Best way to move a tank?

[Natterjak]

I'm going to need to tear down my tank (70g tall) next week to move (thankfully we're not moving far). I basically need to get all the rocks, water, and livestock out, move the tank, and set it back up again and get everything back in there in the same day.

Would it be okay to leave the sand in the tank with a small amount of water and move the tank that way? I'm thinking it wouldn't be a good idea to tear out the sandbed and then put it back in all in one day, because who knows what's going to get stirred up. It will get disturbed for sure from moving, but hopefully that will be minimized.

Any suggestions?

 

[UCanDoIt]

My aquarium tech recommends removing everything and put the live sand in several buckets and leave it damp, doesn't have to totally wet. Then once you have your tank up with sand & live rocks, run the protein skimmer and any filter to remove as much as possible before putting the livestock back in. HTH

 

[Elite]

How much sand do you have in there?

 

[Bebo77]

the sand can get very very heavy... take out as much as you can.. your back will thank you later...

 

[Natterjak]

There's probably about 40lbs in there, if I remember right. I don't mind taking it out, as long as it's not going to leave a toxic soup for my fish to swim in when I put it back.

 

[sfsuphysics]

I moved a glass 135 gallon tank to another room a while back and tried to scoop out as much sand as possible and it still weighed a ton! That being said I would test the weight initially, if it's a "tall" tank you probably don't have much weight in there, and as long as you don't slam the tank down should be easy enough.

 

[Natterjak]

Okay, well I guess I'll let my husband and brothers make that determination, as I probably won't be involved in the lifting.

I am definitely not looking forward to having to move all that water!

 

[Vincerama2]

My advice, having done a BAD move is that prior to the move, set up a big rubbermaid container with salt water, heat, air pump, etc. Then stage the corals there and dump the old water. Ideally, have new water waiting at the new site. Then move the empty tank.

My mistake was that I put the tank in the garage and my wife went on a business trip and I couldn't set the tank up for a few days. In the meanwhile, I had all my corals in 10g tanks and BUCKETS. And one heater went bad and killed most of my corals. If I had moved the corals to the holding tanks a few days before, it would have made a big difference. I SHOULD have bought a 55 tank I saw on Craigslist to stage them, but I didn't.

V

 

[Natterjak]

I think what I may do is try to get about 40 gallons of water ready at the new house, and then transfer 30+ gallons of the old water, which might be a bit more manageable.

I have an empty 60g tank that's going to be the sump for my new tank, so I could probably use that to hold stuff as well.

 

[Elite]

When I moved my 100G w/ a 50G sump, I kept 90% of the water. Use a lot of containers and you should be OK.

Did I say that I moved 95% of the stuff by myself?? I had one guy came and helped me carried the tank/stand to the car and into the new house and that was it. My back was hurting the next day.

 

[Sk8r]

If it's a long tank, get a board under it to prevent swag. Piano movers do this---and if it's a really gruesome job, you can engage piano movers TO do this, if it's prepped and ready for them.

 

[CookieJar]

SK8R is right. I moved a 55G and left the 2-3" sandbed in the tank. It didn't get too cloudy and the sand bed was least disturbed. It took 2 strong people to move it, for a larger tank you'll probably need 3+ people with the sand still in it- but that's the best way to do it.

 

[Ti]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7554630#post7554630 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Elite
When I moved my 100G w/ a 50G sump, I kept 90% of the water. Use a lot of containers and you should be OK.

Did I say that I moved 95% of the stuff by myself?? I had one guy came and helped me carried the tank/stand to the car and into the new house and that was it. My back was hurting the next day.

Gotta use a back belt man

 

[Deserter23]

Is it OK to completely change all the water when doing a move? I am moving tomorrow and was considering doing a 50% water change. Will that be enough?

 

[racrumrine]

I've moved several tanks 25, 55, 80, and 180 (thanks SFSUPhysics).

I'd recommend setting up holding tanks in the new location. With a mixture of new water and old water. Plan on leaving your critters there while you get the main tank set up the way you want it to be.

The first tank I moved was a 25. I took out all the water I could and left just the sand in the tank. Due to liquefaction, the sand bed got all stirred up (it can't be helped, my move was only 15 minutes away). I put everything back in the tank within about an hour and within 10 days 2 out of 5 fish died of a mystery illness from the sandbed.

Since then, I've never lost a critter on a move. I'd recommend starting with fresh sand. If you have to keep the sand, set the main tank up, fill it with new water, and only put in the rocks. Let the tank settle down for a few days, then put in the fish.

Fish seem to be most susceptible to crap stirred up in the sand bed.

Best of luck,

Roy

 

[Natterjak]

So I think for my move, I'm going to leave the sand with a small amount of water - if it turns out to be too heavy, then I'll remove it, but I think it should be okay (we'll have 4 guys to move it).

I'm going to make up new water, and mix that with half the old water in the 60g holding tank. If I put most of the live rock in there, a heater, and some powerheads, the fish and corals (I have mostly a few softies) should be okay for a day or two, right?

I'll then get the tank set up and re-filled with half old and half new water, the rest of the live rock, and run the pumps and skimmer for a day or until things clear up. Then I'll put all the livestock back in. Does that sound like a decent plan?

 

[swingdaddy]

Is your 70 gallon a glass tank? just be careful w/ moving all that wet sand in the tank. you wouldnt want the glass bottom failing on you.

good luck with the move.

 

[raddogz]

Just remember to adjust the coral to the lighting once it's set up if they are going to left in the dark for a few days (they should be fine in the dark).

 

[Natterjak]

It's glass, yes. Hopefully it won't be a problem - I think we'll test it and see how much it weighs. If it seems like it's going to be a ton, then I'll scoop out the sand. It's a 70g tall, so I hope it doesn't come to that - it's hard to reach that far!

As for the corals, I'm thinking of just propping the canopy with the lights on top of the holding tank while the main one settles in.

 

[Natterjak]

Well, thanks for all the suggestions everyone. We moved the tank, and all went pretty well. I left the sand in there and just a little water, and 4 guys were able to lift it pretty easily. Some stuff got stirred up, but not too badly - it was amazing to see how much detritus I had in there.

The fish are still in their holding tank for now - I'm going to siphon out some of that nasty gunk before I put them back in.