Help! Im moving my tank...

[wittyfellow]

Hi everyone...

I've already posted this in the manhattanreefs site, but thought I'd get some perspectives here as well. I've read alot about moving my 55 gal FOWLR tank and I'm set to get things started...

BUT, comparatively, with the cost of the rental truck and guilting some of my non-fish hobby friends into a whole day's work moving my tank from the west village to mid town, is it really worth the effort?

Does anyone out there know if there's a service that could do the whole move in Manhattan and how much it would cost to re-locate my tank? This type of service is usually charged by the hour or by the job? I talked to a lfs here in the city and they said they could give me some guidelines with a consulting fee of $75 (geez, I could gather that material myself online here)...

Any advice would be appreciated...

Thanks in advance...

 

[mountainbiker619]

I think the biggest question you need to ask yourself is, do you trust strangers with moving your tank? I know I do not.

 

[Anonymous]

Do you have a DSB? That is in my experience the biggest player in how much of a pain it is, I have moved all my tanks several times, from across town to halfway across the country.

 

[wittyfellow]

Hi...

Yes, I have a 7" DSB (about 140lbs. of Southdown)... This and the fact that I am trying to save about 70% of the water (probably 3 half full 30 gal tubs worth) is what is really making me think twice about just hiring some professionals...

the tank is about 2 yrs old and I have great growth on the 60 lbs of live rock.. plenty of life in the sand, lots of snails and worms... I am planning on draining the water till it reaches the sand bed then moving the whole tank with the sand and water in it, but that might still be too heavy...

Any tips?

 

[danmhippo]

Scoop up hte top 1" to 2" aerobic layer, and discard the rest. I used to consider my sand very clean until one day I was moving it. Ewwwwww..............

The new replacement sand layer can be cycled in advance in a few separate buckets (for easy moving).

 

[Anonymous]

I think moving a 55g with a 7 inch sand bed is going to be quite a chore! I agree with danmhippo, the best route to go in that regard is to scoop off the top inch or two and place that in a bucket, then use new sand when you set it back up and spread the saved sand on top. I have done this twice before in cross town moves and not had a new cycle occur. 7 inches of wet sand is going to be extremely heavy, if you want to try it before scooping out the DSB, I would advise getting a piece of plywood at least a half inch thick and a few inches wider than the footprint of the tank and set this board on a table or something next to the tank and slide the tank gently onto the wood, then carry the tank by using the board as a "tray". If you try and carry the tank with the sandbed by just holding the tank, you may put too much stress on the seams and cause a leak. I used the technique of moving the tank onto a board to replace a stand that my 55 (with a very deep bed, probably 7 inches too) was on and it worked nicely, although I must say that my end of the tank was the upper limit of what I can lift, my husband seemed to be able to lift his end OK so maybe with a few strong men it will be moveable.

Defenitly save as much water as you can. If you are going to pour the water back in from buckets you can set a large mixing bowl in the tank and pour the water in that to deflect the force, so it won't churn up the sandbed as much.

Take care that the buckets you move the fish in don't get chilled as they are going over to their new house, and be sure that the temperature is up where it is supposed to be in the new set up befire you put the fish in.

 

[kstuber]

4 years ago, my then 2 year old, 125g took all day and until 2AM to move, and the houses were only 15 minutes part. There was myself, husband and one VERY good friend! All water was transported. The problem I ran into was when I put the sand back in, it caused a cloud I couldn't see through enough to place the rock etc in with any accuracy. Also, the nutrients now in the water column caused disease to wage on the aquarium for 6 months. I lost about 1/5th of my coral during that time. Only sharing to give you an idea of what could happen if you mess around with the sand bed. I like the suggestions already given by others with regards to sand bed. Might want to get some of those microwaveable pouches and pack your fish up as they do when shipping them to keep their temperature correct.

 

[liquid]

Forget about moving the sandbed. It's more trouble than it's worth as the sandbed will be loaded with detritus and will cause a huge nutrient explosion when you use it again. I've seen first hand what moving a 6" DSB to a new tank equipped with 2x400 watt and 1x250 watt Iwasaki's + 2 VHO's 6' in length. The resulting algae bloom was *nasty*.

What I would do is get a bunch of cheap plastic bins from Walmart to put all your corals in with water, scoop a couple pounds of the top 1" of sandbed and then discard the rest of the DSB. Honestly you're better off using new water and not transporting the old water. Just make sure that the temp and salinity are matched before you put your corals in.

When we moved my friends 125, there was only 3 of us that helped and it wasn't much more than helping to move the tank and stand into the van and into their new house. The rest he did by himself.

hth

Shane

 

[wittyfellow]

Thanks everyone for all your help...

I've been able to move everything safely and the tank is back up and running.... Things look fine thus far this week, so I'm a happy camper...

Everyone's personal experiences helped greatly.

best...

 

[liquid]

Glad we could help.

Shane