Moving plans , need help

[raulsreef]

I’m moving this weekend ! Moving my RS reefer nano 28 gallons, not to bad and only 2 mins away lol I’m not 100 percent sure on a game plan and need some help and some extra buckets. I live in falls church, on rout 50 off of 495. If anyone could help me with ideas or the actually moving, message me.

[sen5241b]

I’m moving this weekend ! Moving my RS reefer nano 28 gallons, not to bad and only 2 mins away lol I’m not 100 percent sure on a game plan and need some help and some extra buckets. I live in falls church, on rout 50 off of 495. If anyone could help me with ideas or the actually moving, message me.

Although I have not moved a tank I have completely broke down my 29G put it back together again in a day. I washed detritus out of my sand using tank water and I believe it helped. Think about the order in which you need to break down and reassemble the tank at it's destination.

 

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[YHSublime]

If you don't have them already (you probably do,) go to Home Depot. Buy yourself six(6) 5 gallon buckets and lids. Break down your tank into the buckets. Move your tank and stand. Put reef contents in buckets back into tank. Open beer, drink.  

[epleeds]

You could also use a large cooler. Siphon all the water into the cooler, put in rock and livestock. Then when u get to the new location, use a small powerhead and pump the water back into the tank and put everything back in.

[sen5241b]

If you don't have them already (you probably do,) go to Home Depot. Buy yourself six(6) 5 gallon buckets and lids. Break down your tank into the buckets. Move your tank and stand. Put reef contents in buckets back into tank. Open beer, drink.  

 

I noticed a slightly greasy residue in HD orange 5G buckets. Rinse them with hot water

[bues0022]

^ probably mold release from the production floor.

 

I'd second the recommendation on 5 gallon buckets - using larger containers means heavier containers. 8 lbs per gallon for water, rock is heavier, so a bucket filled with rocks and water could weigh 60 lbs pretty easily. 

 

Also, I'd recommend making as much water as possible. Last time I moved a tank I was about 5 gallons short from filling up to where I could get the pumps circulating water. With livestock exposed to air it was nerve wracking finding a local awake at midnight to top me off (my RO wasn't working at the time). I moved my tank a 6 hour drive with tank, stand, water, livestock, sand all in my car. Basically used it like a giant cleaning opportunity.

 

 

1) I transported corals by going to the grocery store and asking for as many of those plastic deli containers as possible - poked holes in them, and one coral per container into a 5 gallon bucket, topped off with water. It kept corals safe from each other, and from banging around too much.

 

2) Fish went into their own 5 gallon bucket together. Fish were removed as I pulled rocks.

 

3) as much water as possible was siphoned into the buckets described above before disturbing too much rock/sand. When rocks started coming out, I used that nastier water ONLY in the rock buckets (to keep the rocks healthy in the move). I dumped this water when setting up the tank again.

 

4) brought as much fresh made SW as possible to refill.

 

5) setup tank - doesn't need to be perfect right now. It'll be a long day by this point. I was frustrated as H-E-double hockey sticks by setup time, so I basically chucked stuff in the tank in approximate locations, rock a jumbled mess, but I came back to it a few days later when I was refreshed and motivated again.

 

Then, definitely beers!

[Origami]

I'm visualizing this....

 

Get buckets ASAP. I'd recommend 7-8. Be sure to get lids, too. 

 

Make 5 or 10 gallons of extra water now (that's 2 buckets there) and start it aerating with either a bubbler or a small powerhead. On the night before the move, toss in a small heater and bring it up to 70 to 80 degrees. You're making extra water because you'll be tossing some of your old water out as you break the tank down. You're starting now so the water chemistry can settle some - specifically the carbonate system balance.

 

Take some pictures of your tank from making sure to capture it from different angles. This will help you reconstruct your rock work at the other end. It's never perfect, but it can help. Print the pictures out on a color printer if you can. It's a lot easier working off of a print that size than a small phone screen.

 

On the morning of your move. Start by siphoning off water from your tank. Maybe 15-20 gallons. Don't get too close to the substrate because you want the water to stay as clean as possible if you're going to reuse it. Fill three buckets only half full. (If you're still with me, that's  something like 5 more buckets. So now you're up to 7 in use.)

 

Now remove some/most/all of your rock. Inspect it and remove any snails, shrimp, fish, etc. that might be on/in the rock. Put these creatures in one of the full buckets of old tank water that you've kept. Now, rinse/swish the rock around in one of the half-full buckets, taking the opportunity to gently clean it's surface & pores of any trapped detritus. Put the rinsed rock one of the half-buckets of cleaner tank water. Don't toss the dirty half-bucket of water yet. We'll use it in a moment.

 

Now, with all the rock removed, you have a tank (possibly with some substrate at the bottom) with probably some cloudy water and fish in it. Now is the time to start netting any fish and livestock that remain. (It'll be a lot easier catching them with the rock removed.) Put that livestock in one or two of the larger buckets.

 

Now might be a good opportunity to rinse your substrate to lift out any detritus that's settled there. At this point, I would just swish the substrate around and remove the dirty water before it has a chance to settle again. You can repeat this process using that "dirty" half-bucket of water that you save (hoping that, by now, any heavy sediment has settled in that bucket). Dump the remaining water in the dirty bucket. With your substrate rinsed, drain off any extra water that remains. If it doesn't add too much weight, you can just leave it in the tank for transport. Feel free to add a little clean water to just to the put 2/3 or more of the sand under water. If the tank is too heavy to leave substrate in the tank, scoop it out to the now empty 7th bucket (that held the dirty water). You can cut a 1 qt plastic milk jug and make a pretty good flat-bottomed scoop which works pretty well for removing wet sand.

 

Now it's time to move everything to the new place. 

 

Set up the stand and tank. Add the substrate if it was removed. Set a dinner plate on the bottom of the tank and pour your clean water (the stuff that you mixed a day or two in advance) into the tank and onto the plate. (The plate helps to keep the substrate from getting too stirred up and dirtying the water too much.) Remove the plate. Start rebuilding your rock work. Add some of your old water to bring the level up to where you need it. Turn your pumps and heaters back on, bring the system back up to your desired set points. Catch your livestock in the buckets and add them to ziplocs so you can float them in the new tank. Go through an acclimation procedure and release the livestock back into the tank.

 

You can leave the lights off in the tank for a few hours as the fish get settled. Or not.

 

Grab a beer, sit back and enjoy the tank. 

[bues0022]

I think based on the last step from many of us here, the VERY first step was missed....

 

Step 0) Stop at the store, buy beer, go home and put in fridge.

[ReefdUp]

I've moved my aquariums from Ohio to Utah, Utah to Nevada, and Nevada to Virginia... and I still have the same corals (12 years old now). Don't underestimate the power of beer in this situation.

 

And, multiply however long you think it'll take by 3 times.

 

Best of luck

 

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[sen5241b]

Probably goes without saying but don't forget to get lids for the 5G buckets. With the lids the buckets will hold the temperature pretty steady.

[raulsreef]

Alright I got the beer! what’s step two again ?

 

Thanks everyone !

[Tommy]

Alright I got the beer! what’s step two again ?

 

Thanks everyone !

Step two...buy more beers 

[sen5241b]

Step two...buy more beers

Step 3 Try vodka dosing.

 

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