Moving advice needed..........

[lathamx]

I will be moving a 75g with sps, lps, live rock, sand bed, and fish about 8 hours away. What would be the best way of going about doing this?

If I set up a tank ahead of time with some of the sand from the current tank and some of the rock, would it still have to cycle? Thanks you in advance for any advice.

 

[smy168]

anytime you move sand or rock will cause a small cycle. It may be better to place the corals into a QT and then move your stuff and cycle, then replace your corals.

 

[mwinslow]

I moved my 100g from one apartment to the next apartment (a distance of perhaps 40feet) last month. I didn't have a lot of coral to worry about - just a few small colonies, hitchhikers from the live rock.

I had a friend hold on to the fish in one of his tanks, the rocks went into 30g rubbermaid containers along with most of the water, and the sand went into 5g buckets.

It took a couple days to break down the plumbing, move the tank and stand, and put the plumbing back together. After putting the rocks and sand back in, I watched ammonia and nitrite levels closely, but there was hardly a blip. No reaction at all as I put the fish back in (although I didn't put them all in at once - I spread it out over several days)

So my experience agrees with smy168's statement - a small cycle only.

 

[dgtlwrx]

If you're able have a tank set up at the destination. That will make life a lot easier.

 

[lathamx]

Thank you for all of the help. Would I be better of getting rid of my sps prior to moving. Hydnophora, montipora, and acro. From reading forums, I have learned that I will not be putting these guys back in the same tank with all of my lps corals. My parameters are perfect but have never watched strontium and iodine levels but they are not thriving.

If they are in a QT tank, how often and how much will I have to change that h2o?

I have about 150# live rock and plan to move the least populated rock along with a majority of the sand down there about 3 weeks ahead of time.

What do you think?

 

[reefgeek67]

i have personally moved my 75 reef twice and was very successful......your best bet is to remove like corals and place them in rubbermaid tubs with some water from your main tank syphoned off the top. then gather all the rock carefully and place them in a separate tub as well. gather all your critters and place them in another tub to keep them from getting crushed by the rock. it is worth your while to clean the algae off the front and side glass while you have the tank empty. LEAVE YOUR SAND IN THE MAIN TANK AND TRY NOT TO DISTURB IT!!!!! cover the tank and if you have a truck or a moving truck that is great. make sure you keep the temp good in your tubs----mainly the fish, corals, and inverts. if you devote a whole morning to this, you can get to your destination and put some plates, or paper plates on the sand and slowly start filling the tank back up. (the plates keep the sand from getting too stirred up.......once you get several inches of water, you can start putting rock back in. while you pull the rock from the tub, shake off the sediment and let it settle before getting water from that tub to put back in the tank....... set up your filters and powerheads and put your critters back in if the temp is right.....the sooner you can hook up some filtration, the better......remember, in the wild, funny things happen and all conditions are not always perfect!!! if you are careful and take your time, you will be pleased with how healthy and CLEAN everything will look the next day.....hope that helps, you shouldnt have a problem!

 

[wld1783]

I moved 330gal across town into 500gal. I kept the DSB for a large refug.

Have lots of water ready for a water change after the move is complete.

Dont worry I just kept the corals in tubs with the old water. The DSB I just put it in buckets and dumped it into the refug all 300 lbs. I let it settle for a day and then did a 75% water change. Make sure the water is RO and let the salt settle for a couple of days first.

The corals all did fine. I had several large SPS that I just placed in a box out of water, drove them across town and then put them in the new tank (they were too big for the tubs). The only causualty was a 30" in diameter Euphylia that collopsed under its own weight. A professional reefer named Cory was happy to get a bunch of thoes frags.

BTW it took 2 1/2 days to complete.

If your new water is good same salinity PH ect you will have no problems.

Bill

 

[akula]

always figure it will take longer than you think.

I have always just started with a new sand bed after seeing how my stuff is trapped in the old bed.

you cannot have enough buckets and totes.

you always end up losing stuff like a frag that just never gets found in the new tank.

good luck.

 

[bnlimit10]

I just finished moving a 260 fully stocked. I placed all fish and corals in individual Tupperware containers. The rock was placed in a large 100 gallon tote along with some tank water. What I did is I basically left everything in the tank with only powerheads running, while I disassembled the filtration system, chillers etc. Once I had everything with the exception of the tank loaded, I transferred each piece to their containers practically emptied the tank, leaving enough water to barely cover the sand bed. Moved everything to the new location, and then do it in reverse. Fill the tank up get the temp and chemistry down to match what was on the tank previously, then re-introduce the live rock, and slowly acclimated all fish and corals. While this happened, I worked on the pluming and by the time I was done pluming everything all the corals and fish had been acclimated and doing fine.

 

[Serioussnaps]

5 Gallon buckets and 20 g rubbermaids...the bigger the containers you need some kind of mechanical device(20 g rubbermaid is almost 200 lbs.) Thats why if i were you i would move with 5 g buckets(paint buckets that seal air tight) Keep the fish separate and aerate the water and keep it heated(i use a partner to do this part)

I only keep like half the original water(like a big WC, which you should do once in a blue moon anyways)

It just takes work, no worries though, unless you hate physical labor.

Whenever i move i just sell my corals...and buy new ones...saves me the pain in the *** and stress of keeping them health in a move...fish are no problem...just dont put them in the same containers as they will release deitrus and urine without filtration causing some ammonia in some instances but if you separate all of them for just a few hours you will be fine....never lost a fish in a move but lost a couple of corals...now i just sell them when imove unless i am extremely attached