Amazingly enough I successfully moved the live rock and livestock of my 75 and 58 gallon reef tanks into a 120 gallon tank 3 weeks ago.
Sadly I did lose my very large (6-8") bubble coral and 2 firefish that hid in the rocks, but incredibly that's all. The live sand went putrid as expected, but that was OK. It will be easier to run the tank bare bottom with the LR and keep the sand bed in the refugium until we get a house out here. No use having a sand bed in the tank right now as it will have to be torn down and moved again once we get a house out here. Anyway, I finally found a new job back out West (Utah) where I belong after working and living in Saint Louis, MO for the last 4 years. I'm from Colorado, so I'm right next door now. Anyway I moved into a temporary apartment here in Ogden, UT the first week of April and started my new job. Five weeks ago my wife called me at work to say that the 58 gallon tank was overflowing and was half empty.
I had to fly back to the house in Missouri to fix it (overflow box lost siphon)and remembered to put a big chunk of Chaeto in a Ziploc and bring it back with me. It was clear after the mishap that my wife couldn't keep my tanks going so I decided to move the contents out here where my new job is until our house sells and we can buy a new home.
When I got back to Ogden, I bought a new 120 gallon AGA reef ready tank that I had my eye on and mixed up 150 gallons of saltwater to get ready for the move. I plumbed the tank so it would be ready for the drains to the sump and return pumps. The under tank sump is used for circulation and is the home of my EV-180 skimmer. I built an external 40 gallon refugium from an EBay kit and added some live rock rubble, 80 lbs. of seeded oolitic sand and the large chunks of Chaeto I brought with me from my tanks back home. I put a small heater and a small air pump in the refugium to get it going during the weeks prior to the move. I added a pinch of fish food into the refugium now and then to keep things going.
I flew to Saint Louis to get the tank contents ready. I packed all of my fish and corals into Kordon Breathable Bags and suspended them from the sides of Styrofoam fish shipping boxes with bamboo barbeque skewers to enable good gas exchange though the surface of the bags. Hanging the bags like that was my wifeââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s idea. Big Thanks to Beldt's Aquarium in Hazelwood, MO for all of the boxes I needed.
I tossed in some heat packs and left the Styrofoam tops off and only folded in the cardboard tops so as to have some air circulation and not suffocate the animals. I packed my 200+ lbs. of live rock in the same types of Styrofoam boxes and then covered the rock with wet cloth dish towels as they breathe better than newspaper and don't have the inks and chemicals that newspaper does either. I had about 2 inches of water in the bottom of the rock boxes and made sure that the towels were in the water to wick up the moisture and stay wet. I only folded the cardboard over the rock as well so that it could breathe. I tossed some heat packs enclosed in Ziploc bags into the rock boxes as well.
I rented a minivan to drive to Utah and that night I loaded everything into the back of the van and left the van in the garage. I left the back door of the van open and ran a couple of space heaters aimed at the boxes in the van to keep the boxes warm until morning. The first night we stayed at my Mom's house in Colorado to drop off my dogs until the house sells in Missouri as it makes showing the house difficult for realtors when the dogs are there. I brought the fish and corals into the house and once again aimed a space heater at the boxes in the van to keep the rocks warm.
The next day we got to Ogden and the rock was still wet and still smelled healthy. The only bad things that happened were that the 2 firefish that hid in the rocks died and luckily fell out of the rock. Also the bag containing the bubble coral was cloudy and smelled really bad so unfortunately I had to toss it. The 200 lbs of live sand smelled like a sewer and found itself next to the trash dumpster. It's been 3 weeks now and I haven't detected any ammonia and everything looks just like it did before I moved it. So far my Flame Angel, Copperband Butterfly, all of my corals and clams are doing fine. I am really amazed at how well it all went. Just goes to show with good planning you can successfully move a reef a long distance.
Bryan
Sadly I did lose my very large (6-8") bubble coral and 2 firefish that hid in the rocks, but incredibly that's all. The live sand went putrid as expected, but that was OK. It will be easier to run the tank bare bottom with the LR and keep the sand bed in the refugium until we get a house out here. No use having a sand bed in the tank right now as it will have to be torn down and moved again once we get a house out here. Anyway, I finally found a new job back out West (Utah) where I belong after working and living in Saint Louis, MO for the last 4 years. I'm from Colorado, so I'm right next door now. Anyway I moved into a temporary apartment here in Ogden, UT the first week of April and started my new job. Five weeks ago my wife called me at work to say that the 58 gallon tank was overflowing and was half empty.
I had to fly back to the house in Missouri to fix it (overflow box lost siphon)and remembered to put a big chunk of Chaeto in a Ziploc and bring it back with me. It was clear after the mishap that my wife couldn't keep my tanks going so I decided to move the contents out here where my new job is until our house sells and we can buy a new home.
When I got back to Ogden, I bought a new 120 gallon AGA reef ready tank that I had my eye on and mixed up 150 gallons of saltwater to get ready for the move. I plumbed the tank so it would be ready for the drains to the sump and return pumps. The under tank sump is used for circulation and is the home of my EV-180 skimmer. I built an external 40 gallon refugium from an EBay kit and added some live rock rubble, 80 lbs. of seeded oolitic sand and the large chunks of Chaeto I brought with me from my tanks back home. I put a small heater and a small air pump in the refugium to get it going during the weeks prior to the move. I added a pinch of fish food into the refugium now and then to keep things going.
I flew to Saint Louis to get the tank contents ready. I packed all of my fish and corals into Kordon Breathable Bags and suspended them from the sides of Styrofoam fish shipping boxes with bamboo barbeque skewers to enable good gas exchange though the surface of the bags. Hanging the bags like that was my wifeââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s idea. Big Thanks to Beldt's Aquarium in Hazelwood, MO for all of the boxes I needed.
I tossed in some heat packs and left the Styrofoam tops off and only folded in the cardboard tops so as to have some air circulation and not suffocate the animals. I packed my 200+ lbs. of live rock in the same types of Styrofoam boxes and then covered the rock with wet cloth dish towels as they breathe better than newspaper and don't have the inks and chemicals that newspaper does either. I had about 2 inches of water in the bottom of the rock boxes and made sure that the towels were in the water to wick up the moisture and stay wet. I only folded the cardboard over the rock as well so that it could breathe. I tossed some heat packs enclosed in Ziploc bags into the rock boxes as well.
I rented a minivan to drive to Utah and that night I loaded everything into the back of the van and left the van in the garage. I left the back door of the van open and ran a couple of space heaters aimed at the boxes in the van to keep the boxes warm until morning. The first night we stayed at my Mom's house in Colorado to drop off my dogs until the house sells in Missouri as it makes showing the house difficult for realtors when the dogs are there. I brought the fish and corals into the house and once again aimed a space heater at the boxes in the van to keep the rocks warm.
The next day we got to Ogden and the rock was still wet and still smelled healthy. The only bad things that happened were that the 2 firefish that hid in the rocks died and luckily fell out of the rock. Also the bag containing the bubble coral was cloudy and smelled really bad so unfortunately I had to toss it. The 200 lbs of live sand smelled like a sewer and found itself next to the trash dumpster. It's been 3 weeks now and I haven't detected any ammonia and everything looks just like it did before I moved it. So far my Flame Angel, Copperband Butterfly, all of my corals and clams are doing fine. I am really amazed at how well it all went. Just goes to show with good planning you can successfully move a reef a long distance.
Bryan
