jdiddy8384
New member
Got a new house and will be moving in the near future. Not looking forward to moving my 90g tank. Any pointers or advise. Never had to tackle moving a established tank before
Moving tank
- Thread starter jdiddy8384
- Start date
Lots of buckets and use new sand. Don't bother saving more water than you need to keep the fish alive. Have a couple bins of new water mixed and ready in the new house if at all possible.
1) prepare 125% of your total water volume and have it ready at your new house.
2) if possible, set up a QT or holding tank as well at the new house
3 in 5 gallon buckets, place your rock and old water
4) retain corals in a 5 gallon bucket, separated in ziplock bags
5) place fish and inverts in a 5 gallon with old water
6) drain the tank and remove your equipment (leave heater in the water unplugged for a while to cool off)
7) have a few buddies help you load up your tank, stand, sump, etc
8) travel to then new home make a point to get straight there.
9) ideally, place all livestock in the QT/holding tank
10) setup the new tank. Don’t rush this, do it righ (level stand, etc.)t. Go ahead and put your equipment back in the tank but don’t plug it in yet.
11) new water goes in and your equipment turns on. Make sure salinity and temperature matches before adding your livestock
Other will chime in, but this should get you the basics. I would use mostly new sand.
2) if possible, set up a QT or holding tank as well at the new house
3 in 5 gallon buckets, place your rock and old water
4) retain corals in a 5 gallon bucket, separated in ziplock bags
5) place fish and inverts in a 5 gallon with old water
6) drain the tank and remove your equipment (leave heater in the water unplugged for a while to cool off)
7) have a few buddies help you load up your tank, stand, sump, etc
8) travel to then new home make a point to get straight there.
9) ideally, place all livestock in the QT/holding tank
10) setup the new tank. Don’t rush this, do it righ (level stand, etc.)t. Go ahead and put your equipment back in the tank but don’t plug it in yet.
11) new water goes in and your equipment turns on. Make sure salinity and temperature matches before adding your livestock
Other will chime in, but this should get you the basics. I would use mostly new sand.
Long story short on the sand, over time it has trapped nasty stuff. When the sand bed gets disturbed that much it can wreak havoc on your livestock. You CAN reuse it, your just taking a risk in my opinion. The cost of aragonite vs the amount of risk you take keeping the old sand makes a pretty easy decision for most.
ReefMaster48
New member
Can you upgrade? I would use the opportunity to get a bigger tank. Obviously budget is always the issue. but with having to go through all of the hassle of a move, a new tank would actually be easier! Setup up the new tank, get water and sand in it, then bring over the rock and livestock.
RobZilla04
Active member
Use a big cooler or brute trash can to place all of the livestock/coral/rock. Place as much of the old water into coolers/containers and bring it to the new house. Keep the container with livestock warm and keep the water moving (battery power might be needed for the ride if its a long travel).
Once at the new place use new sand and as much of the old water as possible. If the new tank is too cloudy to move all fish/rock/coral, you can leave them in the cooler/container over night so long as the temp stays up and the water keeps moving around.
Once at the new place use new sand and as much of the old water as possible. If the new tank is too cloudy to move all fish/rock/coral, you can leave them in the cooler/container over night so long as the temp stays up and the water keeps moving around.
billdogg
Well-known member
DO NOT reuse/move old water. There is nothing in it at all that will help the new setup. Besides, water is HEAVY! Use just enough to keep the livestock and liverock wet. You can even toss a towel soaked in tank water over the LR to avoid having to carry that water.
I pretty much agree with everything else others have already posted. Start early and do it until done. I have moved multiple tanks in a single day. The best was the 150/50 sump, 120/40b sump, 120/30 sump and a 60 cube w/o sump. It was about a 20 hour day without any losses. If you do reuse the old sand (and you certainly can), rinse it just like you would if it was new, dry sand, except use the old tank water to do the rinsing so that you can keep the beneficial bacteria and critters alive.
You will need twice as many 5g buckets as you think you will. Have lots of old towels handy. You will also need a variety of plumbing pieces parts because even if you are setting up the very same tank/stand combo, something will be a bit different and you will end up replumbing something. Have the parts on hand to avoid a trip to HD/Lowes in the middle of things.
