Here are some tank move guidelnes I typed up a while ago....
Breakdown
Take an assessment of your water budget- how much water can you recover from existing system, how much will you need to contain and transport, how much will you need on setup?
Count on saving at least half your water and have already mixed or purchased aerated and warmed water staged at tank destination ahead of time.
Take stock of containers that can hold water, livestock, live rock, sand etc.
Brand new trashcans 1/3 full are manageable by two guys, 18 gal size rubbermaids with lids work well, 5 gal buckets with sealable lids.
Have any equipment modifications or upgrades thought out ahead of time and have all required equipment/tools ready. With tank running, remove all lighting hoods and other non essential equipment first and place aside in safe place.
I started by pulling water out of running tank into trashcans and then adding new water to running tank. This allowed me to leave the tank running, perform a water change, and have water to hold livestock.
Start with all fragile and non secured corals first. Don’t put too many into a single half full bucket, use open plastic bags to isolate corals that may sting others. Set aside these buckets in an out of the way warm place and seal.
Probably have to shut down tank at this point. Remove additional water and start to remove live rock. Be careful of any attached corals and place rock into bottom of trashcans. Use powerheads in trashcans to circulate water. Separate reef rock from base rock so you can replace into tank later in reverse order. Try not to stir up sand bed too much.
Should be able to easily catch fish now. Place in 5 gal bucket with as clean as possible water. Provide small rock for them to hide. I like to run an airpump for oxygen and circulation through a valve through the bucket lid. Keep this running while you are doing rest of break down and packup. Do not mix incompatible aggressive fish.
Now you should have multiple buckets half full with corals, buckets with fish, and larger containers with live rock.
Drain down main tank to within half inch water over sand bed. If you can move tank sand bed intact, this is best, but if its too heavy, scoop sand out into a rubbermaid and try not to mix it up too much. Be sure and cover with a thin layer of water.
Load everything into trucks. Depending on distance of move you may want to look at 12 v pumps, battery airpumps, etc to keep stuff alive in transit.
Reassemble
Have gfci circuit installed where the tank is going to plug into.
Position and level stand front/back, side/side (check level often and adjust as necessary during fill)
Check status of overflows, drains, plumbing, etc. Make sure the overflow does not leak at all!
Get all containers of livestock, etc staged into area.
Scoop sand into tank and cover with some water to 1 inch depth.
Unpack and place base rock. Cover with water.
Fill your sump and refugium to operating levels.
Fill tank to 3/4 full with warm, aerated, salinity adjusted water.
Unpack and place Liverock. Do not worry about final placement as you’ll not be able to see well.
Get a powerhead into tank to circulate water. Place fragile corals in front where they will not get crushed or buried.
Fill rest of tank as needed and fire up your main pump. Re install electrical (powerstrip placement, etc) and reinstall skimmer, heater, etc. You can replace your light hood but you may want to wait as you will undoubtably be placing rock, etc. Its ok to put fish into tank while its cloudy, acclimate them if salinity and temp are off.
Over the next 24 - 48 hours the tank will clear and you can start aquascaping. You may get a slight cycle so run some carbon and use some amquel ammonia neutralizer. You may get a slight algae bloom depending on how much dies in sand bed.
Rinse and store any containers.
General Comments
It always sounds easier than it is going to be. Its going to take twice as long as you think it will.
Don’t try and do tank move same day as regular furniture move. Set aside special day. Can either move tank first or last.
Have a few strong backs on hand to help but too many get in the way. You must play the role of forman and keep people working and adhering to your grand vison of sequence of events.
Have extension cords and power strips on hand to run powerheads in trashcans full of rock.
Have plenty of your wifes’ nice guest towels on hand to soak up inevitable spills. ;-)
If you have a spare light duty sump pump (ie rio 2500) and vinyl hose its easy to pump water out of trashcans into the tank and sump.
