Moving a tank and need a double check

[Thisisfine]

My father passed away in December and had a 90 or 92g corner tank for years. My step-mother doesn't want to manage with it and has been on me about taking the set up to my house.

I have a couple of questions as I've never moved a tank beyond down a hallway.

For reference - their house is 1.5hrs from mine. I plan to take buckets (and totes if needed) for water, fish, coral, rock. There is no Lowes, fish store etc. within 30-45 minutes of their house so if I forget or miss something this becomes a mess.

-How long are fish fine in buckets sans heater and aeration? It's a min 1.5hrs to my house plus the time they would be in buckets while we break down the tank. I do not know the stock list beyond a clown, sailfin tang, hippo tang, royal gramma, soft corals and a few bubble tips.

-Is it better to ditch the sandbed and add new livesand when setting the tank back up?

-Is there anything that stands out as "I wish a brought X or I'm glad I brought Y" beyond buckets, totes, battery powered aerators (if needed)?


Thanks!

 

[Snoopy 67]

New Sand, unless you want to spend hours rinsing the old stuff.
Is there a way of making up RODI water now?
If so, take it to your place & make up @ least 30gallons in a grey Brute garbage can.
Water is heavy & will splash all over.
Take the salt mix home beforehand along with anything else to avid trying for too much all @ once. Try not to put all the fish in 1 container & keep the tangs separate. Leave room for air in the containers. A 1" hose will drain the tank fast, just don't suck up the fish.
Have some towels handy when working for spills. Disconnect all electrical before starting this.
Good luck.

 

[Thisisfine]

New Sand, unless you want to spend hours rinsing the old stuff.
Is there a way of making up RODI water now?
If so, take it to your place & make up @ least 30gallons in a grey Brute garbage can.
Water is heavy & will splash all over.
Take the salt mix home beforehand along with anything else to avid trying for too much all @ once. Try not to put all the fish in 1 container & keep the tangs separate. Leave room for air in the containers. A 1" hose will drain the tank fast, just don't suck up the fish.
Have some towels handy when working for spills. Disconnect all electrical before starting this.
Good luck.

Thanks!

I'm picking up a 44g brute can today, and have some powerheads coming tomorrow for a small saltwater mixing station that I needed for WC's for 2 QT tanks going now for what I currently have so that works for both situations. I can make sure I have that topped off with fresh salt for the move.

I'll make sure tangs go in separate 5g buckets and just fill to 3-4g. I'm guessing they'd be in there 2.5-3hrs at min.

I'll pick up some bags of live sand ahead of time and try to pre-rinse if I can.

 

[Snoopy 67]

When you get home open the buckets & cover with a screen or eggcrate to avoid jumpers.

 

[Thisisfine]

When you get home open the buckets & cover with a screen or eggcrate to avoid jumpers.

How did you (or anyone) handle situating the tank for transport with the bulkheads etc attached for the overflows or did you remove them?

This tank fortunately has the bulkheads and just a couple of inches of pvc, then the rest is tubing that goes to the drain and tubing from the return pump back.

I'd prefer not to have to break the bulkheads free - wonder if it's save to lay on it's side.

 

[ScottD]

Something to think about. Would it be feasible to get another brute can and drain the tank water into them. The you could split the rock and fish up between the 2 of them, take down the tank and bring that home. Get it all setup and then go back and move the fish and rock into the tank?

 

[vancouverredsea350]

I just sold and helped move my 90g reef tank. It wasn’t as bad as I thought. I bought 14 food safe 5 gallon buckets with lids. 8 for tank water 4 for rocks and corals and 2 for fish. I put an air stone and 5 gallon heater in each bucket for the fish while I drained the water and took out the rocks. We saved 25/30% of the sand and he bought new for the rest. When we got to his house we plugged in the air stone and heaters again and went to work on the tank and everything survived. He lives about an hour away from me.

 

[Thisisfine]

I just sold and helped move my 90g reef tank. It wasn’t as bad as I thought. I bought 14 food safe 5 gallon buckets with lids. 8 for tank water 4 for rocks and corals and 2 for fish. I put an air stone and 5 gallon heater in each bucket for the fish while I drained the water and took out the rocks. We saved 25/30% of the sand and he bought new for the rest. When we got to his house we plugged in the air stone and heaters again and went to work on the tank and everything survived. He lives about an hour away from me.

Nice, that's good to hear. I figure it will probably not be as bad as it feels like it will be. Just hoping I don't forget something since the nearest anything is almost 45minutes from there.

How did you guys situate the 90 for the move? This will still have the bulkheads attached though plumbing beneath isn't that bad - just a few inches of pvc beneath the bulkhead that's then connected to tubing. I'm guessing I'll have to lay it on it's side for the drive.

 

[vancouverredsea350]

my tank had 2.5” of plumbing coming down under it so we just ran 2 4x4s under it on each end with rubber mats on top.

 

[Thisisfine]

my tank had 2.5” of plumbing coming down under it so we just ran 2 4x4s under it on each end with rubber mats on top.

Well that makes too much sense for me to think of myself at this point in the week. That’s a good idea and I think that’s what we’ll be doing then. Appreciate that.