[reeferaddict]

In the past 6 months, I have transferred my stock from a 90 into a 50, (to rebuild the 90), then back into the 90...(Keeping the 50 set up). I THEN upgraded the 50 to a 72 bowfront, and the 90 to a 135. When I did the 90/135, I kept all the fish and some corals in a spare tank, and the LR, water and sand in rubbermaids. I made up my required volume of RO/DI water and mixed in separate containers. After I did the physical tank shuffle and all the plumbing, (try to do as much of this as possible before moving ANY livestock), I removed water from the containers containing my sand, LR and livestock, started the tank fill with that, and at the same time was changing water in the containers. I added my sand & rock as soon as there was sufficient water in the tank, with the livestock being the last thing added in before filling the tank completely. Considering the hundreds of animals I have, my losses were extremely low, (1 cleaner shrimp and an arrow crab). I was careful to make sure my newly mixed water was constituted as close as possible to the system water by making sure salinity, temp, alk & calcium, iodine and strontium levels all read the same. A few of the animals got stressed during the move, but for the most part the corals opened right up with first light, and the rest have all subsequently opened up better than ever. Just remember to maintain your water parameters during the move, and keep the time out of the life support system to as little as possible. I had the added advantage of having several systems plumbed to a common sump, thereby having the ability to maintain the biological organisms in the system during the move, but you can achieve that by mixing and moving water around between containers as well. The last move took me about 48 hours start to finish... (maybe 6 hours total sleep!)... I was stressed about doing it, and planned it for a week... but now it's over and my critters are doing wonderfully!

Good luck!