The Do's and Don'ts of moving with a Saltwater tank

k2parkstar

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I'll be moving at the end of next month so i'm starting to prepare now for moving my saltwater tank. On the plus side my tank is rather small 45g cube, so it won't be as bad as say a 100g+. Also, i'm only moving about 20 miles, so not quite a cross country adventure. Anyway just looking for some advice on how to move the tank and all of its inhabitants. First I have a specific question, I have 60lbs of fiji pink live sand in and 20lbs crushed coral. I'm not to keen on the crushed coral anymore, whats the best approach? New sand, or trying to sift out the old? If I get new live sand will it need to cycle? If I strain out the old will that have any negative effects on my water chemistry? Secondly, I want to hear your stories of past moving expierences. I want the DO's and DON'Ts of moving my tank.

Thanks,

Justin
 

Reefer831

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great idea...those of us who live in a apartment all hate to think about the day when we need to move our tanks...subscribed!
 

soccerbag

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I have moved with my tanks more than I care to discuss...lol. I moved a 75g (back in the day) 8 time in as many years. My advice is to come up with a good plan and stick to it.

1) Have a lot more saltwater mixed up than you think you will need. Better to end up with 20 extra gallons of saltwater
than have to worry about getting more in a pinch. You can always use the extra water for water changes.
2) Have a couple of extra heaters and powerheads just in case it takes longer to get things setup.
3) Have a plan so that your rock will not dry out.
4) Borrow as many towels and buckets (and lids) as you possible can from other reefers, LFS, etc.
5) Put each fish in it's own bucket unless they are mated pairs of fish. Be prapared to heat / aerate each bucket if needed.
6) Make sure that there are enough outlets in the new place. Is the circuit large enough to handle the load of tank. pumps, lights, etc.?

That's a good start....lol. As for the sand, you will drive yourself crazy sifting out the old sand. Keep 2-3 cups of the old sand, spread it out on the bottom of the tank, and then add new sand on top of it. I've done that many times with zero adverse effects to the tank / inhabitants. The only way I would change that advice is if you have a well established deep sand bed. If not, no worries. But you do need to "seed" the tank with the old sand.

Also give some serious thought to what you may want to change. Is there a new aquascape, different rock, etc that you would like to change? Now would be the time to change something that isn't working.

Hope that helps a bit. Good luck and keep us posted.
 

ca2or

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When I moved my tank it was from L.A. to Portland. I used big cooler from Walmart and drilled a hole in the top of one big enough for an air tube. Then grabbed a battery powered air pump to fuel the cooler with air for my fish.

Filled up cooler quarter way with tank water than put sand in glass casserole dish....put zoas and ricordia in sand and the rest of my corals went on egg crate frag racks cut to fit and hold casserole dish in place.

The second cooler had my LR with some water. Easy to do with small tank like this.
 
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great idea...those of us who live in a apartment all hate to think about the day when we need to move our tanks...subscribed!

Yeah i'm moving from one apartment to another, and now deep down I know i'll have to move it again in the future, maybe the next time will be in to a house and hopefully a larger tank! :bigsmile:

@soccerbag, thanks for the tips. I'm trying to formulate my plan now, a month in advance, I sure don't want to try to figure out all this on moving day. As to the sand my sand bed is fairly deep, a good 4-5 inches because I have a blue spot jawfish. I would say its fairly well established, just shy of year old...
 

apicturepaints

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I just recently moved my 75 and it was pretty seamless, but definitely have a plan! Also, we made sure we had the whole day to dedicate to the tank. It didn't take that long, but it was nice to not have to rush and move other stuff. When we had moved prior, we had about one day to move and that was such a pain with the tank.

Definitely enlist the help of another person. soccerbag listed a lot of great stuff. You can get buckets from Lowe's with lids for pretty inexpensive, but you can also return them when you're done. The more buckets, the better. It makes transporting livestock and corals nice. I completely agree that you should have more water mixed up than you may necessarily need.

Hmm...can't think of anything else. Good luck!
 

erikjphillips

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i've helped move tanks a few times and 20 miles isnt a bad move at all time wise. i dont think you will need to go the cooler route. what i would do (and plan on when i buy a house next year) is get one of those large 50gal totes from target, walmart or whatever is close by. leave the container at the new place and transport everything there in buckets. fill the tote with the tank water, rocks, coral, and all that jazz, throw your heaters and a powerhead in there. this way if you can scape your tank the way you like to slowly and not have to rush. use a return pump to fill the tank from the tote. works like a charm!
 
