Tank Move Plan : Input Needed (34G)

[calistyle]

My tank is 1 year old this week and I'll be moving it this weekend. I've done some reading and came up with this plan of attack. I'd love to hear thoughts and opinions on my process.

34G Solana Tank Move​

On final water change before move, blow off rocks for any loose debris and siphon out during water change.

Supplies:

"¢ 5 "“ 5 Gallon buckets w/ egg crate at bottom, lids for top
"¢ 3 "“ 5 Gallon jugs of new salt water
"¢ 2 "“ Air pumps w/ hose and air stones
"¢ 2 "“ Heaters
"¢ Shims / Level
"¢ Prodibio Bio Digest & Prodibio STOP Ammo (to help control any ammonia/nitrate spike)

Plan:

Prior to Breakdown:
"¢ Box up and supplies and un-used equipment in advance

Breakdown:
"¢ Unplug and remove all equipment from aquarium
"¢ Siphon 3 gallons of water at a time into 5 gallon buckets. As rock is exposed transfer to buckets (leaving corals attached), carefully placing on egg crate to keep from moving around
"¢ Carefully remove fish using clear cups to a bucket with 3G of tank water and insert air stone
"¢ Leave sand bed (30-35 lbs.), base rock (15-20 lbs.), and about 1 inch of water in tank

Once rock, coral, fish are secure in buckets:
"¢ Transfer tank from stand to moving stand (custom build one w/ wheels, same height)
"¢ Move the tank on the moving stand to truck
"¢ Carefully move from moving stand to 2x4's in back of SUV. Secure
"¢ Have car running at 77 degrees
"¢ Bring out buckets and secure in SUV
"¢ Drive to new eco-stadium (house) very carefully, minding turns and proper route

Once at new location:
"¢ First unload buckets of livestock into controlled temperature house and use heaters if temperature has dropped below 75 degrees.
"¢ Setup stand in new location, verify tank is level (If not, use shims)
"¢ Add 5G-10G of new salt water (due to loss of water)
"¢ Test for leaks
"¢ Stack rock back in place, adding old tank water as needed
"¢ Setup equipment (pumps, skimmer, media)
"¢ Use Prodibio Bio Digest & Prodibio STOP Ammo (if needed)
"¢ Add fish and remaining 3G of tank water
"¢ Monitor parameters
"¢ Perform a system check on equipment

I've never moved a tank, so any input is greatly appreciated!

 

[Markdiego]

Def get help because if your going to leave sand & rock & an inch of water, thats heavy! The tank alone was a back breaker for me to move around. When i swapped my old tank for a solana i put my livestock in a rubbermaid container with a powerhead and a heater. Note they were only there for about a day. Depending on how far you have to drive, i think you can skip on the airstones and just drop a powerhead and heater in the bucket where your livestock is while you set everything up.

 

[MBIETZ]

Your plan sounds great also i dont know if you thought about this but i would take the time to clean anything that is hard to get to before putting it back up like the back or something like that.

 

[calistyle]

thanks for input!

I'm only moving about 7 miles away and do have 1-2 guys helping me. I'll definitely give everything a good cleaning and I'm replacing my return pump with a new cobalt one.

 

[bobssecrtsn]

wow glad this thread came up, im moving this thursday night, ill be moving the tank last . my tank has only been setup for 2 months so ill be putting the corals in baggies

 

[calistyle]

bob, good luck!! I'm moving house friday morning, tank friday night

 

[Esage]

"• Leave sand bed (30-35 lbs.), base rock (15-20 lbs.), and about 1 inch of water in tank"

I would not recommend doing this. Remove the base rock and sand. I would then replace the sand with new sand.

 

[premilove]

leave the sand and remove all the rock that could be too much weight for the bottom glass as you are carrying it.

 

[calistyle]

The problem with taking the sand out and putting it back in, or even new sand, is that it would start up another mini cycle, which I fear would not be a good thing for my corals or fish.

I feel the 50-60lbs (sand/rock) and moving the tank for stand to a moving stand then direct on 2x4's will greatly limited the strain of the extra weight from the tank. The sand bed has been in place for only a year, but I would like to keep in intact as much as possible, preventing a limited cycle....if possible.

 

[bobssecrtsn]

why not keep a cup of sand and rinse it? if you rinse it wouldnt you remove all the bacteria and it would just be, sand, not live nor dead.

 

[szgppl]

I just did a move, and left the sand and about 1 inch of water, in the tank. worked real good. never kicked off a mini cycle. had the same thoughts.

 

[Esage]

The problem with taking the sand out and putting it back in, or even new sand, is that it would start up another mini cycle, which I fear would not be a good thing for my corals or fish.

I feel the 50-60lbs (sand/rock) and moving the tank for stand to a moving stand then direct on 2x4's will greatly limited the strain of the extra weight from the tank. The sand bed has been in place for only a year, but I would like to keep in intact as much as possible, preventing a limited cycle....if possible.

When I moved my Solana two months ago I replaced the sand bed and did not have a mini cycle.

 

[bobssecrtsn]

Hey howd you tank move go? i just finish setting up my tank, got the plumbing and water running and what not, i need to do my scape and i just tested ammonia and nitrite both at zero, moving to electrical tmrow morning, its 3:42 AM PST!

 

[calistyle]

Tank move a success!

Bobssecrtsn, Sounds like your on the right track. I followed my plan and it worked great. No mini cycle. I did take pics of the rockscape as I removed rocks, and put in 3 seperate bucks for the different levels of scape. This made it easy to get the tank to look the same.

Pre Tank Move:

Post Tank Move: