Hi all, I was wondering if anyone has ever moved a reef tank without breaking it down completely. What I mean by this is by just removing water, fish, and any unattached coral and of course any and all plumbing, pumps, heaters, ect. I had left clams, coral (attached to rock), live rock and sand and left about 5 gals. in the tank and moved it with 4 people including myself. I drove it in the back of a little pickup truck with a camper shell. I have done this once before and the move was only about 10-15 minutes away and I have had succes in the pass. Only lost some anthelia in the move everything else survived. Anyways I am planning on moving again in about 6 months, 10 or 15 minutes away, and was going to do it the same way accept without any water and using printless newspaper soaked in saltwater and pack it inside of the tank lightly over the sand, live rock and corals to keep it warm and moist. That's how they ship live rock and I have heard that corals can live about a day out of water as long as they don't dry up. And besides corals constanly get exposed to the air when tides are out and survive. What I am wondering is if anybody has moved a tank in this way and if anyone has some extra advice to add to help me do it easier? Thanks in advance.
Moving a 55 galllon reef tank!
- Thread starter dwibier
- Start date
porkbullet
New member
I recently asked my LFS about this, since I have to move my tank down one floor in my house soon. They recommended to remove almost all the water, fish, live rock, etc. into bags/buckets, then move the tank with just the sand in it. Then put LR back in, fill with your same tank water, and add fish.
Seemed pretty basic, but I am not moving 10-15 minutes away, and I guess that doesn't fit your requested scenario of "without breaking it down completely".
Seems the more you leave in there the heavier the tank is and the more subject it becomes to damage (cracking, etc.).
Seemed pretty basic, but I am not moving 10-15 minutes away, and I guess that doesn't fit your requested scenario of "without breaking it down completely".
Seems the more you leave in there the heavier the tank is and the more subject it becomes to damage (cracking, etc.).
Josh125
Member
You can do a search on the topic if you can get through. The gist will be, get plenty of tubs, extra salt water/fresh water, towels, a hearter or two, and an air stone/small PH. Make sure to bag each coral seperatly. Have a tub of fresh water set up at the new place so you can place everything in there until the tank get up and running.
I would go the extra step and just remove everything from the tank, including rock. The rock will be fine wrapped, but I would take it out of the tank. One false move and you could have a piece of rock going through the glass.
Plan for the worst case scenario, you can always return any tubs that you did't use.
I would go the extra step and just remove everything from the tank, including rock. The rock will be fine wrapped, but I would take it out of the tank. One false move and you could have a piece of rock going through the glass.
Plan for the worst case scenario, you can always return any tubs that you did't use.
