Moving with tank

brettinteriors

brettinteriors

New member
Any advice from those that have endured this would be great.

I am moving less than a quarter mile away. I have a 55 gallon tank.

My plan thus far. I have two large rolling plastic trash cans that have never been used for trash.:eek: I was thinking of putting 90% of the water in them along with the fish and catchable inverts. I will leave a little water in the tank and the live rock in hopes to not crash the tank and whatever critters living in it I cant find or catch. Move the tank and cans into the new house. Pump half the water back in, add the fish and the rest of the water/critters.
 
take your rock etc OUT of the tank. If you pick up that tank and start moving it around like that with everything still in you're gonna blow out the bottom or at the very least break a seal.

Put your water/fish/inverts in one of the cans.
put your corals (submerged, of course) in different containers spacing them out to avoid stings during the move. I moved my live rock also submerged in buckets. Same with the sand.

With everything OUT of the tank, move it and the stand etc to your destination. Put the sand back in sans water (it's gonna be wet still, just don't fill the tank all the way). Next put in the rocks stacked how you want them. Next fill and add the fish/corals/inverts as appropriate. I've moved tanks several times and haven't had any losses yet... knock on wood.

If you've got a fair bit of anaerobic bacteria going on in your sand, it'd be good to have a QT tank to put your livestock into over night to let the live rock and sand stabilize. I didn't when I moved my tank and didn't suffer any losses, but it was a new setup. My buddy who bought a 110 off of CL moved it and QTd the fish overnight, no losses. 6 months later when he bought a different house we moved it again, no QT and still no losses.

Obviously this is just my experience, I'm sure others will have valuable input.
 
what he said. even be careful with plumbing and bulkheads, i carried my 75 upstairs the bulkhead comming out the back caught the stair rail and blew the back out. take all the sand out, all the rock out! it will bust, especially with how tanks are built now. I have a trashcan thats a 55 thats aquarium use only. it doesnt have casters though. get on craigslist and see if you cant find a cheap 55 aquarium for a qt then sell it when you are done. it takes time for the sand and rock to settle. i get hurried every time and put stuff in the tank before its ready every time i move the tank, and i kill stuff. take your time, clean your stuff up, organize your cords, touch up the back, inspect the plumbing, get shims and make sure the new location is leveled to reduce your seam stress, and really take your time stacking rock. start early, there is nothing like having something blow up late at night and every place to get a fix is closed until morning. get latex or nitrile gloves to help keep the bristle worms off your fingers. remember only bad things happen fast in this hobby.
 
I would also recommend washing the sand before you put it back in if you don't do the QT thing. The sand can cause a big spike. Take any livestock out first. I would also use about 25% new water when refilling.
 
Do you think it will blow out the bottom if I leave the sand in and leave the tank on the stand. I can put a dolly under it and roll it?
 
No way, you have no reason to wash your sand, your tank is healthy and running fine. Y dose he need to qt prickles his fish are not new fish they have been in the system for months P's Josh when you want those corals to experiment with let me no there ready when you are.
 
Good information in here. I am about to move about 60 miles away but my tank is not nearly as large as the OP's. Its just a 14 gallon Biocube. Aside from everything else mentioned, would it be okay to leave the sand and a small amount of water in the bottom of the tank or should I take everything out? I know there are a lot of little critters I wont be able to "catch" and I am sure they will be fine but I'd hate to crush the little tiny brittle stars, bristle worms, etc that live in the sand.
 
Haha that small of a tank just pick it up and put it in the car! ! But I don't see a problem alil water and sand make sure it sits flat and nothing hits it
 
killafornia said:
No way, you have no reason to wash your sand, your tank is healthy and running fine. Y dose he need to qt prickles his fish are not new fish they have been in the system for months P's Josh when you want those corals to experiment with let me no there ready when you are.
Click to expand...

Any time big guy! You rock. Hey how old are your kids?
 
We moved a 24g cube from Phoenix. We left the sand and a coupler of inches of water and some critters in it. As long as you have a good surface - we had a piece of plywood beneath - you should be fine with your cube.

We also moved a 35g and a 60g a couple of miles here in town. Same drill. Good bottom support is imperative. We did transport live rock separately. That we've brought from Phoenix and just kept it damp with wet paper towels.
 
doesnt sound like a deal unless its starfire, or really nice everything else. i got my 140 for 100 bucks, and spent 500 with stand/canopy
 
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