Suggestions on how to move reef tank

[Bous]

I'm not sure were to post this so I thought I would start here. I might be buying a new house and would like some ideas on how to move my 125 reef tank and 65 gallon refugium. I don't have a lot of animals but I don't want to lose the ones that I have. THe tank has been up, running and stable for about two years and i add the fug 5 months ago. My lfs said that they would move it for $80 /hr. and it would take about 10 hr. That seems like a lot of money. Any suggestions.

 

[bigevill1]

I setup a blow up kiddie pool in the basement of my new house and moved everything into it. I used milk crates surrounded with window screen (Nylon) to put the macro from my fuge in and another one to setup my protien skimmer in. I then put about 5 powerheads around the out edge of the pool, and a heater on either end. Moved in the live rock then the fish. They were all in there corals, fish and other inverts for 6 weeks. I lost 3 fish to jumping, but the whole ordeal was so easy it was kind of worth it.

 

[bigevill1]

oh yeah, I used work horses to hold the lights up over the pool.

 

[coralnut99]

The kiddie pool method sounds like a great plan to me if I were doing it. In a tank the size of a 125, keeping the contents into buckets would be a nightmare. Keeping something under the kiddie pool (anold blanket?) would help insulate it from a cold basement floor. You can buy fruit tree bird netting to put over it to keep jumper in. It's UV resistant so it'll stand up to halides just fine (mine does).

 

[bigevill1]

I used to wood pallets side by side and a piece of plywood over them to lift the pool off of the floor. Also you need to thicken up the bottom of the pool so the live rock doesnt rip thru it. I used a couple of plastic shower curtains for that, worked like a charm.

 

[coralnut99]

Just a thought, If you're moving really soon, you may have trouble finding a kiddie pool this time of year. If your move is way down the line, buy one when they hit the stores.

 

[bigevill1]

I had to go to 4 different stores and finally found one at walmart. Mine was in march of last year.

 

[coralnut99]

Yeah, the box stores tend to rush things. Kind of like the Xmas decorations for sale before Halloween. But it's safe to say that for the next few months a kiddie pool may be tough to find. I'm going to be transferring the contents of a 75 to a 90 this w/e, and boy do I wish I had a kiddie pool to hold everything while I swap those tanks!

 

[KafudaFish]

What a great suggestion! I too am moving my reef tank soon but the distance is a little shorter: from one end of my living room to the other. Of course I have to figure out how to keep my 2 year old daughter from playing in it.

 

[u418936]

I used 5 huge buckets and put a bunch of new, wet towels (wet from aquarium water) on my rock and corals to keep them moist. I kept my fish in a 10-gal water bucket that with a battery-operated airstone. It was summer, so I didn't need to worry about keeping the corals, rock, and fish warm.

When we walked in our new place, I immediately set up my aquarium, and everything lived--except for one 6-line wrasse.

The only mistake I made was re-using my old sand. When you move your tank, detritus falls out of the live rock and gets stuck in the sand bed. It caused a nitrate problem (my nitrates went from 0 to 50), so I had to tank my tank apart again and replace it. So make sure you thoroughly siphon or entirely replace your sand.