Advice on moving a tank

[AriMiko43]

In about a month I will be moving and have to relocate my 65 gallon reef tank. The tank is about 5 months old and I have a bunch of corals in there but not to a point where they are growing all over my rocks. Most of them are on rubble rock or frag plugs and can be removed easily. How should I go about on moving the tank without risking the death of fish or corals? The new home I will be moving to is about a hour from my current home. Any advice will be appreciated. Thank you

 

[KathyC]

How long in advance do you have access to the new place?

 

[AriMiko43]

Well Im closing on the house at the end of Sept and have to be out of my current home by the middle of Oct.

 

[reefs4life]

I personally suggest upgrading now so you can put the new tank in the new place so all you have to do is worry about moving the livestock in the new tank. It was easy for me when I moved from an apartment to a house and upgrading from a 75 to a 210

 

[aznt1217]

I think he just upgrade the tank.

Anyway, so advice on moving a new tank. As Kathy, mentioned hopefully you get at least a few days lead time into the new house. When you move the livestock over plan it so that there is the least possible traffic. That hour time will quickly build up.

Steps (general guidelines)
1. Breakdown the tank-- Liverock (as much as you can without stirring up the sandbed too much).

2. Move all the corals and fish into a large rubbermaid with a heater and a powerhead (Max this out to like 2 days if you don't have a light--depending what corals you have). Keep some of your old water (also keep a powerhead in there).

3. Move your tank and all the equipment into the new house (Hopefully you would have some new water mixed and made already).

4. Setup all your equipment (obviously). But at this point you should have all your Liverock and that old water you kept at the new house. Proceed to put that in and at the same time put the new water in. (Just imagine it as a big water change).

5. Move the livestock (again do it at a time where there is the least amount of traffic possible). You can move all this stuff in buckets, but if you are scared of stuff falling around you can just bag it like you would if you got it at an LFS.

 

[Livelife]

Keep the liverock wet and clean casue if it gets dry/dirty your gonna have dieoff which is not paid attention to can end up spiking levels in the tank when you put it back. If you have a skimmer put the liverock into a large container like for clothes or something long but not tall and try to set the skimmer up in there or at least a powerhead. If thats not entirly possible wrap it in wet newspaper with water from our tank. Fish wise even just a bucket with a heater and air stone should be fine.
gl with the move.

 

[Peteb3]

I bagged everything I could just like the fish stores do. All of my rock and sand went in Depot buckets with lids. I distributed my tank water into these buckets trying to cover as much of the rock as possible. I poured newly salted water on top to submerge the rocks. My only losses were a pom pom crab which I believe I crushed with a big rock, and the red macro algae that was growing before pretty much died off. My only advice is to get some experienced help when you do this. I would have been miserable and much more stressed doing this by myself. Thanks Big D

Pete

 

[AriMiko43]

bump