[mike31154]

I purchased my current 77 gal setup from a lady in Richmond & transported the whole works here to Vernon in a station wagon during the winter. Total aquarium newb at the time, except for some online research before making the purchase. With the teardown, transport & setup I'd say at least 10 hours or more elapsed. Wrapped live rock in newspaper soaked with tank water & placed in containers for the trip. Tank was drained down to the sandbed with a little water left in. I did not transport any fish or livestock since the lady only had a small clownfish that she transferred to her smaller tank.

I assume your move will be a lot shorter than mine, so should be a little easier other than the fact that it's a larger tank. Best advice I can come up with is get as much info from the person selling the system as you can, have plenty of containers, buckets etc. on hand and a few very strong individuals. Pretty much everything in the tank except for the substrate will have to be removed for the move. That's where the containers come in. Use them to move the livestock & rockwork. Keep some of the old water but have a ton of fresh saltwater ready to go for setting up again once the move is complete. Have twice as much water ready actually, if you can. You may want to keep the fish in a container for a few days after setting up so you'll need extra powerheads & heaters. Get the appropriate test kits and test the water after the move. There's bound to be at least a small cycle, so testing is imperative before transferring the fish back in there. Once the numbers are good, you can start putting the livestock back into the tank.

Does the system come with a sump? A few more details about the set up would be good to see if there's any additional advice to aid in the move.