Looking for Moving Advice

[koddyVT]

I am moving to another house about 6 miles away. I will have approximately 15 days overlapping on the leases, so I have time to spare.

-I have a 30 gallon cube that is currently running with only live rock.
-I have a 40g breeder that has my fish, corals, live rock, hermits, shrimp, etc.

I eventually would like to get everything back into the 40g (I have other plans for the 30g).

I was thinking...
1. Move 30g to new house ASAP, getting it running with water and rock from the 40g.

2. Transferring all of the fish/corals/hermits/etc from the 40 to the 30g at the end of my old house's lease (giving the 30g 13 days to run).

3. Moving everything back to the 40g after it has time to settle at the new house.


I plan on taking all the water I can from the 40g.

Does anyone have any other advice or a moving scheme I should use instead?

 

[anbosu]

I would make up a bunch of extra water, you always end up losing more than you think. Plus, re-using the water doesn't really matter all that much - the bacteria are in the rock and sand primarily. Unless you are re-using the sand in the 40 gallon, you probably could move it and move the items back into the tank in the same day if you want.

 

[luisagos]

This is for if you only had one tank, still applies to what you want to do with two tanks.

I would try to reuse as much possible of the old water.
Any mini cycle will happen in the following days, you need to do water changes to combat those issues, if you have any. Do tons of repeated tests after the move, so you can act on it.

Do not feed the fish 24 h before the move.
And after the move, feed lite.

Do not stir up the stand when you siphon the water out of the sand, do not use any water that looks polluted.

The cycle will happen mostly from the sand, there are many ways to handle that and depends how deep is your sand bed.
There will be some die off from the pipes expose to air and anything that had living things on it.
If you can keep the pipes in the water, its a plus.

If the sand bed is not deep, you can prepare for the move, keep stirring it slowly in different spots weeks before the move. So anything trap, will be release over time, and not in one day.
Should be able to leave the sand in the tank with a little water for the move.

Some people just remove the sand and throw it away.
Or you could cycle it in a different tank, then put it back when the cycle is over.

Some of these are over the top, and maybe not needed, but that's how I would do it.
Its not so bad, I help a friend with a 300 gallon, now that was crazy.

 

[koddyVT]

Thank you guys. I really appreciate the advice. I'm nervous about the moving. Hoping to keep everything alive!

 

[sirrealism]

Just jump in and do it. I moved a 93g cube SPS dom, with 3 of the largest clams I have ever seen last night. 4 hours and it was back up running in my house. Its a lot of work but just reuse all the water you can. I ended up changing 15g by the time I was done but I had 10g left over from the tank. I pulled all rock and corals clams and fish into buckets. I have a 55g drum I use for making water that I put on a trailer and pumped all of the water into it. Took everything to the house and reset up. As of this morning all is well and no lose

 

[koddyVT]

So you think I should just move it all with one go instead of trying to swap around tanks?

 

[sirrealism]

Thats my opinion. I am sure other will disagree but I have done this 4 times in the last 6 months and have not lost a thing

 

[koddyVT]

Did you move sand or was it a bare bottom tank?

 

[sirrealism]

I have done both several times. With sand or crushed coral i leave it in the tank with about an inch of water. I do a good vacuum when I am removing the water. Your not moving 150g so 25lbs left in the tank is no big deal.

 

[koddyVT]

Sirrealism, thanks for the advice to go ahead and knock out the move. I was able to move everything and only had a couple zoas melt (minimal loss I was perfectly fine with)

 

[sirrealism]

Very cool. Glad it worked out for you. Kind of shocked you lost zoas. But it happens