Need help!!!

[orion]

I just bought a house down in Salem I am expecting the keys this week. (rock2) Now I am going to need help on how to move my tank without killing everything. I should be moving this weekend. I could leave the tank in my old place until the following weekend. I would like to see if anyone that has done a live move before could help out with advice or in the actual move.

[Michael7979]

First off..... where in Salem?, and welcome to So-Lame!

 

Secondly- My biggest piece of advice to you is plan on it taking longer then you think!! I moved last summer thinking it would be a day long event to move my 240g tank. It ended up being more like 2 days!!! I lost a lot of corals!! :(

 

I would suggest if it is possible to go set up a temp. tank at the new house. So you can move all the fish/corals to it. Then you can take alittle more time in setting up the DT.

 

Bag corals individually. Fish can make it in a bucket. Give yourself lots of time. And don't move the fishtank on the same day as you move the other household items. It will be easier......... I speak from experience.

 

Lastly GOOD LUCK on the move and CONGRATS on the new house!!

[ThePremiumAquarium]

Michael has some great advice. I definatley recommend setting up some kind of temp. holding tank at the new place before the move. It makes things way easier and you won't have to worry about all the loss. I would also like to know what area of Salem you are moving too! Good to see another reefer moving to our area. Once you get all moved in and situated, you will have to come checkout the shop

 

Good luck!!!

[dsoz]

I can offer the use of one of my tanks as a holding tank in the meantime. I have a mostly empty 40b with a 8 x 39w T5 light over it. All that is really in there is a few corals and a bunch of chaeto. I can empty it out and let you keep some of your corals in there while you move your tank and let it cycle.

 

Let me know if you want me to baby-sit some of your corals for a couple of weeks. I am just up the hill in OC.

 

All I ask is that you don't blame me if anything does not make it.

 

dsoz

[Emerald525]

Moving a tank can be a pain. I agree with having some holding buckets. We used some large rubbermaid bins with a heater and pump as holding tank. The first time was a used 55 gallon that was moved from one place and everything survived. The second time was when we upgraded the 55 gallon to the 150 gallon.

 

Did not have any Sps at that time just softies and fish which all survived except one fireshrimp that we didn't really like anyway because it kept eating our hermit crabs.

 

Good luck to you!

[414driver]

I've got a 95 gallon that was set up 9 days ago with 3 year old rock. It's brown right now but might be in shape to hold some stuff by then. The snails and crabs are doing fine! I'll test the ammonia and nitrate and get back to you. It's totally empty now with lots of lite!

[orion]

We are moving into SE Salem right off of I-5 and 22 three doors down from Santana County park. I am stoked to be getting my own place, but I am stressing on moving the tank.

[Lowman]

I have a huge rubbermaid storage container that I use for this. You can borrow it or even buy one for less than $20 at Bi Mart or Target.

[ReeFit]

i have used 44 gallon trash cans before. fish and inverts live in them for days with a circ pump, small pendant light, heater and their tank water. Your sand will take a while to settle, i use water clarifier by seachem to help speed up the process, nothing like kicking up a bunch of nitrates and detrius in the sand on a move. Make sure you siphon off the top some good water for the livestock or you'll poison them fast if you stir up a bunch of crap in the tank and then give them that water to live in for even a few hours. i've lost fish this way on a newbie mistake move. it will take twice as long as you think. i've been up all night before till the sun came up the next day. I love moving!

[jackaninny]

Would you guys think about saving a little sand (to seed some new) and replacing the rest? Wouldn't stirring up all that sand release of bunch of naughty stuff?

 

If you would keep all the sand would you remove that from the tank first (as much as possible) or leave it for last? Also would you keep it separate from the rest of the tank items say in it's own buckets?

 

Just curious about the whole process.

[Lowman]

Definately keep the sand seperate. I would keep a few pounds of the old sand for seeding and replace the rest.

[ReeFit]

Would you guys think about saving a little sand (to seed some new) and replacing the rest? Wouldn't stirring up all that sand release of bunch of naughty stuff?

 

If you would keep all the sand would you remove that from the tank first (as much as possible) or leave it for last? Also would you keep it separate from the rest of the tank items say in it's own buckets?

 

Just curious about the whole process.

 

Save all the sand. does the sand in the ocean get thrown away? It houses good bacteria. Putting new sand in will cause your tank to cycle again putting lots of stress on the inhabitants, potentially killing them. I always save the sand for last, get as much water out as possible before hand, its just easier to scoop it out and check it for dead things, bristle worms etc. set aside about 10 gallons of tank water to wash the sand in, don't ever clean your sand with tap water or even RO water. I take large scoops of sand, stick it in a plastic bag, fill the bag with old tank water and slosh the sand around, then hold the bag upside down and let the water drain out, do that till you get relatively unmurky water, once to 3 times is pretty good depending on how dirty the sand is. i put the sand in a clean 5 gal bucket with a sealed lid and a few cups of tank water in it.

[Lowman]

It is safer to replace the sand, that way you are guaranteed to not have any problems with a new cycle, which you are trying to avoid as much as possible.

 

What would be really cool is to set up a new, larger tank at your new place a couple weeks before you move, get it cycled and just move your livestock over to it. Then sell the old system.

[ReeFit]

The only reason you would want to replace sand is if you are chasing parameters like calcium and ph. if your sand is really old say 10+ years maybe. if and when i replace substrate it will be slowly over a period of years to keep the system stable, but in my opinion there really isn't a reason to replace sand unless its poisoned with chemicals. I'd save your money for other things.

[ReeFit]

I'm big on personal research as well so you can form your own ideas and opinions based on your environment and situation.

Here is a great article on moving established reef tanks.

I have used this several times with great success.

Good luck with your move and don't hesitate to ask us more questions.

 

http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/saltwater/Ziegler_Moving1.html

[orion]

I have a huge rubbermaid storage container that I use for this. You can borrow it or even buy one for less than $20 at Bi Mart or Target.

 

I would love to borrow that please pm me with your number so we can get together.

[orion]

I was planning on saving all the sand. I was thinking of trying to not remove it from the tank. I am also planning on keeping all the water for the move with about a 10% water change in the process of the move. Ideally I am looking to transfer all the rock to a storage container with tank water that I will have on a dolly for transport and the fish in a cooler and the coral in bags in a cooler.

[orion]

I really want to avoid a tank cycle if possible so if I keep my sandbed undisturbed and my small sump tank undisturbed will that help in minimizing a re-cycle?

[ReeFit]

Your tank shouldn't cycle at all if you keep everything undisturbed. I would even do a 10-15% water change at this time too when you setup the new tank. The important thing is to get the tank inhabitants stabilized in their temporary area and get your tank setup and operating quickly. I always recommend taking the sand out because i never place rock on top of sand, it creates unstable rockwork and could lead to collapse or crush sand dwelling critters or burrowers. I place base rock in first and then place sand around it.