I'm moving, need some advice.
 

I’m moving at the end of this month and have never moved a tank before. I want to take this opportunity to do some work on it since I’m taking it apart anyways. I’m only moving about 5 minutes down the road and we have access to the new house right now because nobody’s in it.

Currently I have the following:

75g Display Tank
20g (approx) acrylic sump
Old black stand with no extra room underneath and I don’t trust it anymore

Switching it up to:
75g Display Tank (same one)
50g glass sump
New wood stand with enough room for the 50g and more, its built oversize to have about a 10” ledge around front and side)

Basically, I’m using the same display tank but moving it onto a new stand and new sump. I'm going to switch over from a durso to a herbie overflow and redo all the plumbing to work into the new sump.

Here’s the questions I have:

I’m wondering if I should setup a temporary tank at the new house for a bit then transfer everything into the new setup? Or take them out of the 75g, put in buckets/bags and move them directly to the new location in the same day? I’m worried that moving them to a temp setup and then a week later moving them into the display would stress them out.

Can I use some Rubbermaid tubs, or new garbage cans for the temporary setup, rather than finding tanks?

I’ve never had anything between the tank and stand before so I want to get some foam or something, what should I get?

How much of the old saltwater should I use in the new tank?

Should the sand be ‘washed’ before putting it in the new tank? I’ve heard about mixing the sand up and it releases crap into the water?

Thanks for reading through, any advice is appreciated.

-Tony

Are you going to be able to do most of the upgrades, aside from plumbing I guess, before the move? If the fish are going to be out of their "home" for longer then a couple of hours then I would probably tell you to go for the temporary set up. If all you will have to do is plumb everything then I would probably suggest that you just move everything.

Does that make sense?

I usually try to keep as much of my old water as possible, however if its super dirty I will toss it. I wait until the end though to toss the old water, just in case. Also make sure you have new salt water on hand for the move.

As for the sand, there are lots of methods so I don't really want to comment. In the past I have always left some water to cover the sand if I'm just moving the tank. Otherwise I just keep a few cups and start a new sandbed.

Good luck!

Heres what I did when I moved.

Siphon half the water out to save to the new tank (if possible, you could use less if you had to). Siphon more water out to rock tubs (this water will be disposed of later). Take water down as far as you can (remove any rock that isn't sitting on the sandbed as the water lowers but leave the rock that is on the sandbed until last). Siphon water to about 4 inches or so. Remove last of rock to rubbermaid tubs. Catch fish and either put them in a tub/bucket by themselves or with a few corals. Don't put the fish in with any larger rock or you risk dead fish with a landslide.

At this point, really I would plan on ditching the sand. No matter how old it is, its full of crap and the amount of rinsing you'll have to do to even get it reasonably clean is immense. If anything is going to cause you problems down the road it will probably be the sandbed (JMO).

So move everything to your new destination, get the tank on the stand and plumb it to the sump. Put your sand in and place a large black garbage bag overtop and put a bowl in the middle, fill your tank pouring water into the bowl until the garbage bag and bowl start to float. Then continue to pour water in on top of the garbage bag. This reduces the cloudiness of the water since your sandbed isn't getting stirred up. Put your rock back in when the water is full by half. Get the tank filled, then make sure that the temperature is all about the same as the tubs/buckets before you put your corals and fish back in. You may have to stick a heater in and wait a bit (or alternatively you could heat up some RODI water and add salt to it and pour it in if you're in a hurry).

Et voila! That should take up about 10-12 hours of your day. :biggrin:

be very carefull.
I had a horrible experience moving my tank and apparently did damage to the seams of the tank in the move as it's leaking now.
None of the inhabitants I had ever seemed to be happy after the move, even after upgrading flow, skimming AND lighting.

I'm pretty much going to have to start from near scratch again....
so really be careful to make it as stress free a process as you can.
save yourself the shame....

@ Michika

Is it cool to use large rubbermaid tubs and new garbage cans for a temp setup? I've got extra powerheads and heaters already.

The tank has only been running for 6 months, so the sand is pretty new, and pretty damn clean (to my eye), its a nice bright white, doesn't seem to be alot of crap in it. Am I stil running a big risk f I use it again? I'm trying to keep the budget down so I'd rather not buy another 60lbs :)

Is there any risk to using all new saltwater?


Think the sand is bad even if its only 6 months old and looks pretty clean? I'd rather not buy another 60 pounds.

Thanks for the tip, I will definitely be taking my time with this. I even booked Friday off of work so I can move the tank separate from everything else on Saturday.

-Tony

No, but make sure the SG and temp are exact (or darn close). Its just that the used saltwater has already been conditioned/has various good bacteria in it etc. Might be a bit easier on corals and fish. You can always just acclimate corals/fish to the new water as well. Or you could go with using like 10-20% or something.




I'd put it in a bucket or two, fill with water, stir with your hand or a stick or something, get the crud to rise to the top, then pour off the water and repeat this as many times as it takes to get the water less murky looking. Odds are the water will be a disgusting greyish brown. Try to get it just light grey or white.

Good thinking, theres nothing like being rushed while you're trying to move a tank.

Thanks Christy, great advice! I'm going to go with cleaning the sand to keep the budget down.