sbash
Valuable Member
Hi Everybody!
I have an interesting challenge ahead of me. I have to move out of my home for 9 or 10 months later this year. To further that, I will be about a days drive away. So, since I have been through this before, this time I'm just going to shut it down and move it.
By it, I mean my fish and corals. By fish and corals, I mean my 220 gallon, 90 gallon and three 50+ gallon frag tanks (and a couple other small grow out tanks). Essentially, I will be consolidating all the tanks into a single Low Boy for frags and a 120 gallon tank (I might have something custom built, I'm not sure yet).
I have four main phases:
1) Shutting down everything
This part is easy, right? Just unplug it all... Alright, not so much. Let's start with the 90 gallon.
The 90 was basically set up as a grow out tank over a year ago. It is SPS dominant, lots of small acros, and some small to large montis. This system will be torn down completely. I'll sell the 90 gallon tank on its own so there is not much to consider here.
The three frag tanks (we'll also include the smaller experiment tanks in with these too). One Low Boy will come with me, the other I'll just pull the livestock and cap it (leave the sand, rocks and water in it). The rest of the tanks will just be emptied, drained and left in place. Not pumps, nothing powered, nothing to worry about. All equipment will be cleaned and stored.
So far so good, easy-peasy... Now for the fun one: the 220! The 220 (as seen very out-datedly in my signature), has a 220 gallon display, a 55 gallon sump and a 30 gallon display fuge. The 220 is a well rounded mixed reef with softies, LPS and SPS. The sump is easy, just shut everything down, clean and store the gear, drain the tank. The fuge is pretty much a 30 gallon system, with a variety of macros. The macros will have to be pulled and sorted, the rocks and sand will be moved into tubs.
The 220 gallon tank itself will need to stay semi-operational. I will just leave a single powerhead running, no lights and have my auto feeder feed once a week. Also, I will put a lid on it to help prevent evaporation. The top 1/3rd of rocks will need to come with me (due to corals encrusting), so I don't think there is much risk of the water level dropping too much (with a 'lid').
2) Moving the livestock
Okay, so this is where things get ridiculous. I have only ever moved systems across the city, not an 8 hour drive. So, given I won't have the morning to pack the car, this will need to happen the night before. I also need to leave early enough to be able to unload the critical (i.e. living) items.
Don't worry though, remember, our little friends get shipped around the world all the time.
The bulk of the equipment will be in the moving trailer, so I will just have the essentials for the livestock with me. The fish will be the easiest, as all the fish I have are easy to keep fish.
Bare live rock will be easy, just put it into a tub with water. Although I suspect there will be very few rocks without anything encrusted on them.
Now for the corals, this is going to be a bit tricky. The lowest hanging fruit will be the frags and single pieces. My plan here is to use a styrofoam box with egg crate shelves. I can 3D print little holders to keep the frags in place, and I have some small breeding boxes for the loose mushrooms and soft corals. I will use this method for anything on a frag plug or not on a rock. I have lots of frags, and several colonies that didn’t bother encrusting.
The hard part here will be the encrusted corals. I’ll need to keep them from bashing around breaking on each other. Granted, it is a given that some corals will break, but I want to minimize this. Keeping in mind I need to easily load and unload, I will just have a layer of rock with just enough water covering it in each tub (I would guess I’ll need two or three tubs). So, I have lots of plastic mesh which can be folded and placed as a cushion between each rock, or bags or something. I will have to run some experiments to see what would work the best.
Depending on the ambient temperature during the trip, I might have to dangle heaters into the tubs. I have a 1000w inverter I'll hook up in the car. It might also be worth picking up a bunch of digital thermometers (cheap cooking thermometers might work). I'll also have a few battery air pumps on hand, just in case.
3) Managing mini-cycles
Wow, that is going to be an intense couple days. Since I won’t have enough water on hand to fill a 125, or whatever I choose, everything will live in tubs for a few days. Lights, flow, heat, no worries, I can swing that.
So, I’ll put a fresh couple bags of substrate into the new tank, fill it up with RO and start mixing in the salt. I assume this will take a couple days alone. There’s still a lot of logistics here that I need to work out, such as an overflow, sump, and such. Either way, once the water is up to the right salinity and temperature, it will be time to start adding the livestock.
Although I would like feedback on everything, this part is where I am a bit iffy. Every time I ‘restart’ a system, I end up with blooms of all sorts and some minor but annoying problems. I want to minimize losses, as well as keep up the good looks.
I’m going to do a gallon a day water changes. I’ll pre-rinse the substrate, should I let it soak in RO for a couple months before using it?
4) The return
Similar to phase 2, everything will be packed in the same fashion. The main difference will be the 220 at home will remain fallowed. I'll set up the 125 like it was in the remote home and seed the 220 from it, essentially starting it over. I have no idea what shape it will be in after sitting unattended for 8 months.
In conclusion, it is amazing if anyone actually got this far on such a long posting… This ‘title’ post will be updated as I refine the process, so it will change from time to time.
