Moving ma tank

[marshalrckman]

Hey guys been a while since i posted.Well plain and simple i am moving,about 40-45 miles south of here,to pigeon forge,Tn.I have never moved a SW tank before.I hear that when you set it back up it will go through a mini cycle.Will this cycle kill my b-w perc?What about my corals?Please help we are moving within the next week or so-thx Steven :!:

[WaterFarmer]

Plan your move carefully. Preparation is the key.

Make the tank the last thing you break down and pack and the first thing you set up. It's only a 40 mile move so you might want to consider dedicating a round trip to only the tank move.

You need to be prepared - have your water ready, premixed, temp adjusted etc. Have your tank location decided, power ready, level, etc.

Here's a quick rundown of the basic flow i used to move a 75 gal reef set up. Siphon some water into 5 gal buckets, place corals in the buckets without piling em in - give em some room. PLace a small power head in the bucket and try to place it in an area that is temp stable - same as your tank temp. Keep some circulation going until you hit the road.

Once all the coral are out - do it again for the live rock. I kept the live rock covered with moist newspaer but not submerged. Probably better if you can keep it submerged but thats a lot of water and buckets.

Next remove the fish - if you only have 1 should be fine but you want to get this back together as soon as you can because you now have no filtration. I did the fish last because it was eaisiest to catch them.

Remove the sandbed to 5 gal buckets as well. I scrapped the sand and started with new aragonite and live sand. If you do a new sand bed have your sand ready (rinsed and ready to go in). Again being prepared will make this all go smoothly.

Break down the rest of the system and pack for moving - i would be sure the tank is completely empty - dont move with water - it could crack.

Don't panic and foget a key step - I think the most important thing is to temp match water and keep circulation going as long as possible and get the power heads back on as soon as possible.

For refilling - I set the tank up added the new live sand, live rock and 50% of the tank water - (new water that you had ready from step 1.) get a heater in there and get the temp right. I acclimated the buckets by dripping tank water back into the 5 gal buckets. I would acclimate the fish first and get him back in the tank.

Your aquascaping does not have to be done right away - you can rearrange after things settle down a bit. Acclimate the corals and get em back in the tank. Top off with more prepmixed water - i did not use any of the old water.

Main thing is prepare - dont sweat it but work quickly. The fish should be fine. Also dont max the AC in the car on the road trip and chill everything to 70 degrees.

Test your water parameters often after the move and have plenty of premixed water available for frequent water changes should you get a mini cycle.

Whew.... my fingers hurt.

[gman0526]

Great post, good advice.

[marshalrckman]

Thats plenty of advise thx WF. Steven

[Doctor_Reef]

Ditto's.... Sweet post!!! :thumbsup:

[B Mead]

That post has me kinda scared! Im probally about to move about 80 miles and im worried about how it's gonna be. I've know people that just gave their tank up cause it was to much work to move. But i know I couldn't do that.

[Sage1970]

When I moved my tank that I bought, it was fully set up.

So when I got ready to move everything I made sure I had containers to put my LR in, and a container for my fish.

For the fish I bought an adapter that ran off my cigerette lighter...this let me run an air pump for my fish and live rock...keep things fresh for the fish.

Didn't have any problems and things went pretty smoothly!

Looks like there is really good advice in the previous posts...follow along those lines and it will be alright! LOL

[CZ]

Plan to ditch the sand bed. Once the water is out and you get a wiff of the stench you will agree. Its hard to imagine re-using sand that smells so rank in a new set up. Plan ahead.

[CZ]

WalMart has battery powered air pumps for $5 in the fishing tackle Dept. 2 D cells and they run for more than two days.

If you move when its cold you can get a power converter to hook up to the trucks battery and you can plug in a heater and power head.