The dreaded fish tank move...

[newguy1983]

Well the title says it all...

...I would search, but, I always get the message that search is disabled.

In the end of April, my wife and I will be relocating to a new place of residence to make room for our expected offspring!

With this move, I'll be required to relocate my nice 15g tank. Yes, it's only 15g and it's a move only down the street in a month, but it's stressing me out already.

Everything is so well right now - have a nice balance and livestock is happy. How do I do this sucessfully? Do I drain half the tank water and put the fish in like a rubbermaid case or what?

I'm more concerned with my Cleaner Shrimp than the Royal Gramma/Clown/Goby...

How would you do it?

 

[alphaferret]

get yourself various rubbermaid containers. 1-about 10 gal or 20 for the water + poss. fish. Another 10g for all the live rock w/ out corals. Then some smaller ones for the corals. I used leftover containers from the grocery store w/ snap on tops. Yet another tub for the sand. Don't leave any water in th tank. You can stress the seams easy even w/ a small tank.

Make sure the day you move the tank is not full of other moving duties. The tank move takes attention and must be done in one motion from start to end. Good news is you have a small tank. So you don't have alot of rock or corals or fish. If you have any poss. that you want to go bigger get your new tank now. this is the best time IMO to switch. Watch the temps of all living things. No sitting in the car for extended periods. Get heaters and powerheads or pumps connected to the fish and water as soon as you get the tubs in the new place.

And remember patience!

I just noticed you have a fowler-good no corals to keep a watch on. & congrats on the new addition!

Good luck.

 

[newguy1983]

I am dedicating a Monday to moving this tank...but honestly lost about two hours of sleep trying to figure out how to do it.

So, here's my plan - tell me what you think...

Step 1 - Drain approx 50% of water in to bucket
Step 2 - Remove LR and place into above mentioned bucket
Step 3 - Move more water into another container for fish/shrimp/clean up crew/etc.
Step 4 - Catch all available live stock and place into above mentioned container.
Step 5 - Drain rest of the water into other bucket
Step 6 - Move tank/stand/filter/etc to new location and set up
Step 7 - Move water/liverock/live stock to new location.
Step 8 - Add water/live rock from bucket to tank
Step 9 - Let settle for approx 30 mins
Step 10 - Add live stock back to tank.

All in all, I predict total time from step 5 to step 6 is approximately 20 minutes...since I'm moving a half mile down the road.

I think I can do this - I just dont want to kill my fish/shrimp in the process....

 

[jus chillin]

sounds like you got a plan...should work fine !....

 

[nyisles016]

I just completed a move of a 30g +10g sump this past weekend. Make sure you have some new water ready to go to replace any that is spilled!

 

[newguy1983]

Good call on the extra water...

 

[nyisles016]

I drained the entire tank into buckets which I then put into a big rubbermaid that was in the back of the truck. I wanted to keep the majority of the water together so that it would hold it's temprature for longer. I bagged all my corals and floated them in another bucket of water.
I syphoned water out of the big rubbermaid back into buckets to refill the tank in the new location.

 

[mcrist]

A 15 gallon tank move should be pretty easy. I moved a 90 and a 215 gallon and all the friends/family that helped told me point blank that they won’t help me move another tank.

 

[mounts327]

Be sure to keep all your water oxygenated. Do this via airstones or air pumps, but just remember that the second your beneficial bacteria stops getting oxygen it starts to die off.

 

[newguy1983]

That's the plan...

...I have this taking approximately 45 minutes total from start to finish in my mind...so we'll see...

 

[CoRPS]

I know you've already got it planned out, but I moved a 14g biocube about 45m across town a couple months ago. This is what we did:

1. Styrofoam cooler: Put in a couple of gallons of water and filled it with all the corals and a fish.
2. Buckets: Filled one 5g bucket with tank water.
3. After that we emptied almost the rest of the tank and sent the water down the drain. We couldn't catch the last fish so we left a couple inches of water in the tank.
4. Carry tank down to car, then carry bucket/cooler down
5. Get to the house and put the tank where it needs to go, fill it up with the bucket of water, and fill the rest up with new clean saltwater.
6. Temp acclimate the fish and corals back into the tank.

We didn't have any air pumps or nothing like that. Everything lived and there was no mini cycle or anything like that after. If you're just moving about 15 minutes down the street, you don't need to worry too much. Honestly, you're making it a bigger deal then it should be.

If you want, take the rock out and put it in buckets. But the sand? I'd keep it in the tank with a layer of water over it. You really don't want to kick that stuff up.