Moving a 120G Suggestions?

[xxnonamexx]

I have a 120g FOWLR. I will be moving it 15 minutes away and I know break down to setup will take some time.
My Plan:
Fish (2 clowns, 1 Picasso, 1 Blue Hippo, 1 Yellow Tang, 1 wrasse, 1 bicolor angel)
Live Rock
I plan on placing fish along with tank water into a cooler which should keep the fish in their present environment for 24-48hrs.
The rock I will just place inside a garbage trash can out of water since I would like to clean it and start a new.
filtration etc is not a big deal then I will just have to move the tank, stand canopy, lighting.

 

[TRIGGERMAN]

FIRST: FISH
Bag them and keep them in a cooler. Siphon out water from the TOP of your tank when you pack up the fish. That water is the cleanest. Bagging is the best method because it is easier to acclimate them back later and it also stresses them out less, they will not become aggressive towards other fish and they have their OWN oxygen supply VS when they are together in a bucket etc. sharing oxygen which goes very fast as well as making the water very toxic from them peeing/pooping.

SECOND: ROCK
Keep your rock WET. If you leave the rock out you will have die off and it will cause a cycle. This will also KILL your beneficial bacteria that is your life support system for your fish. Think of it like your immune system in your body we have good germs that protect us from getting sick and fight off bad bacteria. The rock is the same thing for the fish.


THIRD: SAND
Siphon the top layer of your sand to remove detritus before you stir up more when you take out the rocks. Clean your sand out thoroughly before reusing it using SALT water, otherwise you will have die off of any creatures living in your sand bed,snails stars,pods etc which will also cause a cycle. A good way to do this is stir it up a little at a time in buckets and dump out all the nasty water on top. This is a long process. You could also use NEW sand if you choose it is definitely easier and faster.

FOURTH: WATER
Have all new water prepared at your new place before you do anything. This will make it much easier and faster for you as well so you can have the water ready to go and won't have to lug it from 1 place to the next. It's also like a huge water change and will benefit you anyway. Your best bet would be to make the water at least a day in advance so it has time to aerate and mix properly as well as heat to temperature so make sure you have some power heads and heaters.

FIFTH: ACCLIMATION
Float the bag for 15-20 minutes to get temperature right then dump some of the tank water into the bag. To make it easier let's say 10% of water volume in the bag. This helps to adjust them to salinity,ph and water quality all while staying at a constant temperature. After 20 minutes repeat this process 2 more times. After that is done then you release the fish ONLY into the tank. Fish get stressed from the traveling and bagging so they tend to foul up the water and make it very high in nitrate so you want to dispose of that water.

This is the same process I use with corals as well.

Good Luck man you will be fine.

 

[thirty6]

My tank is cycled and ready for fish.....I'm in nnj, you can house em if you like. I haven't decided what direction I'm going to go just yet..wont get fish for another week or so.....

 

[jr973]

i remember moving Pauliewalnuts 120 into his 150 and id say after careful plannin lots of buckets bins rags ect ect between 4 or 5 guys we managed to breakdown transport setup within a few hours everything went well in the transition all except for 1 fish i believe a successful move considering the amount of corals he had all live rock was kept in bins fish in buckets and we moved all of his water i believe. with that said your fowlr tank move should be a breeze just have some help gl

 

[xxnonamexx]

Well Thanks for the info I will be using the individual bagging method I guess I need some zip-locks bags. I will place bags in cooler so the temperature doesn't change. Should I place some hand warmers to keep the temperature for the fish bags. The rock yes I will keep it wet. The sand I plan on replacing. Since it is a FOWLR I am looking for all white sand (I always wondered how people got white stand to stay so white lol) It will take more thena few hours maybe a weekend since I would like to repaint the background to make it darker like a midnight blue/black to make the tank have depth.

 

[pauliwalnuts]

Like jay already said, it should be a breeze. And we are in perfect temperature weather for such an event. Here's a link to my tank thread. There's some ideas and pics as well. Good luck...
http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/tank-threads/88848-my-150-g-12.html

 

[TRIGGERMAN]

I would not suggest ziplocks..there is a good chance of them opening in transport and they also do not allow much oxygen. Get fish bags. If you don't have any on hand which anyone with a tank should ALWAYS have baggies available, go to a pet store and ask them for some or buy some from them.

 

[Belwell]

first: Fish
bag them and keep them in a cooler. Siphon out water from the top of your tank when you pack up the fish. That water is the cleanest. Bagging is the best method because it is easier to acclimate them back later and it also stresses them out less, they will not become aggressive towards other fish and they have their own oxygen supply vs when they are together in a bucket etc. Sharing oxygen which goes very fast as well as making the water very toxic from them peeing/pooping.

Second: Rock
keep your rock wet. If you leave the rock out you will have die off and it will cause a cycle. This will also kill your beneficial bacteria that is your life support system for your fish. Think of it like your immune system in your body we have good germs that protect us from getting sick and fight off bad bacteria. The rock is the same thing for the fish.


Third: Sand
siphon the top layer of your sand to remove detritus before you stir up more when you take out the rocks. Clean your sand out thoroughly before reusing it using salt water, otherwise you will have die off of any creatures living in your sand bed,snails stars,pods etc which will also cause a cycle. A good way to do this is stir it up a little at a time in buckets and dump out all the nasty water on top. This is a long process. You could also use new sand if you choose it is definitely easier and faster.

Fourth: Water
have all new water prepared at your new place before you do anything. This will make it much easier and faster for you as well so you can have the water ready to go and won't have to lug it from 1 place to the next. It's also like a huge water change and will benefit you anyway. Your best bet would be to make the water at least a day in advance so it has time to aerate and mix properly as well as heat to temperature so make sure you have some power heads and heaters.

Fifth: Acclimation
float the bag for 15-20 minutes to get temperature right then dump some of the tank water into the bag. To make it easier let's say 10% of water volume in the bag. This helps to adjust them to salinity,ph and water quality all while staying at a constant temperature. After 20 minutes repeat this process 2 more times. After that is done then you release the fish only into the tank. Fish get stressed from the traveling and bagging so they tend to foul up the water and make it very high in nitrate so you want to dispose of that water.

This is the same process i use with corals as well.

Good luck man you will be fine.

+1

 

[Bryceandmandy]

Make sure you remove everything whilst carrying the tank. Last thing you need is a 120 bottoming out on you.