Anyone moved a tank??
 

I searched and still can't find any good guidelines on moving a tank.

There is a chance that I will be moving across the city (edmonton)
in about 60 days. I have :

10gl nano s.w. with corals, cuc, fish and a shrimp
10gl f.w. gold fish tank
and 1 20gl tall s.w. that I was just starting to set up 35lbs of sand, 15lbs of rock.... that's about it...

Now.... how the heck do I move these fish to a new house? put the water in buckets? leave the sand and rock in the tank? totally drain the tank?

anyone have good links? or advice?

Small tanks are easy. Remove rock and cover with damp towel or paper(falling/shifting rock can break glass) Sand can be left in the tank. Remove fish and coral and put in bags(they can be injured in a bucket). Take as much water as possible. Have some saltwater premixed in case of emergency.

is it going to be safe to add the fish back in when they get to the new house? will the LFS possible give me some bags to transport the fish? what do I do what the corals that are stuck to the rock>?

I moved my 90g with no losses, however i moved it into a 120g that i had set up already. But the principal should be the same. I put all my LR into garbage cans, fish into a styrofoam box that i got from the LFS, and same with my corals. Save as much water as you can, and have more premixed if you can. I also moved the 120g upstairs after the GF decided that there was room upstairs for it with the same technique. Both times i dripped the boxes after i had the landscaping done to avoid any shock. with your small tanks you should have no problem. Get some friends that have some SW experience, or FW for that matter if you have any, that will help make it easier.

I moved my 38 gal twice in a few months last year, with only one loss (my cleaner shrimp)

We took all the rock out and put in rubbermaid containers with tank water. Put all the fish in a 5 gal bucket with water, inverts in another tank.

Basicly left all the sand in and moved it like that.

Once set up at the new locations, we poured fresh saltwater in, (about 10 gal) set-up the rock, then added the rock water back in, then added fish, got pumps going, then did a drip on the inverts for an hour or so, and we were good to go again.

I moved my 75 twice by just removing the water. Put it in rented jugs, took it all to the new place, dumped it back in. Less than an hour. There was enough water left on the bottom to keep the fish wet, no losses. 10g should be way easier.

I wonder if it would be worth (depending on how many fish and coral you have) to drop them into a friends tank while you move and set up. Is it worth the acclimation time to 2 different tanks in as many days? This way the livestock is out of the tank a limited amount of time, and you can take a little extra time to set up the tank (no big rush anyways).

well my corals are appoxied to the rock... so will those die?
the move will all be done in one day, so if I take the tank down (all rock out and everything) when I add the water back in won't it be super cloudy... I think this move will stress me out more then the fish... I can move the tank first thing in the morning, but I don't have any means of premixing and transporting water there.. unless there is someplace where I can rent buckets....

Any water store should rent you 5g jugs with caps. If not, buy some at the grocery store. Your corals will be fine for 30 -60 minutes, keep them moist of possible. I carried my tank full of rock, with corals and fish flopping on the bottom. It was empty for almost an hour. Yes, it's more stressful to you than the fish. :)

There's some other threads around on moving (here's one) and here's what I pasted there.

I moved my FOWLR 75g across town and had no problems but had the advantage of being able to have 80-90g of fresh heated SW available at the new house. Another plus, I was able to do it a few days before the house move so had lots of time. Really would have complicated things if I had to pack the couch etc at the same time.

Drained about 25g of the original tank water into 5g pails (one for fish). Put the LR into large plastic tubs, covered with tank water. Caught the fish and placed into one of the 5g pails. Was going to scoop up the top inch of the DSB to re-establish the new but decided to go BB so didn't bother. Drained and cleaned out the rest of the tank.

Once at the new place, set the tank back up, got it leveled then added the water from the pails, placed the LR, topped up with the SW I had waiting. Drained quite of bit of the water from the one pail with the fish then added water from the tank to acclimatize. Once acclimatized, added fish to tank. Topped the tank back up with the remaining mix.

I just moved my tank, the only loss I had 1 snail and the tank it self, so I have everything in a smaller tank now.

This is what I did.

I put the water from the tank into 5 gallon buckets.

Got plastic bags from the pet store to transport the fish and snails.

Put the live rock in styro lined boxes I have and placed wet newspaper on them with a little water in the box as well.

I had another 20 gallons of water mixed and waiting at the new place just in case I needed it.

Just set the tank back up, and had the fish in 3-4 days later after I made sure there wasn't any huge ammonia spikes.

how do you not add the fish back into it.. what do I put the fish in for a few days???

I've moved my 20g about 5 times in the past 2 years and have never lost a thing (full Reef).
I just use 5 or 6 home depot or old salt bucket with secure lids.

1.) Remove as many unattached corals as you can and bag each individually.

2.) Drain water from display into 5 gal bucket and start removing live rock w/ corals attached. (just be careful with placement in the bucket) you might need 2 buckets for this.

3.) Catch fish and place in bucket with tank water all by themselves.

4.) throw all snails in bucket with rock.
(if your missing crabs or shrimp then they probably went into the rock and will show themselves in a day or so)

5.) Stir up the sand alot to remove the detritus and drain the remaining gallon or two and pour it out. You will replace this water at the new location with freshly made.
Be careful when moving the tank with sand in it, from my experience the weight can be enough to compromise the seal and cause salt creep on the tank when it is setup again.

6.) Move all this as fast as you can to the next location and start setting it up again. Water, rock, and lastly fish, worry about aquascaping another day.
Fish and all right back into the tank.

7.) make up new saltwater to top the tank up, setup your powerheads, heater, lights etc and you good to go again.

I might have missed something, but that should pretty much be the gist of it.

Good luck! a tank move can be a pretty hectic day.

I put them in my 15 gallon quarantine.

so it's looking like I move in a month...i have to be out of my apartment and into the house in the same day so premix at the other place is not an option.... I will call some lfs to see if I can rent some jugs!

Awesome thread, I'm going to be moving to Vancouver in the next couple of months and this is coming in handy!

Your LFS might hold the fish, rock, coral ect. for a while It might be worth asking, just to relieve some stress. From you!

does anyone have buckets or jugs I could borrow for a few weeks (well from april 24th - may 4th??)

Yep...for the pails and I got lids

wayne, you're amazing!!!