Moving Tank to Work... couple questions

[Justler]

i've got a 55 gallon fish only with live rock and sand... My room has become pretty hot in the summer and i'm at work more often than at home it seems sometimes. I've got a picasso trigger, niger trigger, blue mouth trigger and a true percula clownfish. I have a spare 29 gallon tank that I am going to use as a sump eventually, but in the mean time it's empty. Do you guys suggest putting some saltwater and a filter in that for a little while with some sand to put the fish in while I clean out the old tank and take it in to work and allow it to cycle? How should I do this move guys?

[Biomanjcs72]

I, personally don't think that there is any need to keep the tank inhabitants displaced for that long a period of time. Just break the tank down, put the fish in a bucket W/battery airstone and some wedged in there LR (wedged so you don't crush your fishies). Keep as much of the tank water as you can. Go to new Location, set everything up, as long as your sand stays wet and you pour the water over your LR, it won't cloud too badly, and the choice is yours as to leave your fish in bucket for a day until the tank clears, or just acclimate them into the tank with some cloudiness (they have storms in the ocean, so temporary turbidity doesn't kill them). If you have a DSB, you will probably want to keep the fish in a bucket (or the 29) for a few days until the sand settles down and everything gets back into place(LR would take over filtration until DSB gets good and established). IF you don't have a DSB, you're in good shape. Just make sure the LR stays moist with a wet towel or something (Newsprint dyes can kill stuff). HTH. happy moving. JCS

[icemark]

Depends on how long that you are going to take for the move.

If it (the move) is more than a day or so, yes I would use the 29Gal, but again if it is temporary then no sand (like in a quarantine tank).

When I moved my 60 (which is probably about the same size as your 55) I took all the Lrock out. Put the rock in buckets with tank water, took out 75% to 80% of the water from the tank, but I left the fish in the tank. Now I just read on some site that moving a tank with water and sand is a bad thing and often the tank will develop leaks, but I didn't have any problems.

Once moved to the new location I just set it all back up. Now then this was all within the span of 12 hours or so. I didn't have any fish losses, so I can say this worked for me.