I pretty much agree with everything else others have already posted. Start early and do it until done. I have moved multiple tanks in a single day. The best was the 150/50 sump, 120/40b sump, 120/30 sump and a 60 cube w/o sump. It was about a 20 hour day without any losses. If you do reuse the old sand (and you certainly can), rinse it just like you would if it was new, dry sand, except use the old tank water to do the rinsing so that you can keep the beneficial bacteria and critters alive.
You will need twice as many 5g buckets as you think you will. Have lots of old towels handy. You will also need a variety of plumbing pieces parts because even if you are setting up the very same tank/stand combo, something will be a bit different and you will end up replumbing something. Have the parts on hand to avoid a trip to HD/Lowes in the middle of things.
In a smaller tank where you can move with the sand while left in the tank pretty much undisturbed it would be ok. A 90 will be too heavy without removing the sand which will stir up all the gunk that has built up. Just not worth dealing with trying to reuse it. There is plenty of bacteria in the rock so you won’t have a cycle. Always a good idea to feed less than normal for a few weeks after the move though to give things time to stabilize
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crawlerman
Member
watch water temp in the fish buckets. I bought a running 180g and temp dropped down into the 60's. Lost 3 fish that day and another the next. Took me 16 hours to tear down and set back up with multiple runs to the hardware store. I had corals in a cooler, if I had to do it over again the fish would be in a cooler too
When we moved last spring I set up a QT tank and moved the fish a week later. I ended up throwing out about half of my sand because it was so dirty. I tried to save as much as I could by rinsing with prepared salt water but it was taking so many rinses that I only saved half. It was amazing how dirty that sand was.
Joe0813
Active member
ew I don't even want to think about moving my 180 gallon again. lost one fish, lot of corals broke and one heater broke. but heres what I did.
- Filled as many 5 gallon buckets with tank water that I could
- Put fish in buckets. (35 minute drive didn't need a heater aerator)
- Coral and rock went into multiple food grade totes
- New sand
I had a 55 gallon and a few 10 and 20 gallons that I ended up filling with old tank water and used as a holding tank in the new has so I could set up the new tank and plumb it. Mixed up about 120 gallons of new saltwater in brute trash barrels. transferred rock and coral to the display tank and filled the rest of the way with old tank water.
- Filled as many 5 gallon buckets with tank water that I could
- Put fish in buckets. (35 minute drive didn't need a heater aerator)
- Coral and rock went into multiple food grade totes
- New sand
I had a 55 gallon and a few 10 and 20 gallons that I ended up filling with old tank water and used as a holding tank in the new has so I could set up the new tank and plumb it. Mixed up about 120 gallons of new saltwater in brute trash barrels. transferred rock and coral to the display tank and filled the rest of the way with old tank water.
jdiddy8384
New member
Thank you everyone for the pointers and advice. It is very much appreciated. The new house is only 1mile away so not a long travel time. I really wanted to use the sand i have now but might just buy new to lessen the risk factor. Will try rinsing the sand with the tank water first tho. I will let everyone know how things went in the coming week.
on the spot
Active member
Two thoughts:
- I'd get a rubbermaid 100 gallon tub
- I'd reuse the sand
The tub buys you valuable time. Large volume of water premixed on site to transfer your rock and livestock quickly while you putz with the rest of the gear.
while sand is cheap in the grand scheme you will be washing out both anyway so no time is saved, just when that time is used.
best of luck with the move.
Microcosmos
Member
Don't forget to aerate the water in the buckets with battery-powered pumps!
Just curious... If you don't use your old water at all won' you create a cycle that will kill your tank?
I have moved/upgraded/combined my tank about 10 times. NEVER lost a fish. I always used 50% of the old water but tried to transport all the old water just in case.
Use trash cans and fill them 1/3 full. Flexible Rubbermaid or brute.
I have moved/upgraded/combined my tank about 10 times. NEVER lost a fish. I always used 50% of the old water but tried to transport all the old water just in case.
Use trash cans and fill them 1/3 full. Flexible Rubbermaid or brute.
Joe0813
Active member
I also reused a ton of my water and didn't have any cycle
on the spot
Active member
there is essentially zero bacteria lost from the water. as if you have done a large water change - target the same parameters.
HTH
