Moving advice?????

[rutherford]

Hello everyone, I am here yet again looking for great advice. So it looks like there is a possibility of me moving, I just got a job about 2 hrs away and I think the commute will be too far. I was wondering about the raw mechanics of trying to orchestrate a saltwater move. Does anyone have any advice/been through themselves for what I should be mindful about. The good news is that I don’t have any fish in the tank just yet and I won’t add them until I am settled, however I do have a few snails and hermits that were just added. I have maybe 60lbs of LR Also the LFS threw in a mushroom in the bag and I have since transplanted it onto a piece of LR, it seems to be doing well, and because it was free I figured I would try my hand at caring for it. Also if I wanted to keep the “progress” of my tank in play, should I attempt to move some of the water also? (is it even possible to move and not have to restart the tank from scratch.... cycling) Really I need advice on what to do. By the time the move is ready to happen, the tank will be nearly 3 months old.
rutherford

[Parrothead]

A lot will depend on planning, if you can do the move in one day and save 50 - 60% of your water, the tank will look at it as just a big water change, just keep your rock wet,

a quick question, How much sand do you have in the tank??????

[rutherford]

hey thx for the advice parrothead, I would be planning on doing the move in 1 day. I think that would be best probably. I have a 2 inch bed of aragonite sustrate. why do you ask btw?

[Parrothead]

What size is your tank??


Reason I asked about the sand is, you really don't want to disturb an established sand bed, 3 months in you stand a good chance of a successful move(maybe a very, very short mini-cycle, day or 3), the problem is, safely moving the tank with the sand in it,

Hence the question about tank size, got a few tips and ideas, get back to me with tank size

[rutherford]

90 g. Tips...... I love free advice. (good free advice that is) lol

[Parrothead]

ok, you've got about 70 - 80 pounds of wet sand in the tank, if you have a couple of strong friends to help you move, leave just enough water to barely cover the sand, and then slide the tank onto an app. size piece of 5/8 plywood and carry it that way, I'm not 100% certain if removing the sand, since the bed is only about 3 months old would hurt anything, I'm gonna shoot a knowledgeable person a pm and get them to chime in here.

[berkdog]

90 gallon tank? So lucky you don't have any fish yet.

My advice is:
1. Definitely don't get any fish or plan to get any until you are settled in and can evaluate your tank cycle process again.
2. When moving your live rock, try to keep them wet the whole time (such as covering them with wet towels).
3. Have a plan that accounts for everything you can think of and get help. Don't try to carry everything alone.

When moving my 85g tank just a few feet, it was a full day process. Basically I had to move water into huge clean garbage cans. Because I had fish, I had to put a bubble filter there and move the fish into those bins. I had multiple bins and put my live rock in them as well. When my tank was empty, except for the sand, it was still so heavy I needed 2+ people to move it (and someone to help move the stand while the tank was lifted). And then I had to slowly add back the water, preventing the sand from being stirred around as much as I could. There should be good plans online that can facilitate you to write one specific to your situation. Good luck!

[Parrothead]

after checking 2 of us agree, with your sand bed being so new and really not a deep sand bed per se, you could take the sand out to move the tank, if you smell anything really bad, toss the sand and replace with new, but your sand bed is still in diapers so you should be fine

[Ninong]

Here's some information for you to digest:

(1) All tank manufacturers void their warranty if the tank is moved with anything in it.

(2) Some hobbyists have moved tanks with the sand bed in place if the sand bed is not too big. A 2" sand bed is not really big.

If your tank is still in warranty and you crack it, you're out of luck if they know that you moved it with sand or water in it.

People who have decided to move it with the sand bed inside the tank anyway, usually reduce the water level to just 1/2" above the sand bed. They use a sheet of plywood or something similar that they can slide the tank onto for the move. Under no circumstances should to try to lift the tank itself with sand and water in it. You would lift it by lifting the board that is under it, not by any other means. The weight of the sand and water will put too much stress on the seams if you try to lift the tank with suction cups or anything like that.

The decision is up to you.