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erikjphillips said:
i've helped move tanks a few times and 20 miles isnt a bad move at all time wise. i dont think you will need to go the cooler route. what i would do (and plan on when i buy a house next year) is get one of those large 50gal totes from target, walmart or whatever is close by. leave the container at the new place and transport everything there in buckets. fill the tote with the tank water, rocks, coral, and all that jazz, throw your heaters and a powerhead in there. this way if you can scape your tank the way you like to slowly and not have to rush. use a return pump to fill the tank from the tote. works like a charm!

Thats a great idea! Thanks for the tip.
 

1Snapple

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Take your time, and use LOTS of buckets.
we bought a 55 fiberglass tub from our local ranch store and just store the rock with corals in it in there along with fish, kept the base rock damp, moved it over. and set up the tank. The only casuality was my 2 favorite chalices!!! Both were unnamed, on lost almost all its tissue, then got brown jelly disease, then i got another unnamed frag and it too got brown jelly disease. saddest thing ever
 
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Take your time, and use LOTS of buckets.
we bought a 55 fiberglass tub from our local ranch store and just store the rock with corals in it in there along with fish, kept the base rock damp, moved it over. and set up the tank. The only casuality was my 2 favorite chalices!!! Both were unnamed, on lost almost all its tissue, then got brown jelly disease, then i got another unnamed frag and it too got brown jelly disease. saddest thing ever

I'm liking the idea of setting up my stuff in a tub while my tank is getting aquascaped that way my coral can stay happy and i can set up a new tank. Anybody else out there have stories/tips?
 

cdness

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I have horror stories and success stories, but to address the main question:

Don't toss out all your water and start with all fresh water. You will have coral losses

Don't re-use your old sand unless you have the time needed to do a full rinse and treatment. Sand is in the end cheap compared to the rest of the tank.

Do keep extra water on-hand as you will never be able to save all your old water. It is a good time to do a 30% water change.

Do make sure your temporary storage containers stay aerated and heated to avoid losses in transition.

Do not rush yourself, but do stay on task so it doesn't take forever to get the inhabitants back into a stable environment.

Do get help from friends, but DON'T open the food or edit*beverages until the majority of the work is done. Remember 2 or 3 good helpers are better than 6 or 7 PITA helpers, quality not quantity.

Don't worry too much about aquascaping right away as you can move stuff around once it is stable in the tank.

Do give yourself extra time to do the move. If you plan on 2 hours it will take 6... I planned on 4 - 5 hours the last move and it took 10, and I have moved tanks 3 or 4 times before.

Most important though, don't stress yourself out. Get a good nights rest the day before the move so you are alert during the whole move. Nothing is worse than nodding off while filling a tank with water or carrying a large piece of glass up a flight or two of stairs.
 

ryeguyy84

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I found home depot buckets work better than lowes because they have an oring on the lid making them water tight.

I moved from a 55g to a 29g biocube. I used most of the water from my old tank. All the info above is great the best is have extra water on hand.

Store your live rock in the buckets of water until ready. They can live for a while in there with no issues.

I agree with new sand, it's just easier. Although I did get some cyano on the new sand after about a month.

Good luck, hope you don't get snow like I did in October.
 

kevinf

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I'm about to move my tank in a few months. Would you guys recommened putting coral & fish in there own seperate baggies? or just throw them in buckets?
 
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cdness said:
I have horror stories and success stories, but to address the main question:

Don't toss out all your water and start with all fresh water. You will have coral losses

Don't re-use your old sand unless you have the time needed to do a full rinse and treatment. Sand is in the end cheap compared to the rest of the tank.

Do keep extra water on-hand as you will never be able to save all your old water. It is a good time to do a 30% water change.

Do make sure your temporary storage containers stay aerated and heated to avoid losses in transition.

Do not rush yourself, but do stay on task so it doesn't take forever to get the inhabitants back into a stable environment.

Do get help from friends, but DON'T open the food or edit*beverages until the majority of the work is done. Remember 2 or 3 good helpers are better than 6 or 7 PITA helpers, quality not quantity.

Don't worry too much about aquascaping right away as you can move stuff around once it is stable in the tank.

Do give yourself extra time to do the move. If you plan on 2 hours it will take 6... I planned on 4 - 5 hours the last move and it took 10, and I have moved tanks 3 or 4 times before.

Most important though, don't stress yourself out. Get a good nights rest the day before the move so you are alert during the whole move. Nothing is worse than nodding off while filling a tank with water or carrying a large piece of glass up a flight or two of stairs.

Great tips, thanks for posting them. I've decided to go for new sand. Anybody got suggestions? I believe rev likes the tropic Eden reef flakes...I'd like something nice and white, small but won't get blown around.
 

cdness

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I used caribsea seafloor special but it's all I had access to locally... TE Reef Flakes has been mentioned as great more than a few times...
 
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