the tank up in the new location and then slowly bring the livestock over.

[gmerek2]

I bought a bunch of 17 gal tubs at wal mart then submerged all the rocks in tank water. All fish in one tub with no rock. The 125 went on the trailer and tubs in back of my truck in one move.. The sloshing around dislodged a lot of nasties so prepare for water changes.

[sen5241b]

I think the biggest concern with any move is that if the tank is old and the sand is laden with detritus, stirring it up will cause a killer cycle. And just taking out the rock can stir it up! One thing you can do is pre-cycle new sand and have it ready to go for the move.

[sen5241b]

Understand that a tub or tank with no rock or sand and lots of fish will cause nitrates to rise quickly.

Edited April 28, 2014 by sen5241b

[darkcirca]

We moved ours 4 years ago to our new house, and will be doing it again whenever we actually find our next place. The best thing we did was have around 100 gallons of water premixed and ready to go. I had a stock rubbermaid I picked up from Tractor Supply, plus I borrowed a second one from a member on here. I had both of these filled, plus some other containers.

 

When we moved the tank we put all the rocks in various plastic containers (old salt buckets, HD/Lowes buckets, plastic bins from stores, etc) and put as much water in as we could so it would sloosh completely out. You can also soak (clean) towels and put them around. I can't remember if I bagged all the fish individually or if we put them in buckets, but I think we bagged them. Any inverts and misc things left were bagged. I didn't have a lot of corals at the time and my clams had sadly passed... leaving a tank in care of a family member for a few months is a bad idea. Learned my lesson.

 

We had 4 of us that moved the tank (90 gallon), plus our Jeep, trailer, and a friends conversion van. We loaded the tank and whatever we could fit into his van, the stand on the trailer, some of the rock on the trailer (it was a nice day), fish and things went into a car. We started first thing in the morning and had everything at our new house 30mins away within a few hours. We used a stock tank for all the rock and went about cleaning and setting things up. We had it completely up by end of day. We did have a mini cycle but I had been making water constantly to stay on top of it.

 

Highly recommend stock tubs if you have them/can get them. You are welcome to borrow mine. It's been sitting upside down on my patio for some time. I just pretend it is a plastic table as I have no where else to store it. I think it may be a 30 or 40 gallon? I'd have to look if you wanted to know.

[morgan175]

Can't give advice I lost 500$ worth of fish. Good luck.

 

 

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[newtoreef]

I am moving in the area, not far.

[YHSublime]

How big is your tank? I would get a tub in relative size, and use it to store all your corals, rock, livestock.

 

If you have sand, I would not re-use it without a good rinse. I would not even chance that, and do all new sand. I would move all the rock and new sand into the aquarium asap. I would keep the equipment running on your tub (skimmer, lights, water heater, etc) I would have enough water on hand to do a 100% water change. I would let the aquarium sit for ideally long enough to cycle the sand with all your rock, and be prepared to do water changes on the tub, because you don't have anything to filter the bioload without the rock. Perhaps you could do half/half? I would then move everything over into the aquarium after doing a water change.

 

These are just quick thoughts off the top of my head, and something along the lines of what I plan to do when I move. What I'd ideally like to do is cycle rock, have it ready to go, and use that to setup at a new location. Ideally the more time you can get setup wherever you're moving to, the better.

[newtoreef]

Thanks for all the advice ! So I should buy new sand and pre-cycle?  Its a 90 gallon tank filled with corals... I will post a pict soon. As far as fish goes I got 2 large tangs, pair of clowns, 1 melanarius wrasse, 1 royal gramma, (6 total) two inverts. I guess about 130 lbs of live rock lots of corals incrusted, etc.. I don't think I will have enough time to cycle the tank.

Edited April 29, 2014 by newtoreef

[dante411x]

90 eh? Depending on how far you have to move (mind you, this is dangerous, will break your tank, will cause your hair to turn white, you will definitely be eaten by a shark after doing this and I might get killed by a Wamas ninja for saying it) but you could get a 100 gallon tub, put all your rock in there, catch all fish and bag them, bag corals as well when you can, otherwise wedge rocks they're on in the tub so they don't move. THEN! Drain all your water, leaving the sandbed intact. Leave about 1/4" of water higher than the sandbed, then get a couple strong people and move the tank with sand/water still in it.

You will have to be careful it doesn't get stirred up a lot.

You will need to test for nitrates and treat with prime accordingly.

This will more than likely void your tank warranty if your tank breaks and you tell the company how it broke.

 

I'm going to be hiding from the Wamas assassins in the closet or in the attic. With a shotgun.

[OldReefer]

The most important thing to understand about moving a tank, is that FIRST you are moving a family, THEN you are moving a tank.   If you get that wrong you can pay for it for years.

[YHSublime]

The most important thing to understand about moving a tank, is that FIRST you are moving a family, THEN you are moving a tank. If you get that wrong you can pay for it for years.

That's solid advice right there.

[sen5241b]

90 eh? Depending on how far you have to move (mind you, this is dangerous, will break your tank, will cause your hair to turn white, you will definitely be eaten by a shark after doing this and I might get killed by a Wamas ninja for saying it) but you could get a 100 gallon tub, put all your rock in there, catch all fish and bag them, bag corals as well when you can, otherwise wedge rocks they're on in the tub so they don't move. THEN! Drain all your water, leaving the sandbed intact. Leave about 1/4" of water higher than the sandbed, then get a couple strong people and move the tank with sand/water still in it.

