Need Help: Best Way To Move A Running Tank

[jellyfishjosh]

I have committed to buy a complete 100 G reef tank that is currently up and running. In the past I have had good luck moving two 55 G reef tanks that were running. I saved approximated 25 gallons of water, cleaned the sand bed with saltwater, put the cleaned sand back in the empty tank, added the live rock, replaced the 25 G of water from the original tank, and added the additional new water to get the system cycling again. I actually put the fish and corals back within a few hours. The fish made the transition and as far as I can remember the corals made it too. The new system has lots of $$ corals. Is it safe to employ the same precess? Or is it better to find someone to help house the corals and fish while the system cycles longer?

Tank Specifics Below

Reef Aquarium moving sale, 8 year old complete reef
Oceanic 110 (18x48x29) sapphire glass with rose wood stand & canopy; 30 gal truvu refugium sump;
2ea Hydor Koralia Evolution 1400 pumps; 2ea Eheim Jager 150W heaters;2ea Eheim 1262 pumps
Eheim Auto feeder;Pinpoint ph meter;Refactrometer;Reef Octopus 160 protein Skimmer with extra cup;
BRS bio-pellet & GFO reactors;Red Sea Pro Test Kits;2 ICE Cap MH ballasts with 4ea 175w 1800K mogal bulbs;250 lbs of live rock and sand
Complete 30 gal hospital/quatrain tank setup;
Fish:Midas Blenny, Swallow Tail Angel (F), Ocellaris pair (Black & white male Orange & white female breeding pair), Orchid Dottyback, Green Mandarin (Male eats pellets and cube foods), Copperband Butterfly (Eats cube foods), Yellow watchman Goby, Clown Goby,
Inverts: lots of snails and crabs, Sexy Shrimp & Cleaner Shrimp; Rose Anemone, Mini carpet Anemone.
Corals: Lots of assorted Mushroom & Ricordea, Hammer, Frogspawn, Torch, Candy Cane, Leather, Montipora, Plate.

 

[Dragonvale]

Adding pictures always helps.

 

[Ssteve]

I would assume that most of it would rely on not letting any of the rock die off, as well as cleaning the sandbed pretty good, particularly if its a deep sandbed. At least that's what I had dug up when I was researching swapping things over. I would also plan to do several decent waterchanges shortly after as I'm sure you'll get a mini cycle.

 

[jellyfishjosh]

Thanks for the input. The biggest impact will be in regards to cycling. I have two 20 G tanks plus a BioCube 29 and Nuvo 16 (all currently empty and dry). Is there any advantage to moving lovestock to these tanks and let the 110 G tank cycle longer?

 

[Dapg8gt]

I've done this quite a few times purchasing and moving friends tanks etc..
Brute garbage cans are your friend.. Keep the rock submerged as much as possible meaning the entire time.. Saving water imo isn't as important as saving the bio on the rock.. Having enough pre mixed heated sw on hand is a must and with an 8 year old sand bed I would highly suggest replacing it.. You are going to be stirring up some funk and aragonite will store/leach p04 and it's almost impossible to fully clean it so count in some nice nitrate spikes.. Imo you don't want to start with someone else's mistakes.. The rock is all the bio you need to start it back up with a minimal if any cycle..

Depending on how far the drive is you may need air stones and heaters but a few months ago I helped a friend pick up a 240g in Monterey and we had about an hour and a half drive with 3 55g cans with all the rock in 2 w/water and the fish in another no heater or stones..

We added his previous washed new sand and fresh sw, the rock then topped it off with clean water from the fish bucket.. Acclimated the fish for about half an hour and it was done.. There was minimal coral that went into my frag tank from a cooler we also used to bring them back he took it a few days later.. It's not hard as long as you take the time to prepare for it..

 

[billyboy69]

I'm moving a 180 in two days , thats twice I've read about replacing the sand. i was really wishing i could avoid doing that

 

[NeonFish]

When I moved my 210g this is what I did:
1) put fish in 5gal buckets with lids (if aggressive fish, then keep it dark)
2) put corals in other 5gal buckets with lids
3) put remaining live rock into more 18gal Rubbermaid storage containers with lids. had water 1/2" over rock
4) scoop sand out into many containers (18gal containers). no extra water
5) drain rest of water into large Rubbermaid containers (55g, 20g, and whatever else I could use.
6) drove really slow and to new home (30 miles away)
7) temporary tank was 90g, so I just dumped the extra
8) setup the 90 with most sand all live rock, coral and fish
9) moved 210
10) setup 210 about 6 months later with contents of my 90.

in the temp 90 setup
temp 1) skimmed like crazy every day (almost mud ended up in skimmer)
temp 2) checked for ammonia, (looking to see if livestock or small inverts died)
temp 3) if ammonia high, then do 10% water change
temp 4) go to step temp 1

I had zero losses due to the move.

extra sand I dried out in summer sun, then used in quarantine tank and copepods popped out. I was astonished.

 

[jellyfishjosh]

Thanks Everyone! This information is making me feel more confident regarding the move. In regards to set up should I be thinking of NOT using the old sand and making the investment in NEW sand?

 

[Dragonvale]

New sand for me.

 

[ffmedic]

Ya go with new sand