Thanks!
I have an interesting challenge ahead of me. I have to move out of my home for 9 or 10 months later this year. To further that, I will be about a days drive away. So, since I have been through this before, this time I'm just going to shut it down and move it.
By it, I mean my fish and corals. By fish and corals, I mean my 220 gallon, 90 gallon and three 50+ gallon frag tanks (and a couple other small grow out tanks). Essentially, I will be consolidating all the tanks into a single Low Boy for frags and a 120 gallon tank (I might have something custom built, I'm not sure yet).
I have four main phases:
1) Shutting down everything
This part is easy, right? Just unplug it all... Alright, not so much. Let's start with the 90 gallon.
The 90 was basically set up as a grow out tank over a year ago. It is SPS dominant, lots of small acros, and some small to large montis. This system will be torn down completely. I'll sell the 90 gallon tank on its own so there is not much to consider here.
The three frag tanks (we'll also include the smaller experiment tanks in with these too). One Low Boy will come with me, the other I'll just pull the livestock and cap it (leave the sand, rocks and water in it). The rest of the tanks will just be emptied, drained and left in place. Not pumps, nothing powered, nothing to worry about. All equipment will be cleaned and stored.
So far so good, easy-peasy... Now for the fun one: the 220! The 220 (as seen very out-datedly in my signature), has a 220 gallon display, a 55 gallon sump and a 30 gallon display fuge. The 220 is a well rounded mixed reef with softies, LPS and SPS. The sump is easy, just shut everything down, clean and store the gear, drain the tank. The fuge is pretty much a 30 gallon system, with a variety of macros. The macros will have to be pulled and sorted, the rocks and sand will be moved into tubs.
The 220 gallon tank itself will need to stay semi-operational. I will just leave a single powerhead running, no lights and have my auto feeder feed once a week. Also, I will put a lid on it to help prevent evaporation. The top 1/3rd of rocks will need to come with me (due to corals encrusting), so I don't think there is much risk of the water level dropping too much (with a 'lid').
2) Moving the livestock
Okay, so this is where things get ridiculous. I have only ever moved systems across the city, not an 8 hour drive. So, given I won't have the morning to pack the car, this will need to happen the night before. I also need to leave early enough to be able to unload the critical (i.e. living) items.
Don't worry though, remember, our little friends get shipped around the world all the time.
The bulk of the equipment will be in the moving trailer, so I will just have the essentials for the livestock with me. The fish will be the easiest, as all the fish I have are easy to keep fish.
Bare live rock will be easy, just put it into a tub with water. Although I suspect there will be very few rocks without anything encrusted on them.
Now for the corals, this is going to be a bit tricky. The lowest hanging fruit will be the frags and single pieces. My plan here is to use a styrofoam box with egg crate shelves. I can 3D print little holders to keep the frags in place, and I have some small breeding boxes for the loose mushrooms and soft corals. I will use this method for anything on a frag plug or not on a rock. I have lots of frags, and several colonies that didn’t bother encrusting.
The hard part here will be the encrusted corals. I’ll need to keep them from bashing around breaking on each other. Granted, it is a given that some corals will break, but I want to minimize this. Keeping in mind I need to easily load and unload, I will just have a layer of rock with just enough water covering it in each tub (I would guess I’ll need two or three tubs). So, I have lots of plastic mesh which can be folded and placed as a cushion between each rock, or bags or something. I will have to run some experiments to see what would work the best.
Depending on the ambient temperature during the trip, I might have to dangle heaters into the tubs. I have a 1000w inverter I'll hook up in the car. It might also be worth picking up a bunch of digital thermometers (cheap cooking thermometers might work). I'll also have a few battery air pumps on hand, just in case.
3) Managing mini-cycles
Wow, that is going to be an intense couple days. Since I won’t have enough water on hand to fill a 125, or whatever I choose, everything will live in tubs for a few days. Lights, flow, heat, no worries, I can swing that.
So, I’ll put a fresh couple bags of substrate into the new tank, fill it up with RO and start mixing in the salt. I assume this will take a couple days alone. There’s still a lot of logistics here that I need to work out, such as an overflow, sump, and such. Either way, once the water is up to the right salinity and temperature, it will be time to start adding the livestock.
Although I would like feedback on everything, this part is where I am a bit iffy. Every time I ‘restart’ a system, I end up with blooms of all sorts and some minor but annoying problems. I want to minimize losses, as well as keep up the good looks.
I’m going to do a gallon a day water changes. I’ll pre-rinse the substrate, should I let it soak in RO for a couple months before using it?
4) The return
Similar to phase 2, everything will be packed in the same fashion. The main difference will be the 220 at home will remain fallowed. I'll set up the 125 like it was in the remote home and seed the 220 from it, essentially starting it over. I have no idea what shape it will be in after sitting unattended for 8 months.
In conclusion, it is amazing if anyone actually got this far on such a long posting… This ‘title’ post will be updated as I refine the process, so it will change from time to time.
Thanks!
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