How do I move my tank?

[duberii]

I'm moving from my current place to an apartment about 40 minutes away.

I'm thinking about bagging and adding oxygen to all the bags of fish and corals. I'd also get big bins and fill it up 5 gallons at a time (by siphoning water out of the tank) and I'd put the rock in there too. I'd load the tank up in there as well, then travel to my new place. Once I'm there, I'd set up the rock in the tank, then fill up the tank using the 5 gallon buckets. Then once I have the tank set up, I'd float the bags then release all the fish and corals back into the tank (it's the exact same water, so the temperature is the only thing I'm truly worried about).
Does that seem like a reasonable plan?

 

[NashobaTek]

I would check water parameters before and after just to make sure.

 

[WIReefer]

If you have sand in the tank I would suggest on putting all new sand in as well.

 

[Hugh Mann]

Plan seems pretty solid to me. 40 minutes isn't really a long way to go.

I'd recommend giving your rocks a swish in old tank water to rinse off any accumulated gunk. I didn't do this and my water was a mess after.

As for your sand, or whatever you use for substrate. Most people recommend buying new, but you can reuse your old stuff. You just have to rinse it, and then rinse it again and so on until the water comes out clear. Keep a few handfuls in a bag to seed bacteria.

 

[ahiggins]

I just went through this a few months ago and was a huge pain. Obviously you’ll never get the rocks back to exactly where they were lol
I took all the corals and put them in 5 gal buckets-no oxygen needed for softies, lps, and nems. Used the tank water for those buckets. Unfortunately mine were encrusted so I couldn’t move just them it was rocks and corals. Vacuumed the sand really well as I was taking corals out.
I had made 50% water volume at the new place and had it ready/heated the day before so I could just fill when we got there.
I wish I had made more water (I ended up needing 75% instead of 50%). I would have filtered the water I used to clean the sand instead of wasting it.
I only had 2 medium sized fish to move so they went into a 5 gal bucket too-no air. I left the lights off for the day of the move and didn’t turn them back on until the next day. Helps with stress.

 

[92Miata]

Buy new, larger tank.

Set up at new place. Fill with new salt water and a couple pieces of old LR. And a powerhead.

Wait a couple days. Move rest of fish and LR. Chuck sand.

Sell old tank.

Yes, it costs more - but it'll be way less stress.

 

[NashobaTek]

Buy new, larger tank.

Set up at new place. Fill with new salt water and a couple pieces of old LR. And a powerhead.

Wait a couple days. Move rest of fish and LR. Chuck sand.

Sell old tank.

Yes, it costs more - but it'll be way less stress.

This is my plan for the move in the future. Except for selling the old tank, going to turn it into a seahorse aquarium

 

[NashobaTek]

Buy new, larger tank.

Set up at new place. Fill with new salt water and a couple pieces of old LR. And a powerhead.

Wait a couple days. Move rest of fish and LR. Chuck sand.

Sell old tank.

Yes, it costs more - but it'll be way less stress.

This is my plan for the move in the future. Except for selling the old tank, going to turn it into a seahorse aquarium

 

[92Miata]

This is my plan for the move in the future. Except for selling the old tank, going to turn it into a seahorse aquarium

Yeah, I've done a couple tank moves, and the logistics of having to set up/move the tank while the livestock is in buckets just makes the whole thing more error prone.

If you have a second tank already set up in the new location (or even a stock tank) you can move things in a more leisurely manner.

 

[Bpp124987]

This is my plan, but not a new tank I’ll use a trough or big rubbermaid at the new place until get tank itself moved and re set up

 

[duberii]

I would check water parameters before and after just to make sure.

Would it be enough to just test one of the bags with fish? I assume those would have the greatest pH fluctuation due to CO2.

 

[duberii]

This is my plan, but not a new tank I’ll use a trough or big rubbermaid at the new place until get tank itself moved and re set up

Same here- I'm gonna use the same tank and equipment in the old and new tank- I just plan on doing it all at once.

 

[NashobaTek]

Would it be enough to just test one of the bags with fish? I assume those would have the greatest pH fluctuation due to CO2.

More because of ammonia building up. I personally would test it all.

 

[duberii]

Yeah, I've done a couple tank moves, and the logistics of having to set up/move the tank while the livestock is in buckets just makes the whole thing more error prone.

If you have a second tank already set up in the new location (or even a stock tank) you can move things in a more leisurely manner.

I don't have a second tank, unfortunately, but I'm planning on doing it all in one swoop. I'll be bringing the water, rock, and sand from the old tank. I'll probably even leave the sand in the tank as we move it, just sans the water.

 

[duberii]

Buy new, larger tank.

Set up at new place. Fill with new salt water and a couple pieces of old LR. And a powerhead.

Wait a couple days. Move rest of fish and LR. Chuck sand.

Sell old tank.

Yes, it costs more - but it'll be way less stress.

I definitely can't afford this, unfortunately- I'm a college kid so even maintaining a reef tank is difficult to do on a budget. I just upgraded the tank from a biocube, where I added new rock and new sand. I don't think ammonia buildup will be an issue in this case since there isn't time for it to build up. even so, I will likely rinse out the rock to get out any built up detritus.

 

[duberii]

If you have sand in the tank I would suggest on putting all new sand in as well.

I just put new sand in around a month ago when I upgraded from a biocube to a 40 breeder. I'll probably rinse out the sand a bit to get the minimal detritus out, but I'm not too worried about a mini cycle like many people report.

 

[duberii]

I just went through this a few months ago and was a huge pain. Obviously you’ll never get the rocks back to exactly where they were lol
I took all the corals and put them in 5 gal buckets-no oxygen needed for softies, lps, and nems. Used the tank water for those buckets. Unfortunately mine were encrusted so I couldn’t move just them it was rocks and corals. Vacuumed the sand really well as I was taking corals out.
I had made 50% water volume at the new place and had it ready/heated the day before so I could just fill when we got there.
I wish I had made more water (I ended up needing 75% instead of 50%). I would have filtered the water I used to clean the sand instead of wasting it.
I only had 2 medium sized fish to move so they went into a 5 gal bucket too-no air. I left the lights off for the day of the move and didn’t turn them back on until the next day. Helps with stress.

I'm not too happy with my aquascape right now so maybe that's a blessing that I won't get them back how they originally were haha. Luckily I don't have any encrusting corals that have taken off thus far, so everything is still on a frag plug (except my RFA and BTA which have taken to the same rock which makes me a bit nervous but that's a whole other issue). I didn't plan on changing any water, but I guess since I will be knocking a bunch of detritus so some new water would be pretty useful. I have a clownfish and a scooter blenny plus some inverts. I was thinking of bagging for the sake of oxygenation. I'd rather be on the side of caution since I really can't afford any replacements for livestock I lose. How far did you move? I read that anything over 30 minutes should warrant extra care to oxygenation, and since I expect them to be in the bag for longer than 30 minutes (because of floating, moving the tank, filling the tank etc.

 

[ahiggins]

What kind of fish? And how many? Mine was about an hour in the bucket total. About 40 min drive time and the rest to make temp.

 

[duberii]

What kind of fish? And how many? Mine was about an hour in the bucket total. About 40 min drive time and the rest to make temp.

2 fish- 1 clownfish and 1 scooter blenny

 

[ahiggins]

2 fish- 1 clownfish and 1 scooter blenny

Oh yea you’ll be fine. Both of those are pretty hardy lol
I would do as much as you can before the move. Like making sure you have water and it’s up to temp.