Yes I know, it's an old thread. It is early and I am waiting for my wife to get up so I will make breakfast for her and our best friend neighbors who we have been friends with for almost fifty years.
I moved my tank, and us 60 miles 3 months ago and followed my out of the box theories. I left my very old, scratched tank in the old house ,( the new people want Koi) and I bought a new 125 gallon tank for here. I transferred everything including the gravel and water and put it in my new home.
I had to add a lot of NSW because much of my old water was just mud from removing the 40+ year old reverse UG filter.
The tank went from 160 nitrates to about zero. There was almost no light, UG filter, gravel for a couple of weeks, the water was not filled up, half the rock was not in, no skimmer and the temperature was all over the place because I only had one 15 amp outlet to run the entire tank.
After a couple of weeks algae grew on everything and killed the tips on some of the coral. I took my own advice and didn't change water or add anything.
Eventually I put on the lights, heaters and circulation pumps but still don't have a sump or hydrometer.
After about 10 weeks the algae started to die off and now it is just about gone. I still have not changed the water and won't for a few more weeks.
The fish are again spawning and the corals look better than ever. I have not even dosed anything yet.
This tank is totally outside the box but every fish made the move perfectly and I have added about 4 or 5 more since I got here. Of course no quarantine and I expect the fish will all live to die of old age as they are not allowed to get sick and never will.