Relocation / Stressing..

[Rsandry]

Hi everyone,

Okay, so we are looking to sell our house and relocate to about an hour (or so) away. I will of course need to break my tank down so I am looking for some advice/suggestions on the best way to do this. I have a Red Sea reefer 350 that has been up for about a year now stocked mostly with softies and fish. I was planning to purchase a 2nd tank (great excuse to expand in the new house ;)) and set it up at my brothers house and then relocate my corals/fish prior to the moving....

Any ideas, suggestion or words of caution would be greatly appreciated.....

 

[CodyRVA]

Following.

 

[TheEngineer]

It's not as scary as it sounds. I've done this 5 times myself. Setting up a tank at the new house is the easiest way to do this. If you can set it up and have it cycled and ready to go this is no different than buying fish/coral from the store. You just acclimate and go. If you are moving rockwork and sand and setting up the tank in one day it is a little more involved. Which way are you going?

 

[revhtree]

I just moved a tank and this is what I did.

1. Set up a temp tank with pre-mixed and ready water. Not filled all the way.
2. Buy a bunch of the smaller rubbermaid tubs so they are not too heavy to move. (buy some spares just in case you have a crack or accident)
3. Add some rock to each tub with just enough water to cover the rock. Keep it light enough to move.
4. Bag fish and coral and add to styro coolers.
5. Take some water from the current tank. I had a 120g tank and I took about 35 gallons in 5 gallon containers.

I added the 35g of old water to the new tank (100g rubbermade tub) and new water. Added rock. Floated fish and released. No deaths or losses.

 

[Rsandry]

Thx for the input icecool2...

Not sure what the timing between the vacancy of the old house and access to the new will be which is why I was considering a temp set up...
Also, I would like to have some time to do a nice install in the new house which could take longer so having a temp set up would afford me this time....

 

[Rsandry]

Thx revhtree...
So I have heard of using these rubbermaid tubs and that seems like good backup to have on hand anyway for possible future moves/problems...
If I chose to house the corals in this type of set up for a longer period what would you recommend for managing temp lighting requirements... ?