You will have to be careful it doesn't get stirred up a lot.

You will need to test for nitrates and treat with prime accordingly.

This will more than likely void your tank warranty if your tank breaks and you tell the company how it broke.

 

I'm going to be hiding from the Wamas assassins in the closet or in the attic. With a shotgun.

 

 

Taking all the rock out and moving the tank with sand still in it will be difficult.

[dante411x]

Taking all the rock out and moving the tank with sand still in it will be difficult.

That highly depends on how it's going to be moved. If it's not going far, maybe half hour or hour away and if it can stay vertical the whole way (aka the tank doesn't need to be turned any direction while it's being moved, as in turning it sideways to get up stairs etc) I'd go this route. Then when it's in the new house, dump some fresh saltwater in there around half full, put in a powerhead and heater and get it back to speed. Some things will die. Sure. But majority of the problems will be taking care of by your still live rock and perhaps testing every other day and dosing prime as necessary to bind ammonia/nitrite/nitrate while your system can process it.

It's certainly better than losing an established sand bed.

[sen5241b]

That highly depends on how it's going to be moved. If it's not going far, maybe half hour or hour away and if it can stay vertical the whole way (aka the tank doesn't need to be turned any direction while it's being moved, as in turning it sideways to get up stairs etc) I'd go this route. Then when it's in the new house, dump some fresh saltwater in there around half full, put in a powerhead and heater and get it back to speed. Some things will die. Sure. But majority of the problems will be taking care of by your still live rock and perhaps testing every other day and dosing prime as necessary to bind ammonia/nitrite/nitrate while your system can process it.

It's certainly better than losing an established sand bed.

 

Not sure I agree with this. I've heard too many horror stories about sand beds getting stirred up and wiping out a tank, One of those horror stories involved a 2 or 3 hundred gallon tank belonging to a WAMAS member The established sandbed isn't worth keeping.

[dante411x]

Not sure I agree with this. I've heard too many horror stories about sand beds getting stirred up and wiping out a tank, One of those horror stories involved a 2 or 3 hundred gallon tank belonging to a WAMAS member The established sandbed isn't worth keeping.

Well.. You would have to be careful. Carry it gingerly. Set it on blankets. Drive like an old senile greatgrandma and practice extending the conversation finger to the impatient children driving behind you.

 

Perhaps you're right.

 

I moved my tank in this fashion and it's a 210 gallon tank. Nothing died or got stirred up, but it was only moved within the house.

Driving it would be more difficult. However I've read plenty of threads where people move smaller tanks like this and don't break them.

 

Is 90 a small tank?

 

My sense of tank size perception is guided by the olympic swimming pool that's sitting in my living room. Perhaps a 90 is a big tank.

[sen5241b]

Maybe the some of the old sand could be rinsed and mixed in to re-seed the new sand bed.

[newtoreef]

I think 90 gl is a big tank But i don't know.... How about if I put new sand and save some of the old one to get started. I will be moving in the area no more and 30 min away and my plan for now is:

At the new location have at least 100 gallons of ready salt water. 

use few hospital tanks that I have to store fish and corals. i am also grabbing a free tank from a wamas member I believe is a 55 gal so I have some room to storage all corals. get those tanks running and move things little by little. My only concern is light . 1 have one only so I guess I have to move all the corals at the same day ..... My mind is going crazy ... My wife on the other hand wants to sell everything... NOOOO... 

Then move the 90 gallon and get started when parameters are good move stuff in...

But thanks for all the advice and please keep posting.. 

thanks

[gmerek2]

It's really not as bad as everyone makes it sound. Me and a buddy moved my 125 in less than a day. Plus set it back up. It was also 1.5 hours away in warm weather. If the fish can get shipped overnight in tiny bags less than a gallon of water 14 hours, than they can live in a 17 gal container for 10 hours. I didn't lose anything but it was all LPS at the time. I agree throw the sand out. Replace with dry new or go bare bottom. But I have bare bottom and the live rock will have more than enough bacteria to get you started. Just keep it submerged. Or add extra now to build more bacteria to transfer.

[darkcirca]

My wife on the other hand wants to sell everything... NOOOO...

 

Get your wife to watch my 1 year old and I'll come help

 

 

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[dante411x]

Ehh. Ok. It's safer not to move tank with sand in it and if it doesn't bother you, get rid of the sand bed. I just like all my brittle stars too much to kill them.

You can reuse the sand... BUT!

Clean it thoroughly first.

Like .. I reused some sand that was being given away here on Wamas, but it was quite dead by the time I got it. So:

Freshwater rinsed it for about a day, stirring all up and dumping water.

Soaked in FW overnight

Another day of rinsing

Soaked in FW + vinegar overnight

Another day of rinsing

Completely drained freshwater and rinsed with old tank water about 10 times.

Soaked in saltwater for 5 days with heater and ph

Rinsed again in old tank water about 10 times.

Added sand to fuge.

 

In reality, it would have been way easier and probably cheaper to just buy new sand, but I got this one free! :-/

 

My tank certainly enjoyed a 110 gallon water change within 2 weeks.

 

Anyway. I digress.

 

You

Could

Sell

Everything!

 

Just make sure she knows that you're starting over as soon as possible!

 

Time for that 300 DD upgrade!

[mling]

Reading this got me wondering how much LFS that do maintenance would charge. Wouldn't the cost be part of moving expenses and be tax deductible ?

 

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