180 move

[pells61]

OK so my wife and I teach biology and my wife got a 180 fully stocked donated to her class. I am planning the break down and set up and want to make sure I an doing everything right.

One of the first questions I have is how much water should I be preparing to pack up and take with me? The tank has about 175lb of LR. How many five gallon buckets will I need? Should I pick up some of those rubbermade trash bins?

Also it has a DSB in the display. Is that sand going to be usable in the new location? When I move it I am worried I will disrupt the dibris in the bed and and release all that nutrient into the water when it is setup again.

Thanks

 

[pells61]

Bump for those in need please

 

[dave.m]

How much weight can you manage? Will you have help? Figure that a US gallon of saltwater weighs about 8.5 pounds. Add some rock and you have some seriously heavy loads to haul. People usually use 5 gallon buckets that salt mix came in. Those RubberMaid horse troughs are great for standing holding tanks but don't even dream of trying to carry one full.

People never have success trying to re-use a mature deep sand bed as far as I know. The sand is just too full of crud. Once it has lost its supply of oxygen from flowing water it starts to die. You are much better off getting new sand, but if you can't afford it, you will have to manually rinse the old sand out in a bucket with continuous water flow from a hose - approx 10 minutes per pound - and yes, you must rinse it out one pound at a time.

Your tank must have enough saltwater prepared (pre-mixed and of the correct temperature) at your destination so you don't kill your fish, rock or inverts.

Hope that gives you an idea of what lies ahead of you.

Dave.M

 

[rfgonzo]

This is what I did when I moved my 150, I got some 35gal tubs with lids and packed as much LR as I could per tub then added water then put lids on them and wrap duct tape around lids to help keep water from coming out on the drive. I see you live in IL so it's cold this time of year, any tub you have fish or coral in I would put a heater in and run it on a power inverter to keep the temp right. I would take about 80% of the water with you and replace your sand bed. Have fun!!! moving a tank sucks LOL, but not bad for a free 180.