75 Gallon Tank Move Suggestions

[reitzbc]

Hello All,
I am getting ready to move my 75 gallon reef tank this weekend and am looking for any suggestions any of you may have on the moving process. For anyone that has moved a tank before, what are some of the things/problems if any that you ran into? What would you do different if you did it again? The move will be about an hour drive and I have a truck and enclosed trailer for the move. One question I have is on the sand. Should I try to leave it in the tank and move them together or take it out and move them separately? Any and all suggestions are appreciated!

 

[jrobison]

I move tanks all the time. It isn't that bad if you are prepared. It is best to leave the sand in if you can but sometimes it makes the tank too heavy. I get large garbage cans from Lowes, pump the water to the cans in the back of a truck/trailer. Either bag the fish and corals or put them in the garbage cans, depends on what and how many. Load live rock in coolers or buckets. Load tank, stand, etc. At new place set tank in position, re-hook all filters, pumps, etc. and pump water back to tank. Will need some salt on hand to mix new water. You usually can't take it all. It doesn't have to be too hard, just be careful not to do anything stupid, take your time and don't break the tank (it has happened), good luck.

 

[joejoe1055]

you can wrap the live rock in wet towels or newspaper to help keep it wet

 

[timrandlerv10]

get lots of help, and rehearse what youre doing at least once with all the people involved. invariably, a non-fish person will say 'why arent we doing this?' and everyone will have that stunned 'omg we didnt even think about that' look.

dont forget to heat the water before you put fish in, and if you have lots of inverts, you can put rock in the big buckets/tubs/trash cans you use for water, and throw a heater/pump in there for a bit to keep them all happy.

 

[wpecoul]

Ditto on all the tips given so far. You may not need to worry about a heater right now, but it's definitely something to worry about in the winter.

 

[reitzbc]

Thanks everyone for your comments! Tomorrow is the big day. I will let you all know how it goes tomorrow evening. Thanks again.

 

[reitzbc]

Hey all,
Well the move is finally over! It was a little more work than I was expecting, but it looks as if all my fish have recovered. So far, it looks as if I only lost one crab and my kenya tree. I'm not sure what happened to the kenya, but today it looks as if it is falling off of the rock it was on. So, thanks again for the suggestions and if anyone has a kenya tree frag for sale some where around the auburn, al area let me know.

 

[prncalbrt]

glad to see your move went good, i also just moved a 90 gallon and a 47 plus the 40 and to gallon sumps. moved them from a second story apartment dont let anyone fool ya its work regardless how you do it so i totally admire anyone who moves across country with their tanks and fish lol.....