Help! I'm moving.

HB Fisheye · May 7, 2018

Well as the title reads I'm moving. I have a 120 CD tank that is coming with us. I've moved tanks before however this one is tricky because we can't really move in yet until the floor is finished. So I would like to avoid setting up the tank in one place (most likely the garage) only to take it down again and move it. One idea I had was using a very large plastic container, known as a gaylord. Used for moving large amounts on plastic on a pallet. I was going to line it with a pond liner and put everything in that, fish, coral, etc. I just don't know what equipment I'll need. I can put some pumps in there to keep the water moving. Maybe build a rack of some kind to put the skimmer in there. What do you think? Thank you in advance.

FLAdaboy · May 7, 2018

Some sort of temp control, lighting considerations, water flow, etc. If it’s short term, you should be okay with the minimum. I’ve broken down several tanks with moving a bit. Every time it’s the same routine. I place the rocks in totes, and put fish into 5g buckets. I consider aeration and temp for fish and flow, lights, and temp for corals. I only go a few days to a couple of weeks with tank setup being the first priority. Wife gives a bit of a fuss but she gets preoccupied with wall hangings and closet spaces. Kiddie pools work as a temporary holding as well.

pugcrush · May 7, 2018

HB Fisheye said:
Well as the title reads I'm moving. I have a 120 CD tank that is coming with us. I've moved tanks before however this one is tricky because we can't really move in yet until the floor is finished. So I would like to avoid setting up the tank in one place (most likely the garage) only to take it down again and move it. One idea I had was using a very large plastic container, known as a gaylord. Used for moving large amounts on plastic on a pallet. I was going to line it with a pond liner and put everything in that, fish, coral, etc. I just don't know what equipment I'll need. I can put some pumps in there to keep the water moving. Maybe build a rack of some kind to put the skimmer in there. What do you think? Thank you in advance.

Cant say I've heard of gaylord but sounds like the same thing. Plenty of locals have used the tractor supply tubs. The local club has one that members use for moves.

HB Fisheye · May 7, 2018

pugcrush said:
Cant say I've heard of gaylord but sounds like the same thing. Plenty of locals have used the tractor supply tubs. The local club has one that members use for moves.

I'll have to attach a picture. It's pretty big. Thank you for your feedback @pugcrush

HB Fisheye · May 7, 2018

FLAdaboy said:
Some sort of temp control, lighting considerations, water flow, etc. If it’s short term, you should be okay with the minimum. I’ve broken down several tanks with moving a bit. Every time it’s the same routine. I place the rocks in totes, and put fish into 5g buckets. I consider aeration and temp for fish and flow, lights, and temp for corals. I only go a few days to a couple of weeks with tank setup being the first priority. Wife gives a bit of a fuss but she gets preoccupied with wall hangings and closet spaces. Kiddie pools work as a temporary holding as well.

Thanks @FLAdaboy. Fingers crossed. My biggest issued is physically moving this tank. It's super heavy.

Dburr1014 · May 9, 2018

How long? A few days you may just need a powerhead and ditch the skimmer. Just split up the fish, smaller in a separate hold and bigger with all the rock. {help with ammonia} What location? In warmer climate you may not need a heater. But if more than 3 days I would definitely add the skimmer and ect.

HB Fisheye · May 9, 2018

Dburr1014 said:
How long? A few days you may just need a powerhead and ditch the skimmer. Just split up the fish, smaller in a separate hold and bigger with all the rock. {help with ammonia} What location? In warmer climate you may not need a heater. But if more than 3 days I would definitely add the skimmer and ect.

Unfortunately I don't know for how long. Makes things difficult to plan. I'm in So. Cal. and things are warming up. I guess it would be better to error on the long (hopefully not longer than a couple weeks) term side.

HB Fisheye · Jun 29, 2018

Well, we've moving into our new house or starting to move in anyway. However, the fish tank move did not go well. I set up my "holding" tank for the coral and fish. Got a power head and heater in there. Everything looked good. The next day I noticed the water was a bit murky, so I did a water change and that seemed to help. After that, tragedy. All the fish were dead, water smelled really bad. Coral was hanging in there but not happy. Can't imagine what happened. I'm sure it's something I did wrong. Things were so crazy during the move. Maybe an ammonia spike?

FLAdaboy · Jun 29, 2018

HB Fisheye said:
Well, we've moving into our new house or starting to move in anyway. However, the fish tank move did not go well. I set up my "holding" tank for the coral and fish. Got a power head and heater in there. Everything looked good. The next day I noticed the water was a bit murky, so I did a water change and that seemed to help. After that, tragedy. All the fish were dead, water smelled really bad. Coral was hanging in there but not happy. Can't imagine what happened. I'm sure it's something I did wrong. Things were so crazy during the move. Maybe an ammonia spike?

How big or small was your holding tank? How many fish in there? If I do a holding tank I’ll put a small Aqueon filter to run some carbon, especially if it’s a tight space. Watch out for heaters as well. Sometimes they get too hot. Sorry for your loss.

HB Fisheye · Jun 29, 2018

@FLAdaboy , The holding tank was 44"x 40"x 28" container lined with a pond liner. There were about 15 fish. Mostly small. As I said before things were so crazy during the move I must have done something without thinking. UGH! Such a bummer.