Moving a Tank

[SushiGrower]

I am moving a fully stocked 75 gallon reef tank with a 30 gal sump/Skimmer/Ca reactor. It has many soft corals, a tang, 2 clowns, a clam, 2 urchins and will be moved about a 30 min drive distance. Anyone have any advice on lessons learned from moves or ideas on having as much survive as possible??

[SDFISHMAN]

So you got the 75G setup from Matt.. There should be some people with some good info for you good luck..

[IgotCrabs]

use a power inverter in your car for a heater and powerhead in a big rubbermaid bin.

[ilikualot]

Find a friend who can help you out. PPut himto workfor some of that sushi you are famous for.

[supaboy1981]

Bag all coral and put it in a cooler in a nice shady I have had corals in one for almost all day last summer and they were fine no die off

Remove all live rock into a bin a tub or some sort will be fine. Keep it moist and you will be fine.

Drain as much of the water as you can into jugs I try and save around 60 - 70 % of it.

Catch the fish and bag em toss them into the cooler with the corals

Break down the tank take it to the new spot. Plumb and filler back up

float all corals and fish to regulate temp.

A little acclimation may be necessary but not much. Basically to them its just a water change they should be fine like I said I have had my fish and corals in bags for teh better part of a day and they all came out fine. NEver lost one in 2 moves. hope it helps

[lucubrator]

I bought 100 of those nice fish store bags from tongs a while back for 5c/bag, maybe one of the LFS will do the same for you? (Zip locks will burst open with a bit of pressure) Use good rubberband technique, or you'll be cutting all the bags open. If you put some water in the cooler, you won't have to worry about hard corals jabbing holes in the bags as much.

[treylane]

fish go in a different bin than corals. do NOT seal the lid of the fish container if they're gonna be in there more than 1/2 hour... they need AIR. (yes, I've learned this the hard way)

Most fish are fine with all being in the same bucket, unbagged (though if you've got lionfish or something - use your head)

This part is hard to explain, but...
For speed's sake, for the corals -fill bucket(s) halfway with water, put corals in the non-zip type sandwich bags with some water, then fill the bags somewhat with the water from the bucket and leave em there... the goal is to have the corals all in the bucket with water (not sealed or anything) and not touching each other.

If you CAN put the rock in trash bins and fill the trash bins up with tank water to keep the rocks WET, that's better than just keeping it "moist" for a whole pile of reasons.

I've got a bunch of spare trashcans and bins and water containers, etc that anyone's welcome to borrow if they like.

[Dakota]

use a power inverter in your car for a heater and powerhead in a big rubbermaid bin.

I moved from San Diego to Ventura and here's how I did it with NO losses to lives-stock. I planned to have an inverter to run a heater/powerhead in the bins, but it broke... still worked:

Place all live rock (w/o corals attached) into a rubbermaid trash can. fill with tank water. If you have any peices w/ mushrooms or zoas, they can go on top. My xenia did fine in the bin. Put each fish/coral into it's own bag and place into styrofoam insulated boxes (I used 2 from the LFS that they get their livestock in).

Put any remaining water into another bin. Have at least 25% fresh mixed water at the new location. Using this oppurtunity as a water change.

Leave the sand (unless it's a DSB) in the bottome of the tank with a tad bit of water to keep it "live" Move everything. Reverse the process to set it up. Once you aquascape, start floating the backs to get them back up to the temperature you need. it's a LONG process (too me 3-4 hours of tear-down and about 3-4 hours of setup).

~Eric

[adampweiss]

Skip the heater. Close all your windows and turn your car heater up full power in the middle of summer. Trust me... its a lot of fun;) . My water went from 79 degrees to 84 in 3 hours. Good luck. I also have 6 large suction cup handles that can hold up to 350lbs each that I used to move my 180. Your welcome to borrow them if your tank with LS becomes a little bit unwieldy.

[wsonner]

I bought 100 of those nice fish store bags from tongs a while back for 5c/bag, maybe one of the LFS will do the same for you? (Zip locks will burst open with a bit of pressure) Use good rubberband technique, or you'll be cutting all the bags open. If you put some water in the cooler, you won't have to worry about hard corals jabbing holes in the bags as much.

Hey Lucubrator, that cartoon in your avatar offends me. I think I'll start a riot and drag your flag in the street!! ;-)

[SushiGrower]

Thanks for the tips, move went well... No fatalities.

[ESTEBAN]

im gonna be relocating to Cape Coral , FL in about 5 weeks, perfect timing, just when i get the tank a great job opportunity come by. i like the tank and only have LR and 1 marron so i think the LR i can but in rubbermain containers and ship it, the company is gonna be relocating me with all my ****, is it worth the hassle to take the tank? money wise its the same , im not paying... not sure theres alot of SW people down there, any ideas?

[Dakota]

coast to coast? I dunno, unless you are attatched to your fish, sell them and your livestock. Ship the rocks, they'll be fine, but you'll probably have a mini-cycle. The livestock would be hard to move, unless you overnighted it to yourself. . . not sure how that would work.. so a teardown would be my opinion, save the LR.

[colindoug3]

I haven't been there... but I am almost certain the market in Florida is as big as it is here in Southern California. saltwaterfish.com, the aquacultured live rock (forget the name). I'm under the impression anything we get out of the Caribbean comes through Florida. I don't think you'll have a hard time getting things again if you have to start all over.

[lucubrator]

it's a LONG process (too me 3-4 hours of tear-down and about 3-4 hours of setup)
That 3-4 hours teardown was with two fish people, and 1-3 eager helpers.
The 3-4 hour setup was just you and your helpers, right?


Hey Lucubrator, that cartoon in your avatar offends me. I think I'll start a riot and drag your flag in the street!! ;-)
The offensive guys are a little south of us, but good guess. We'll just cancel all flights to your country.