how do i move my tank? help please!

[flowergirl]

hello, i am new to this forum and i was hoping to get some help.

i have a 65 gal tank with about 70lbs of live rock, softie corals and 5 fish oh and cleaner crew of course. my fishes are 2 clowns, 1 yel tang, 1 flame angel, and a red high-fin gobie. the tank has been set up for two years now with a deep sand bed that was made with play sand.

i am moving in two weeks and was looking for some advice on how to go about doing this. it is only a 20 mins drive so it is not that far but it the process is stressing me out!

i have been saving buckets with lids to be able to transport everything.

can any of you help me figure out a plan of action?

thanks so much for your time in advance!

[Samper]

Yes I can.

1. Get a large container so you can make a massive water change at your new place. A 55 gallon rubbermaid trashcan is a nice one to use. Make sure the temperature and SG is right. Make this a minimum of 4 days in advance.

2. Get a bunch of rubbermaids with lids.

3. Shut down and start draining the display....since you have a huge water change ready you only need to save about half of your water but be sure you have enough to fill the display. I also like to save an extra ten gallons and really give the live rock a good shake out before re aquascaping.

4. Pull the liverock and put it in the rubbermaids. To minimize die off transport them in water.

5. Catch the fish and put them in a rubbermaid or two.

6. Throw away all but a few cupfulls of your old sand. Use those to seed the new sandbed if you want. If not your rock will do it anyway.

7. Pull all equipment/dismantle and that's a good time to have some friends handy to clean it all up.

8. Take everything over to the new place. I try to keep times to a minimum when doing all this.

9. Once there get display, equipment and new sand in place. If it's extremely cloudy when you fire it up hook some powerheads up for circulation in the rubbermaids you have waiting and wait for the sand to clear enough so you can see what you're doing. Once your LR is in the system will clear much faster.

10. Reaquascape

11. Add livestock when your satisfied everything is in order

12. Enjoy.

I'm in a hurry so I'm sure I forgot something but I'll check it again later.

[Reefland]

Here's a thread that I think you will find helpful:
Moving a tank????

[flowergirl]

thanks aot for the detailed post samper! sounds straight forward but i know its going to be alot of work!

that link was also very helpful reefland!

will i have to airate my buckets if they will only be in there for a couple of hours? i only have a 20 mins drive but i'm sure will turn into a 40 due to slow speed. i assum they will be fine and the temp wouldn't drop much. is it easier to bag the fish so that i could float them in the pre-mixed heated water while we are setting up the tank?

i guess i shold expect a diatom algea bloom with the new sand bed..?

thanks again, much easier now knowing a step by step plan

[Reefland]

I wouldn't worry about airating the water in the buckets, for that time period. If you could bag them, that would be best and easiest to acclimate once received at the new location for the new tank.

[mikegerard]

I just moved a 55 gallon tank with 50 pounds live rock, some coral and similar fish to yours. I have no previous saltwater experience.

I bought the setup off of ebay from someone who was a 2 hour drive away. Loaded the live rock in Styrofoam coolers with some water and wet paper towels. Put all the water in buckets. Put the fish in buckets and emptied the tank out.

Drove two hours and got home and started setting up (after a little snack). Got everything back in as fast as possible.

That was on Saturday. So far so good. I have one coral that does not look so good and a tang with what appears to be ich on her tail but everything else looks happy. I took water samples today. SG was 1.020 (a little low but I expected that as I needed to add about 5 gallons of water). Ammonia, Nitrate and Nitrite were near zero.


You should be fine...your move is shorter (less time out of the tank), and you should have more confidence in what you're doing than I did. I took lots of pictures of the setup as I was concerned about being able to reassemble the skimmer correctly.

Good luck,
Mike

[flowergirl]

i can do this!

what about putting the new sand bed in? will it go through a big cycle?
any trick to pouring the water in over the dry sand so it doesn't make a huge sandstorm. i think i heard somewhere if you lay a garbage bag over the sand then put your water in it would reduce the mess...
or pour the water over a plate...

any thoughts on this?

again, you have been very helpful with putting my nind at ease! thanks!