Moving

[SPAM]

Hello all,
I am moving to another house only 2 miles away, thank goodness. I don't know how to move my tank and I have several questions:
1) should I put all the lr in buckets with aquarium water my lr have star polyps, brown polyps, and mushrooms on them.
2) I will do a water change at the time of move can I change approx half of the water without harming anyone.
3) How much water can I safely leave in the aquarium when we move it and can I put the rest in 5 gallon buckets with lids?
If anyone can help with ideas it would be much appreciated.

[Bughead]

OMG I hate moving!!!
Yes, put your lr in buckets, cover with tank water. Putting the corals in with should be fine. Do add a power head for each bucket and watch the temp.

As far as moving the tank with sand in it--Keep in mind that aquariums are not built to handle stress of movement. You could weaken the tank and have a disaster in the future. Even though you want to get re-set up as soon as possible, and avoid extra labor, I'd highly suggest you put the sand in buckets, rinsed with the last bit of tank water. If you need to let it set a day or two while you finish moving, again rinse the sand before returning it to the tank. You can use fresh water for this (!) and even though it kills off a lot of bacteria, enough survive to keep the biological filtration going and you can avoid an ammonia spike.

When you have the sand back in, put the lr that doesn't have coral attached back in and the water you saved. Then add the new saltwater and wait. Check your chemistry to make sure your not going to re-cycle. If you do get an ammonia spike, chances are it will last only a day or two. The new mini-cycle should last only 3 days at the most. Then return the corals to the tank.

If you do decide to go ahead and move the tank with the sand, move it with as little water as possible. When it is in position in the new house, take some of the tank water and gently rinse the sand, then remove as much water as you can. If you don't have a DSB its likely you won't get any re-cycle at all.
Oh, I didn't say, but yes, the used tank water does just fine in buckets with lids. Just to be on the safe side, either stir it up several times a day or put in a bubbler in, or if you must, drive recklessly just to keep that water stirred to keep the O2 level up.

[SomeHairyOldGuy]

Moving is deffinantly a pain in the rear. But since you are only going 2 miles I don't think it should be that difficult. I mean extra precaution is great but I dont think you have much to worry about. I moved my 72 reef 800 miles(Tulsa to Chicago) last year in the back of my pickup using only 4 5 gallon buckets and 4 20 or 25 gallon rubber maid containers and 1 airator. I put the LR w/ corals and fish in the buckets and the rest of the LR in the rubber maid containers. Used original tank water for the whole process. Left the 4" sand bed in the tank with just enough water in there to keep it wet. Only problem I had was not having someone in Chicago to help me unload my tank and bring it in the house. So if you got that covered I think you will be fine.
SHOG

[SPAM]

Thanks for the advice.
How much of a fresh water change do you think is safe. 20% is the most I have ever done.
Also, I have coral and sand and I would like to replace the coral with sand and I'm thinking this would be the best time to do that. What do you think ;)

[Bughead]

When I set up new tanks replacing old ones, I added at least 30% new water to the small tank and around 60% or maybe even 75% new water to the big (180) one. Of course I don't reccomend doing that much, but I just didn't have enough old water. But even with my semi rotten sand the tank cycled in less than 2 days. I think you can change up to 50% water safely.

Now would be the perfect time to relace your cc with sand. Just mix in some of the old stuff for a start on the biological activity.