Kaplanm Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 This is my first time every having to move a reef tank. I've a 60 gallon bow front, with about 80lbs of rock, 60lbs of sand, and an assortment of inverts and fish. I'm wondering what's the best way to move this beast? Is it something I should do myself, or is it worth calling up one of the local fish stores who do aquarium moves and have them do it?Almost all of my rock work is simply pressure fit. I have no idea how I'll manage to get it back in the same way that it is now, but I can probably get close enough. What is the long term damage to the ecology in the tank? Should I let stuff re-cure in the tank once I move it and keep the fish separated? Any tips would be greatly appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbo662 Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 If you're just moving it to a different spot in the house you can just get some tubs to put the rock / water / sand / coral / fish in. Move the tank and fill it back up. This shouldn't cause any issues. That's basically what i did when I move to a new apartment last month (South Round Rock to North Round Rock) and had no issues at all and didn't lose a single coral. I did make some extra water and rinsed the sand a bit because once you put it in and start adding water it'll stir up the detritus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaplanm Posted March 17, 2015 Author Share Posted March 17, 2015 I'm moving from an apt. to our new house. When you say tubs do you mean like a bunch of 5gal buckets, or something like those swimming pool variety plastic tubs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbo662 Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 Ah...I used two 35g brute trash cans and filled them about half full of water and added the rock. I have a 50g cube. I used some 5g buckets too for the rocks that didn't fit in the trash cans and the sand...all filled with water too. I bought a bunch of teh cheap HEB tupperware type containers to transport the corals in and stacked those in styofoam boxes that LFS's get fish deliveries in. you're more than welcome to borrow the trash cans and styofoam boxes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaplanm Posted March 17, 2015 Author Share Posted March 17, 2015 I may just take you up on that. We're probably moving in the 3rd week of April, so there is plenty of time for me to come up with a battle plan. I just wanted to see what other peoples experiences were moving tanks from house to house. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+brian.srock Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 Offer beer and pizza and people will move it for you. I have a large Styrofoam box with me at work if you want. Mopac and Duval. PM for address. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neon Reefer Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 I have always used igloo 48 quart ice chests as they are about the right size for the job and they will maintain temperature pretty well for longer periods of time than simple plastic tubs. A 48 qt holding 3/4 full is ~ 9 gal, so you would need ~7. These are usually easily borrowed from family and friends. Just make sure they are clean. A vinegar wipe down is appropriate. Siphon or pump down water to ~ 2" above sand line without disturbing sand into Igloos. Then remove rock and corals to same. Now it is easy to catch the livestock and place in igloos with the rock. Finish siphoning the rest of water to discard along with the used sand, but be sure to check your sand for all your CUC. I would not try to reuse the old sand. I scoop out as much as I can and use a shopvac to remove the rest. This is a good time to give the tank a good cleaning. Move the tank and equipment to new place and set up make up about 20 gals of fresh salt water and heat to temp and pour into tank. Have your dry not live reef grade sand washed well and drained but still damp and place into tank. Give it a few minutes to settle out. Now bring in the igloos and pump the water up into the tank from the ice chest. When nearly drained take the rock and coral out and place in tank then the livestock and drain into tank until all ice chest are empty. Add or remove any water as needed. Turn on and check all equipment. Run floss or sponge or fine mesh sock to help clear tank. It should clear fairly rapidly. Change the media as needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard L Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 +1 on tossing the sand. Too risky to use it and its cheap to replace. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaplanm Posted March 17, 2015 Author Share Posted March 17, 2015 +1 on tossing the sand. Too risky to use it and its cheap to replace. Why do you toss the sand? What is there to worry about w/ it? Don't get me wrong, I acknowledge that basic argonite is fairly cheap, but the stuff I like would wind up being a $60 replace. I'd hope to avoid that if I could. Goes a long way to getting my next Vortec pump. