Worst decision I have made for this hobby!
 

So I am shifting to a new place but there's a 10 day gap between the time I have to leave (31st Aug) the old house and the availability of the new house (10th Sept; because of renovation). Shifting my stuffs wasn't a big issue but shifting the 70 gallon tank + sump + rocks + livestock + equipment have been the worst nightmare for me! I shouldn't have got the 70 gallon tank. SHOULDNT HAVE! My two brother-in-laws brought their SUV and van to help me move. They have been more than helpful (even more is understatement) with gallons of water filled with smelly corals in their wheels. I was so freaking tired that I didn't go with them to get the corals in a tub that I have set in my brother-in-law's house (will be staying there for 10 days). They were concerned about my corals and all I said was "I really don't care about them at this point anymore; if they die, let them be". Again I will have to repack and move everything to the new place after 10 days. Fill up the tank, mix salt, blah blah blah. He kept the corals in the boxes in his garage (possibly) and unluckily, tonight is cold over here in Calgary. I am seriously cursing myself for getting this big tank. Seriously :cry:

Lets hope for the best and see how things go. I will possibly have to start recollecting pieces from reefers :)

Oh well, there are bigger craps in life than a tank but then again, this tank is just too much...........

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That is crappy but understandable moving always sucks and mix in the fact of moving a SW system is added stress especially the larger the tank the larger the headache.

Hope it all works out for you in the end

Raied this summers been the ****s for you.

When your ready ill help you with live stock. I always have frags. You just pay the shipping and we will get you going again

If you want, you can move some stuff to my tank until you get yours up and running again. I can help move it both ways if needed!

I don't have much I can offer as far as restocking is concerned though.

Sorry to hear that your not having a great time.... I'm not looking forward to the day I need to move my tank! I honestly have no idea what or how I'm gonna do it!

Moving a reef tank
 

Mr Saltwater tank did a lecture on moving a reef tank during last years macna! I hope he comes out with that guide! So useful. Time and time again I see posts about moving a reef tank.

I moved my 90 gallon and lost 150 dollar in fish. One was a beautiful kole tang. I had 10 or so buckets full of rock, fish and coral mixed up so I didn't have fish fighting etc. unloading everything I wanted to get the rock in first so as not to crush my gobies. So I got busy putting everything in and put a bucket to the side with the lid on so I didn't get a jumper. After it was all done I moved my furniture and all the less important stuff :)

End of the day I say down on the couch and admire my rushed new aqua scape. Then I saw the bucket I put to the side, the only bucket with a lid on it. Opened it to find almost everything dead, the kole was alive but didn't survive the night in the tank. A cleaner survived in the bucket and is still alive today.

Lesson learned. I'll be doing a lot more prep in future. Very disheartening, the financial aspect sucks but the fish were very nice and it could have been avoided.

I feel for you man. My wife and I just moved into our new place. Moving my tank was obviously part of the move, and I was dreading it.
Today is the 2nd day after moving my 90, and it went off with great success.
I haven't had one thing go down or die.
The major thing I found was if you move in the summer,
it's much easier.
Speed was the key for me, and using as much old water as possible. I was literally working out getting all my crap packed into garbage containers and pails.
I put all my fish in one container, and kept it heated.
The rock and corals went into separate containers.
Took probably around 7 hours.
Sure happy I won't have to do it again for a long time.

Sorry for the late replies everyone. Been busy the whole day with the move and putting the corals in a tub with saltwater. Corals seem fine (they were sitting in a garage for the whole night till after noon) but the fishes (4 chromis) and the cleaner shrimp died :( I have the skimmer running in the tub so I just hope they survive till they are put back into the tank.

Thanks :)

Thank you so much for the offer Nick :) Well in terms of this hobby, you are right, summer has been crappy but in other terms related to scholarship and work, it has been great. Best part is, I have been able to isolate my feelings from my hobby and other activities of mine; previously I used to moan and now when crap happens in this hobby, I just follow what Brad once wrote: there can be things much worse than just dying corals :)

Thanks a lot for the offer Sheena. Really appreciate it :) I have moved it to my brother-in-laws house and will again have to move possibly 13/14th (after I get my tank filled with water at the new place). If I see the tub is not working for the corals, I will give you a knock :)

Thanks :) Well I did learn some things about moving corals; planing is a must which I didn't do other than having saltwater ready at my temporary resident beforehand. Oh well, atleast I am confident that my next move, although tiring it will be, will be much more efficient to say the least.

Mark does give come nice advice. Didn't see that video though. Wish I would have :(

Sorry to hear about your loss :( Well I lost 4 chromis and the cleaner shrimp. Financially, its no hit and I wasn't worried about it but in the end, its the attachment to those livestock. I have a neon green birdnest that is now almost 6" across which I grew from a 1" frag. That's why I didn't feel like selling them since I have put too much work for the corals to let them go; it was more like "I would let them die but won't let them die"...sounds bad its all about attachment.

Sorry to hear of your bad luck. Upgrading to the 70G is'nt so bad. It's a good thing. The bad thing is the move than having to do it again when you get possesion of your new place. You'd be in the same situation if you still had the smaller tank. Being too tired is no reason to let your corals die:biggrin:.
Good luck and I hope they survive.

Bill you have no clue now tired I got with the move; it was like I felt like killing myself; it was that bad. And my biggest problem is I panic a lot. But a smaller tank would have resulted in less mess, less buckets to pull around. Coral wise, maybe not so much (I had 50+ corals in my 20 gallon after all :P); but its about the huge amount of water and all the buckets. And the LRs!

Till now, corals look fine. They are in their tub. Running powerhead, heater and the skimmer with the LRs. Dosed prodibio. Keeping my fingers crossed. Don't really care about browning out since I will be able to bring out the color in no time but I just hope they survive.

Well at least you have a bunch of locals that'll help you out with restocking.

Look on the bright side of things Raied your moving to a place where the landlord wants to see your tank and by the sounds of it you will be at this place for some time to come and if and when you do move again you'll have all this moving experience under your belt and you'll be an expert:biggrin: