Short Distance Moving Advice

EvanDeVita

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Hi all,
I’m going to moving from Fairfield County, CT to Westerly, RI (ab 90 minutes) and I have a 30 gallon tank with LPS and Softies. I’d love to get your input on the moving process, along with wether or not I should essentially restart the tank. It’s about 16 months old with sand and rock. I also have questions like how exactly do I move the tank, can I re-set up the tank and add fish all at once, etc...? Any help is much appreciated!
 

Aqua Man

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Moving a reef is usually not a problem. Sometimes it is. The safer way is to reuse old dirty sand. Or at the minimum, rinse all the gunk out.

I just moved my reef, I decided to just replace the old sand with fresh rinsed new sand.

@brandon429 will have all the links for you to plan out a successful move.
 
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brandon429

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From our huge thread on tank moves we like to move this way:

take down tank and separate rocks and fish and corals from the sand without clouding up mess around the sensitive animals

move the rocks and corals and fish cleanly in holding containers


regarding the sand, if you’re moving the old you would tap water rinse it until it’s 100% cloud free, final rinse in ro, re set back up the tank at new place and re ramp your light intensity as if they’re new lights.

if you are using new sand do the exact same thing, easy.

it never fails when showing how to move like this we get asked if tap rinsing is bad/ kills bacteria and it makes me wonder why someone would think I’d recommend something that’s bad in public lol, this above is the right way and any customization to it can kill the reef but not if you follow it exactly.

many folks moved their own way, no rinsing, and about ten percent of those moves have animal losses since they chose not to rinse. All set.
 
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176327

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From our huge thread on tank moves we like to move this way:

take down tank and separate rocks and fish and corals from the sand without clouding up mess around the sensitive animals

move the rocks and corals and fish cleanly in holding containers


regarding the sand, if you’re moving the old you would tap water rinse it until it’s 100% cloud free, final rinse in ro, re set back up the tank at new place and re ramp your light intensity as if they’re new lights.

if you are using new sand do the exact same thing, easy.

it never fails when showing how to move like this we get asked if tap rinsing is bad/ kills bacteria and it makes me wonder why someone would think I’d recommend something that’s bad in public lol, this above is the right way and any customization to it can kill the reef but not if you follow it exactly.

many folks moved their own way, no rinsing, and about ten percent of those moves have animal losses since they chose not to rinse. All set.
Not arguing, just curious. Why the rinse?
 
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Aqua Man

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The safer way is to reuse old dirty sand.
I swear I wrote NOT REUSE!!!! Lol

why rinse? This is NEW sand! Lol
4FE79A14-7B38-44BD-90DE-91AA4031E388.jpeg
 
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brandon429

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That and strange fish kills associated with other unknown toxins in the sand. The reason we rinse new sand is because of this:




https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/question-about-vacuuming-sand-bed.616059/ https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/new-tank-milky-cloudy.616519/




10 days, still won't settle and clouds fully


Specifically do not transfer a handful of old sand as seed, even that has killed tanks not worth the risk.
 
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Simon Reefing

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That and strange fish kills associated with other unknown toxins in the sand. The reason we rinse new sand is because of this:




https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/question-about-vacuuming-sand-bed.616059/ https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/new-tank-milky-cloudy.616519/




10 days, still won't settle and clouds fully


Specifically do not transfer a handful of old sand as seed, even that has killed tanks not worth the risk.
That was a great post!
 
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brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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No doubt there’s 20 people reading who moved without a rinse and would recommend that. They’re the majority crowd


the few who had reefs killed by skipping old sand rinse still lost thousands in animals and we found a way to stop losses 100%


skipping new sand rinse won’t kill it’s just a headache that clears up usually in a few days, but why even go through that we prefer an instantly clean new reef that stays that way. Skipping a rinse confers zero benefit
 
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176327

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That and strange fish kills associated with other unknown toxins in the sand. The reason we rinse new sand is because of this:




https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/question-about-vacuuming-sand-bed.616059/ https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/new-tank-milky-cloudy.616519/




10 days, still won't settle and clouds fully


Specifically do not transfer a handful of old sand as seed, even that has killed tanks not worth the risk.
No, I was asking about old sand. But I think the basic answer is “why not” as it seems it’s only beneficial.
I’ve moved a tank or two and not thought about it really at all. I’ve been lucky it seems.

i’ve had a mini cycle after a move, would rinsing the sand stop that?

edit: I didn’t personally lose anything that time, but many things were unhappy. Or maybe better said, “survived”.
 
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NeonRabbit221B

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Moving a tank isn't an issue. Keep with the general mantra of not moving and taking dirt with you. Rinse well and blow off crap on the rock work. Rinsing is critical. Ramping lighting back up after is critical. Having 1.5x the water you think you will need is critical.
 
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brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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Rinsing will stop all cycles totally and make it skip cycle

heres some logs of those who didn’t rinse, the 10% chance outcome


One handful of sand kills his tank. Yes they debated me for pages lol but then again they didn’t run any tank transfer tests with no rinsing for proof, and I baited them a hundred times to make such a thread


he had bad sand, and it killed his fish.
Upgrade disaster
Recently had a huge leak in our 90 gal reef which forced us to upgrade sooner than expected . The upgrade being a 230 gal with a 48 gal sump . Mistake #1 I added some of the old sand assuming it would be beneficial to have a little bacteria .. I was wrong . Nuked the whole tank killing all fish...

here's some in-tank sandbed work nearly killing the fish, soon after disturbance:

Re-aquascaping nightmare!!!!!! Nearly killed all my fish!!!!!

Did you smell rotten eggs? Sincerely Lasse

Dr. Tim here writes that over his years of experience he’s had several reports of sandbed disturbance killing the system.

Creating a safe anoxic environment.

Over the past few months I have come across information regarding the creation of anoxic environments in aquariums, one of them being a deep sand bed (around 10+ cm?). I have also heard that some people worry that it could create hydrogen sulfide, which could creep out if the sand bed is...
www.reef2reef.com

a nano wiped out by disturbing the bed, inside the tank


Nanoreef crash after DSB cleaning

Hello R2R. So... I nearly wiped out one of my 14G Biocubes after an aggressive cleaning. The system has been running and doing well-enough for about 6 years. It is home to a handful of "easy" corals, a couple of clownfish, and a few mobile inverts. I bought an external filter (generic HD10...
 
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brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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In reefing we have been told sandbed bacteria are an integral, required link to a safe reef. Not true

the bacteria stuck on our arm that will be rinsed off in the next shower are not required for us to live, same analogy
 
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176327

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Rinsing will stop all cycles totally and make it skip cycle

heres some logs of those who didn’t rinse, the 10% chance outcome


One handful of sand kills his tank. Yes they debated me for pages lol but then again they didn’t run any tank transfer tests with no rinsing for proof, and I baited them a hundred times to make such a thread


he had bad sand, and it killed his fish.
Upgrade disaster
Recently had a huge leak in our 90 gal reef which forced us to upgrade sooner than expected . The upgrade being a 230 gal with a 48 gal sump . Mistake #1 I added some of the old sand assuming it would be beneficial to have a little bacteria .. I was wrong . Nuked the whole tank killing all fish...

here's some in-tank sandbed work nearly killing the fish, soon after disturbance:

Re-aquascaping nightmare!!!!!! Nearly killed all my fish!!!!!

Did you smell rotten eggs? Sincerely Lasse

Dr. Tim here writes that over his years of experience he’s had several reports of sandbed disturbance killing the system.

Creating a safe anoxic environment.

Over the past few months I have come across information regarding the creation of anoxic environments in aquariums, one of them being a deep sand bed (around 10+ cm?). I have also heard that some people worry that it could create hydrogen sulfide, which could creep out if the sand bed is...
www.reef2reef.com

a nano wiped out by disturbing the bed, inside the tank


Nanoreef crash after DSB cleaning

Hello R2R. So... I nearly wiped out one of my 14G Biocubes after an aggressive cleaning. The system has been running and doing well-enough for about 6 years. It is home to a handful of "easy" corals, a couple of clownfish, and a few mobile inverts. I bought an external filter (generic HD10...

I’ll hopefully be buying a house next year after I see how bad this UBI push or just the insane spending and resulting inflation affect the market.

I’m in Florida and the market here is silly anyway.

I’ll be rinsing or replacing next time. I think I’m going to just love my rock and corals into a bigger tank when the time comes.

I also think if I had any SPS pieces in this tank when I moved it, they’d of died. The mini cycle gave me a bloom of diatoms which has lead to GHA I’m only barley in control of.

edit: actually I thought the gha killed a monti sp I have. But based on some searches here I got the opinion of leave it in until it’s covered in coraline. It’s coming back, and is prettier. Totally different coloration on the polyps.
 
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Aqua Man

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we found a way to stop losses 100%
So why take a risk with the old sand? Shop Vac is a great tool for removing sand and water.

Rinsing sand does take a few hrs if you have never done it. Old or new, it’s not a quick process.

My recommendation would be to leave the sand out completely if time is an issue. Rinsed Sand can always be added back in later.
 
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markron

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From our huge thread on tank moves we like to move this way:

take down tank and separate rocks and fish and corals from the sand without clouding up mess around the sensitive animals

move the rocks and corals and fish cleanly in holding containers


regarding the sand, if you’re moving the old you would tap water rinse it until it’s 100% cloud free, final rinse in ro, re set back up the tank at new place and re ramp your light intensity as if they’re new lights.

if you are using new sand do the exact same thing, easy.

it never fails when showing how to move like this kontorflytting we get asked if tap rinsing is bad/ kills bacteria and it makes me wonder why someone would think I’d recommend something that’s bad in public lol, this above is the right way and any customization to it can kill the reef but not if you follow it exactly.

many folks moved their own way, no rinsing, and about ten percent of those moves have animal losses since they chose not to rinse. All set.
We’re meeting with a realtor today, and started the purge yesterday. It’s amazing how much stuff a family can accumulate, especially a family with a lot of hobbies lol I’ve always said once you’re over 30 it should be against the law to make your friends help you move. I’m fully capable of doing it on my own (truck and bigger enclosed trailer), but it’s the time factor that I’m lacking, so I’ll need to hire out one big load to shave off trips. Do any of you guys have a recommendation on who to use?
 
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