moving soon....

[compjtc]

On May 5th I graduate from ISU and then moving to Cedar Rapids to work for RockwellCollins. Ever since I took the job last October I've been stressing about how I'm going to move my tank and its inhabitants.

My problem is is that I don't take posession of my new apartment in Cedar Rapids until the 5th, and I have to be out of Ames by noon on the 6th, so everything has to happen in one day. What's the best way to get everything moved without stressing the fish?

Currently I have a 55 gallon tank, 30 gallon fuge, 10 gallon sump with probably about 50 pounds of live rock. For fish I have 2 percula clowns, a flame angel, a lawnmower blenny, a foxface, and a firefish. I can't get into my place in cedar rapids early enough to make extra saltwater and re-assembling the plumbing is bound to take a little while. I'm also nervous that the tank might decide to do a mini-cycle during the move. I'm still cursed with this crushed coral crap and before I've had issues of a huge nitrate storm of the cc is moved. I'd like to switch to sand while I have my tank apart but don't know if that's a good idea.

Should I figure out a way to rig up a small qt for them to hang out in while I get the tank resettled in? Does anybody in Ames, CR, or anywhere inbetween have a QT or fuge setup that they'd be willing to "babysit" my fish in for a couple days? What's my best choice here?

 

[leeweber85]

I think your best bet would be to move all your furnishings the first day and try to get the ro up and going over night. On the second day tear down the tank. I don't think it'll be too big of a deal with a 55gallon. Just bag all the fish /corals and put the rock in a rubbermaid filled with tank water. I would leave the substrate in the tank if it's not too heavy for you to move. Stiring it up would foul the water pretty quick. Then just try to save the tank water in as many jugs/containers you can. If you have a bunch of 5 gallon buckets w/ lids those would probably work. If you could make up some new water in ames and store it that would be best. Most likely the water with the live rock will be pretty dirty.

 

[lpitch1]

we just moved a 55 across town we put as much water as we we cuold save in bukets and garbage bags in side storage contaners been a week and all is well.we also kept old fiters intact. good luck you have alot further to drive...

 

[compjtc]

I wonder if I can get any rubbermaid totes to seal up tight enough for transportation in the back of a pickup, then I could reuse them after the move.....

My newest Idea is to split my fuge apart from my tank and house the fish in the fuge only, with a hob filter, until I can make sure the dt is stable.

Lucky enough I have no corals, I was afraid to have any knowing that I'd have to move at graduation. On the plus side I'm stoked about setting up a bigger tank as soon as I get settled in more permanently.
I'm not on the ground level but I think if I put a tank next to an exterior, load bearing wall that I can get away with a 125 gallon.

 

[ipiniowa]

You can buy the rubbermaid totes with latching tops that seal pretty well at Walmart for about $6 a piece. This is what I used when I moved my 90.

 

[leeweber85]

If you don't have corals it won't be too bad. Moving the corals and remounting them all is probably the most time consuming.

As long as you keep the rock and sand wet and don't disturb the sand bed you shouldn't cycle or at least have enough of a cycle to harm anything. If your really that worried about it maybe you could setup a temporary tank at someones house in CR before hand. How many fish do you have to move?

 

[compjtc]

cool. For fish to move I have 6.

Today I manged to obtain two 55 gallon plastic drums. They were formerly used by a car wash to hold liquid soap. I'm wondering if there is any chance I can get them clean enough to use. They would be perfect and would allow me to easily transport all the water.

 

[trae]

I would go with the plastic bin plan, add heater.

 

[overanalyzer]

if you bleach then rinse and rinse and rinse and rinse and rinse then bleach then rinse some more.

my suggestion - have a couple of the petco 5 gallon boxed waters on hand to add to your new tank - nothing to mix - I've used them exclusively for three years now with out problems - and while heavy and expensive they are also all done for you!

By the way - congrats on your job!

 

[calebjk]

on the subject of your crushed coral/nitrate problem, i was in pets playhouse the other day and nick was telling me about someone he maintains tanks for that, as many people, never cleaned their substrate. Their nitrates would get high, they'd do a big water change, and then 2 days later they would be high again. Nick sold them a gravel vac and showed them how to use it, no more nitrate problems.
which leads me to believe that if you use some suction device like a gravel vac to clean your substrate, your nitrate problems should be significantly reduced.
pets playhouse also sells ro, i believe it's 29¢ per gal, so if you can't make it you can always buy it, if you do end up doing the gravel vac thing i would recommend keeping all but 10 gal of your water, so the remaining 58¢ worth of water shouldn't set you back to much.
i live in cr, so if you need help setting up your tank, send me a pm, if i don't have anything going on i'd be happy to help.

 

[compjtc]

sweet. Originally when I setup the tank (I bought the setup used from a guy) I was too afraid to dig into the crushed coral so I just vacuumed the surface, I was too afraid to disrupt everything. After I setup a refugium with a dsb I figured the crushed coral was doing nothing for me but trapping crap so I use a gravel vac on it. The problem with that approach is that I have so much live rock that I really can only get the vac to probably half the substrate.

 

[leeweber85]

i would be hesitant you use the drums...if you do power wash them very well. You could also find some big garbage bags to line the drums with.

 

[Covey]

I had to move 3 FW tanks including 1 tank full of discus and plants, 350 miles by myself. Not fun but I didn't lose anything. I just got the uhaul for an extra day and pack all non- fish stuff the day before. Woke up the day of and tore down the hardiest fishes tank first and worked my way thought it. Fish even SW fish are pretty tough. Almost all of the SW we keep have all ready been half way around the world and made it.

Just keep the fish oxygenated, temp stable and acclimate them slowly when you get moved.

I got a $7 battery power live well air pump at Walmart in the fishing section. You put that in a 5g bucket and you can move the fish far.

 

[compjtc]

I have a power inverter and I plan on running an air pump in the bucket with the fish. I'm still trying to decide if I should do a heater or not. The fish will be in the bucket for two hours and it is about the right temperature outside to keep the water pretty stable.

Should I put hte fish and the inverts in different buckets? I know people have said to acclimate them separately, but I never knew why.

 

[compjtc]

I moved the tank saturday and got everything set back up and so far all the fish seem to be doing great! I don't really keep a tab on how many snails and hermits I have but I saw a bunch of them milling around as well.

Basically I took two 55 gallon plastic drums and hauled all the water out of my apartment 5 gallons at a time and then back in when I got to the new place. The fish traveled safely in a igloo cooler. I was so nervious they wouldn't make it but they all seem happy and healthy

So now I'm a proud resident of cedar rapids, and since I have some more permenent housing I'm going to start setting up a reef tank

 

[matt the fiddler]

i moved a 75 gallon form indianapolis to here.. then across town again.

lots of buckets to keep all your water, and keep your rock wet, [under paper towels that are wet with 4" in them works..


the clingwrap press and seal works well to seal off buckets with rock in them.. the splashing helps keep the rock wet