Brooks Posted April 11, 2009 Share Posted April 11, 2009 Hey all... I've found out that I'll be moving (a short distance of 15 minutes). I'm EXTREMELY concerned about what is to become of my tank after the move. I have NO idea how to do any of it. I think that if I could temporarily house my corals at a LFS or something.... not sure. Any ideas are welcome! -Brooks- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Capt. Obvious Posted April 11, 2009 Share Posted April 11, 2009 Hey all... I've found out that I'll be moving (a short distance of 15 minutes). I'm EXTREMELY concerned about what is to become of my tank after the move. I have NO idea how to do any of it. I think that if I could temporarily house my corals at a LFS or something.... not sure. Any ideas are welcome!-Brooks- no offence have you seen the tanks at the LFS...aiptasia, bubble algae...no thank you... It is not a hard process and I can help just let me know when. remember if you order SPS from a e-tailer the are SHIPPED to you with NO light and just heat packs in a plastic bag. as long as it doesn't take you 24+ hours to tear down, move and reset up your tank you will be fine. the faster the better but you will be fine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Capt. Obvious Posted April 11, 2009 Share Posted April 11, 2009 oh and btw: walmart (aka hell on earth) has 30 gallon black rubbermaid bins with lids on sale for $8 were invaluable for moving the 75g tank i just moved Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rjohn Posted April 11, 2009 Share Posted April 11, 2009 Brooks, if I can be of any help, just let me know. I'd like to observe the good Captain's process and I always figure another pair of hands can be useful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rjohn Posted April 11, 2009 Share Posted April 11, 2009 no offence have you seen the tanks at the LFS...aiptasia, bubble algae...no thank you...It is not a hard process and I can help just let me know when. remember if you order SPS from a e-tailer the are SHIPPED to you with NO light and just heat packs in a plastic bag. as long as it doesn't take you 24+ hours to tear down, move and reset up your tank you will be fine. the faster the better but you will be fine Also, I have a pickup truck with a lid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Capt. Obvious Posted April 11, 2009 Share Posted April 11, 2009 the more the marrier...and that goes for vehicles as well...you want it to be a single trip job Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ysanford Posted April 11, 2009 Share Posted April 11, 2009 We are also willing to help. We have a truck as well that we can offer up. Just let us know where and when... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mcallahan Posted April 11, 2009 Share Posted April 11, 2009 everybody has their own $.02 on the "best" way to do it, but this is how I go about it: 1. Get a large cooler or walmart rubbermaid bucket like Capt. Obvious talked about. 2. Once you are ready to move the tank and have assembled all your buddies, drain enough tank water to fill the cooler/bucket. Add in some pieces of LR so fish can have a place to hide. I put an airstone in the cooler just in case. Prob. not necessary, but I already had them on hand so I figured why not. Add a heater as well. 3. Place the remaining LR from the tank into buckets and drain the rest of the tank water into these buckets. The LR doesn't have to be 100% under water, but make sure it at least stays damp. 4. Catch fish from tank (good luck) and place in cooler/bucket. I've found some fish you can catch with a full tank of water, others like my Pink spot goby I can't catch till there is little or no water in the tank. 5. Remove the sand from the tank. Retain a couple of cups of the LS and keep it in tank water to keep it alive during the move. (Note: whenever I move a tank, I like to take this time to kill the sand. I put it in a bucket and spray it down with a garden hose so that it churns up all the crap in your sand. I then let the sand settle and the "Crap" will stay suspended. Drain off the excess water/crap combo and repeat until all that come out of the sand is sand.) 6. Move tank. 7. Place sand back in tank. Place your retained sand on top of the now dead sand. I like to put a couple of handfulls of the LS in different places in the tank. 8. Place LR back in tank and aquascape like never before b/c you don't have to deal with getting your arms wet! 9. Fill tank with some pre-mixed salt water. You'll need to guesstimate how much water you have in the cooler/LR buckets as you want to retain as much tank water as you can. I also like to try to get the new salt water as close to the old tank water temp as possible. 10. Turn on your pumps and check for leaks. 11. I let the tank run for an hour or so with the pumps on so that any detritus can be skimmed off by your skimmer and so that the new water and old water can mix. 12. Aclimate fish in bags to new tank and volia! 13. I always spend $8 and add "stablize" from SeaChem just to help prevent a cycle. Some people laugh at this stuff, but for $8, it is worth it. 14. Keep an eye on your parameters over the next 1-2 weeks to make sure you don't get a cycle. ---> 15. Count how many corals/fish/inverts you might have lost during the move! