Moving with a reef tank

[Mattman1977]

well unfortunately moving weekend is coming sooner then I wish, this weekend. Well I’ve had this internal argument about the best way to move my fish. So plan is to take down the tank sometime Saturday and we will start our voyage Sunday morning. It will be a 15 hour trip I'm sure in the moving truck.

Plan of action is to bag my coral and put them in a ice chest with some water in it, in case the bag comes open.

Live rock will be put in a 5gal bucket with some water in it with towels over them.

Fish is where I’m having my issue, to bag them, ice chest or 5 gal bucket?

I’m suspecting they won’t be back in a tank until at least Monday or Tuesday. When we get to our new home it will be late Sunday so I’m doubtful a tank will be getting set up right then. I figure Monday I’ll get the 55 gal set up in a temporary location and get the live rocks and water in and check it for ammonia every few hours before adding the fish.

How much water from the tank should I save?
I’m gonna carry an extra 14 gal of rodi to mix once were there. I have my rodi unit clearly marked so it’s easy to find. I figure as long as I can get the tank 3/4 full it should be good enough for the fish to swim around in until the rodi can make more.

Guess I should give I fish stock list

One spot about 4”
Clown
Chromis
Royal G
Yellow watchman

Think that’s all I have left. Lost a few after I consolidated my tanks into one. There all tiny fish but the one spot thinking a 5 gal bucket with a lid with some air holes. Should I worry about air in the water? Could get a battery powered air pump.


Any and all comments and ideas would be appreciated

Happy reefing
Matt

 

[JasonK84]

I brought some blennies home from Galveston beach last summer in a 5 gallon bucket. Had about 2” of sand in the bottom for biological filtration and some sargassum seaweed. Ran a heater and bubbler in the bucket. They lasted a couple days in the hotel room then a 13 hour drive home then over night again at the house before putting them in the tank the following day. Still have all 3 blennies now full grown.

 

[VB313]

I just moved last May I stressed hard for weeks before the big day but ultimately it wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be
your plan sounds good
I would save every last drop of water you can and have extra on standby just Incase and try not to disturb your sandbed too much if you have one

 

[Mattman1977]

Hmmmm I have pulled all of my sand out of my tanks to aid with the move but have a bag of unused sand I guess I can use. I have some rubble I can toss in there also. Planning on not feeding them 2 days before the move to aid in no waste. At most it’s looking like maybe 3 days in a bucket. I will also keep my ammonia test kit and a bottle of prime handy during this time

Thanks for the reply.
I love Galveston beach also lol. The local brewery is amazing also if you ever go back

Happy reefing
Matt

 

[Mattman1977]

I just moved last May I stressed hard for weeks before the big day but ultimately it wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be
your plan sounds good
I would save every last drop of water you can and have extra on standby just Incase and try not to disturb your sandbed too much if you have one

Yeah I pulled everything out of my DT and placed it in my coral grow out tank which is bare bottom. Man the sand in my DT was past nasty especially the sand under the rocks. Gonna elevate my rocks when I set up my new DT.

Yeah I’m stressing out over it for sure. How did you move your fish?

Matt

 

[VB313]

Yeah I know the feeling but I was suprised how smooth it went
All fish and coral went into fish bags then into a styro container
Rock went into 5gal buckets with tank water
Remaining tank water went into a few 10 gal brute cans

Unfortunately I didn’t have as long as a trip as you my fish were in bags for a hour and 30 mins tops filled tank re scaped floated fish bags and boom I was done

 

[Mattman1977]

Yeah I feel the bucket will be better going that far easier to test for ammonia and dose prime if need be. Just wanted a couple of opinions in the matter.

It’s water change time anyways so figure I will try and bring 20-25 gal of water with. We shall see how this works out

Matt

 

[Tdawg]

Any lessons learned? I'm moving 450 miles in next 60 days.

 

[Mattman1977]

Wasn’t to bad. Moved everything in 4 5 gal buckets and a few jugs of water then topped off with fresh water. Think a key thing is to dose prime and bottle bacteria and test for ammonia. Worked great.

Happy reefing
Matt

 

[Tdawg]

Wasn’t to bad. Moved everything in 4 5 gal buckets and a few jugs of water then topped off with fresh water. Think a key thing is to dose prime and bottle bacteria and test for ammonia. Worked great.

Happy reefing
Matt

thanks

 

[Mattman1977]

No problem bud. Good luck with your move. If I had it to do all over again I would probably sell off all of my livestock and start over. Less stress on everyone including the livestock. After that long of a move it’s hard to find the time you need to set it up correctly. Especially when you have a uhaul to unload.

Happy reefing
Matt

 

[Mical]

I can relate to moving a tank. I just moved 2 and I spent more time stressing over the "hows & where's" then moving my personal belongings. I moved a 65 gal and a 60 (the 60 was transformed into a 120 gal) I ditched all but a couple cups of old sand and everything was in 5 gal buckets. (180 gals in 5 gal buckets) Low & behold everything survived except a tuxedo urchin. I have 5 large nems and 2 clowns & when I moved clowns were in Nems for the move, I looked for hours then found them in the nems.

 

[Mattman1977]

I lost my one spot after the move due probably to ammonia. I was super busy moving stuff and thought I dosed it but could of missed it a day. Very disappointing as he was by far my favorite

@Mical how far did you move?

Happy reefing
Matt

 

[Tdawg]

Matt, thanks for advice. Mical, sorry about you tux, that's a real loss

 

[Mical]

Matt - I moved 50 miles from a 3 story townhouse (of course both tanks were on upper levels) to a new split level home

Tdawg - thanks, luckily that was the only loss. I moved 18 fish, 3 urchins, 8 anemones (including carpet nem which was larger than I expected. 2/3 of it were buried in sand. Exposed was 6 inches across)

 

[Daniel@R2R]

I successfully moved a 75g tank from Virginia to Ohio back in 2013. I'm happy that it was a success...but I will Never. Ever. Do that again.