MOVING A REEF TANK

[Simon1]

My tank is nearing the end of the cycling process, but I'm discouraged. I will most likely be moving in almost 1 year. The move will likely not be far. However, I am concerned about my future livestock. Does anyone have any tips, or should I delay stocking the tank until after the move?

 

[Cabreradavid]

How far is the move? I made a 30 minute move (by car) with a 29 and a 20 gallon tank with few problems. If your trip is going to be similar I can give you details on how I did it. If it is a lot farther maybe other people have suggestions

 

[down&dirty]

I just finished a move 4 months ago, I had to move a 55gal reef setup across town into my new place. Everything made it even though the move took over 4 hours. This was just the reef tank, not any of my freshwater setups. I also just got done transferring from the 55gal to a 75 gal and that took 6 hours from the time I turned off the filter until the livestock was in the new tank. Everything that I wanted to make it did. Don't be scared about moving across town or even within an hour or so of where you are. It just takes lots of buckets and some hard work.

 

[Simon1]

Thanks guys, the move will be pretty short. Most likely just across town.

 

[Anonymous]

I'm working on an article on moving right now. If/when it gets published (which should be within a year!), we'll link you.

 

[Anonymous]

I did not move, but I tore down my tank to re do my floor and reset it after 10 days. Here are some things I did. I set up a rubbermaid bin in my home office using the tank water and a couple of pumps. I set my light up over the tub and did partial water changes. This tank held all of my fish, inverts, and most of my live rock. The rest of the rock was place in a seperate tub with tank water and a few power heads. On resetting up the tank I di a 50% water cahnge and tossed the old sand bead. I started bare bottem and reestablised the sand bead over a 2 month time frame.

Things tha I felt that made my move a sucess was tossing the old sand bed. I actually cleaned it and reused it, but that is another story. Using as much of the tank water as was possible. And not letting the live rock turn into dead rock. Good luck on the move and tank.

BTW, I did not loose anything.

 

[Cabreradavid]

Moving the 30 gallon across town should be no problem. For my 29 and 20 gallon tanks, my technique was similar to wazzel's. I bagged up all the fish, mobile inverts, clam, and corals individually (except I put a peppermint shrimp in with a banded coral one..don't do that). I then threw out half the water, and put the other half either in water containers or rectangular tubs in which I placed any live rock with permanently attached corals in. I covered most of the live rock in very damp paper towels. All were placed in Styrofoam boxes. I also had additional fresh saltwater premixed and up to temp at my new apartment. From there is was as simple as setting the tank back up adding the old and new water and making sure the temp was ok. Then I re-acclimated the critters for about 30 minutes and put them back in the tank. I kept the sand bed in my 20 gallon tank intact and had no problems other than a brief cyano bloom, so I think a 30 gallon could also make it without the sand bed being disturbed. Just make sure very litle water is in the tank so it does not slosh around. This is kind of a hot potato topic (and also depends on what shape the sand bed is in, you might want to play it safe and ditch the sand bed). Also, the sand makes the tank really heavy.

 

[Anonymous]

(except I put a peppermint shrimp in with a banded coral one..don't do that)

ROFFLE!!

Yeah.. what he said with bells on.

A note, the viability of movement of the sandbed is in part determined by how stratified it has become. Keeping portions of it vacuumed on a regular basis will help prevent this.

 

[paats]

I moved a 125 across town last summer.Save all the water you can to reestablish the tank after the move.I put the corals,fish and assorted what-have-you in rubbermaid cans and coolers and anything else water tight and clean.Once I got the tank put back together I let it settle for a couple of days then did a water change of about 25%.I also ran a filter during the settling phase to remove some of the particulates.Only lost 1 small fish that got sucked into a power head when the screen fell off.Good luck.
Pat