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caferacermike Posted April 11, 2009 Share Posted April 11, 2009 I agree with what most of AZ has said but I'll add my $0.02 here. "9. Fill tank with some pre-mixed salt water. You'll need to guesstimate how much water you have in the cooler/LR buckets as you want to retain as much tank water as you can. I also like to try to get the new salt water as close to the old tank water temp as possible." In all the tank moves I've made I've always replaced 100% of the water with new. It's easy enough to mix it up at the new house a day or so in advance and have it ready there. You probably need to do a water change anyways and now you will be disturbing the entirety of the tank. The water will hold all that waste and detritus that you disturb, not to mention that it already contains all the necessary components to create a spike in ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. I've had great success in moving tanks and using only new water. I believe that it helps to lower the stress of the animals when placed into what amounts to a clean new home. On a human scale how many of you have chosen to buy new living room furniture when you move into a new house? It just feels good to move into a clean new home with new furniture doesn't it? Kinda helps take some of the stress of the move away and let's you relax a little not sitting on your musty old couch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisfowler99 Posted April 11, 2009 Share Posted April 11, 2009 Sounds like the perfect time to buy a bigger tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ysanford Posted April 11, 2009 Share Posted April 11, 2009 5. Move the tank taking care not to disturb the sand bed as much as possible. (Note: whenever I move a tank, I like to take this time to kill the sand. I put it in a bucket and spray it down with a garden hose so that it churns up all the crap in your sand. I then let the sand settle and the "Crap" will stay suspended. Drain off the excess water/crap combo and repeat until all that come out of the sand is sand.) Do you do this with regular tap water? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brooks Posted April 11, 2009 Author Share Posted April 11, 2009 Thanks for all of the offers and advice guys! We don't know am exact date but definitely sometime by the end of may. Luckly its a short drive. I'll be getting all the necessary items for the move here in a week or two. Thanks! Brooks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brooks Posted April 11, 2009 Author Share Posted April 11, 2009 Adding all new water; what would I do about the mg,ca, and kh? Does that all just set in? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caferacermike Posted April 11, 2009 Share Posted April 11, 2009 A quality salt mix will stabilize with parameters that will mimic natural seawater. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mcallahan Posted April 11, 2009 Share Posted April 11, 2009 Do you do this with regular tap water? I do b/c I use the outdoor hose and garden sprayer. Basically what I do is turn over the sand the sand by using the stream setting on the sprayer. this gets all the junk out of the sand and lets you keep the sand in the bucket. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brooks Posted April 11, 2009 Author Share Posted April 11, 2009 So saying that, will everything re-cycle? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brooks Posted April 11, 2009 Author Share Posted April 11, 2009 So saying that, will everything re-cycle? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mcallahan Posted April 11, 2009 Share Posted April 11, 2009 So saying that, will everything re-cycle? The sand will have to re-build its bacteria, but there will be enough bacteria on the LR to seed the sand and to handle processing what might be dying off. On top of all that, that's why I use stablize to add in another layer of insurance. You might see some nitrate rise, but doing water changes after the move will help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brooks Posted April 11, 2009 Author Share Posted April 11, 2009 Got'cha. Thanks so much guys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ysanford Posted April 11, 2009 Share Posted April 11, 2009 The sand will have to re-build its bacteria, but there will be enough bacteria on the LR to seed the sand and to handle processing what might be dying off. On top of all that, that's why I use stablize to add in another layer of insurance. You might see some nitrate rise, but doing water changes after the move will help. This will probably be a good thing for us to do in our current situation. Thanks for the input! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejaustin Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 No one has mentioned a sump or refugium or other equipment and the best way to dissemble and re-assemble all that stuff. Does it just not matter? The stuff in the tank seems pretty obvious to me, but are there any important tips about disconnecting the plumbing, etc.? ej PS I'm not moving. Just curious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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