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 You'll most likely have a lot of built up detritus in the sand. Also, disturbing it during a move will also release a lot of nutrients into your system as well as possible hydrogen sulfide. You can try to rinse it to save money but usually the pros and cons of reusing, at least for me, lean on the more cons than pros and I just buy new sand. I did this for a 125-gallon so you imagine the amount of sand I replaced it with but I think it was definitely worth it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 I don't know what 60 pounds of sand looks like in your tank, but if it is more than 2" then I would toss it. If it is less than 2" then I would vacuum it really well while I was removing the water and reuse it in the tank after you move it. The reason is because a sand bed less than 2" is unlikely to contain enough buildup to cause a tank crash. This type of crash is normally related to deep sand beds of 4 or more inches of sand where the bottom 2-3 inches remains undisturbed for a long period of time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaplanm Posted March 17, 2015 Author Share Posted March 17, 2015 Alright, I'll have to see what I can do. How do I handle the loss of the bacterial colonies in the sand? Won't I have to deal with a massive nitrate spike?Would it just be best to see if I could get a friend to house them until things settle down? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Makena95GT Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 Not sure if anyone else touched on it but make up more fresh saltwater than youll need.. Cause.. Shiz happens and youll regret it when you dont have enough for whatever weird reason. Ill be moving/upgrading at the same time in the beginning of June. And my brother and his 180g are going with so I feel your pain lol But yes.. Pizza and beer and I'm there if you need me lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaplanm Posted March 17, 2015 Author Share Posted March 17, 2015 I don't know what 60 pounds of sand looks like in your tank, but if it is more than 2" then I would toss it. If it is less than 2" then I would vacuum it really well while I was removing the water and reuse it in the tank after you move it. It's about an inch and a half in most places. The sand doesn't lay flat due to my asymmetric, largely laminar flow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neon Reefer Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 Not e I don't know what 60 pounds of sand looks like in your tank, but if it is more than 2" then I would toss it. If it is less than 2" then I would vacuum it really well while I was removing the water and reuse it in the tank after you move it.It's about an inch and a half in most places. The sand doesn't lay flat due to my asymmetric, largely laminar flow.Not enough to crash your tank unless you have had a really heavy bio load in the tank for yers. But still enough to cause a mini cycle which is what you are trying to avoid. An inch and a half of sand is not enough bio filtration loss to worry about in my opinion. The bulk of the filtration is in your rocks anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaplanm Posted March 17, 2015 Author Share Posted March 17, 2015 I'll have to invest in some heavy duty bins then to mix up fresh water. I had thought I would just use the old stuff as it got moved over, but it sounds like that's a poor idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 You can reuse most of the water as long as you have a way to transport it. Water weighs roughly 8lbs per gallon so most people can't move anything greater than a 5g bucket unless you have a forklift or you fill a 55g drum while it is on your truck. Rubbermaid totes will work for the rock. You can move the totes to the new house and fill them up with the old tank water overnight. That will allow you to mix the salt in the new tank without having to buy brutes, which are expensive. Don't fill the tank all the way up or else you will not be able to put rocks and sand in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbo662 Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 I mixed about 10g of new water and used the old water for the most part. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Makena95GT Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Yea i reused like the top 75% of my water then made up (or tried to) about 10g of extra SW on top of what I was already gonna need to fill the tank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckyuv Posted March 20, 2015 Share Posted March 20, 2015 Not sure how often you do water changes but when I planned to move my tank, every water change I did was through vacuuming the sand bed. Prob did 5 or 6 sand bed cleanings before I moved and never had more than a small cycle. Also it is for sure a good idea to have some "just incase" water made up before you move. You can even leave it at the new house before you start moving stuff but whenever I mess with pluming I make sure to have water ready as I always make a mess lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaplanm Posted March 20, 2015 Author Share Posted March 20, 2015 Ugh, hadn't thought about that. I'll need to pull the plumbing when I move it. Might be a good time for me to just toss all of it and do a clean rebuild Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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