moving Tank Questions

Jason McK · #1 04-22-2005, 03:13 PM

I will be moving my 75G and my 40G in the next few weeks. I will have to do it very fast as to not risk loosing coral or fish, but I have come up with a few questions I'm hoping I can get some help with.

Sand bed. There is no way I can move the sand bed without disturbing it. So is it best to kill it and rise it really well, Just put it back and ensure I run the tank until my readings are good and then add my Live stock, Buy New Sand, or go bare bottom?

Coral, Should I pull it all off the rock work and remount it after the move?

I would like to do some house keeping while the tank is down, like deal with some hair algae and a mantis. Will dipping my rock into a fresh water bath to flush the Mantis and then scrubbing the algae off cause the die off to create cycle type levels of Ammonia?

Thanks
J

danny zubot · #2 04-22-2005, 03:53 PM

I'm moving/upgrading my tank next week aswell, what a pain in the a##!
I'll be moving as much water as I can into storage bins in the new place. I'll add my live rock and fish into these bins as well. All of my corals are at my friend's place until after the new setup is ready to go. As for the sand bed, I'll use the last 10 gallons of water in the old tank to rinse the sand of a much detritus as possible, but I won't rinse the sand with fresh water. I think a lot of the bacteria will remain in the sand even though it has been disturbed, but there will be some die off so levels will be closely monitored after.

Last time I moved this tank I didn't even have an amonia spike after setting it up again. The live rock and some new salt water will ensure that the tank stays healthy.

Good luck!

Jason McK · #3 04-22-2005, 05:50 PM

Thanks Danny, I haven't figured out if I'll keep my Sand bed but I like the Idea of rinsing it with tank water.
I also had an Idea of placing a shallow bowl in the tank and fill it into the bowl. that way the bowl will fill and slowly overflow for less disturbance of the replaced sand.

J

Aquattro · #4 04-22-2005, 05:58 PM

When I moved houses a few years back with my 75, I left the sand right where it was. If you're going to keep the sand, that's what I would do again.
If you have a fairly deep sandbed, you'll need 3 or 4 people to carry it!

Willow · #5 04-22-2005, 06:45 PM

i guess i better stock up muscle relaxants

danny zubot · #6 04-22-2005, 07:08 PM

That sounds like a good idea for a small tank. I think I'm gonna scrap my sand bed and see how I like it.

rusty · #7 04-22-2005, 10:30 PM

Well I wish you luck! When I moved my tanks over a couple of weeks ago I removed the sand bed and put in a new one. I have been watching the water levels and have not seen a big spike but I have lost two SPS,two LPS,my acro has not open its polyps in a while, My xenia does not open all the way and same with my star poylps. The funny thing is that my BTA has never looked better. I just hope I don't have anything else die. I hope you have good luck better than me at least

Jason McK · #8 05-05-2005, 04:46 AM

So I think this is the plan. Since I have the worst hair algae problem and a good crop of Aptasia I am going to remove as many corals as I can from the rock. I think this will be the safest way also to transport them. I will then remove everything from the tank.
I will clean the glass and rinse it well while it is still empty. Then put the same sand back in. I will try to strain it. Then clean all the rock as best I can without killing it. I will set up a tub of saltwater for the cleaning. Then replace the rock. I imaging I will then have some wait time with the coral and fish still in holding tanks until the water is clear and tested.
I will then replace the corals and fish.

What do you think, Anyone have any negatives I haven't thought of?

J

Beverly · #9 05-05-2005, 01:52 PM

Jason,

Personally, I would go BB with the new set ups. But, if you're intent on having sand, here is what I have done in the past moving a sandbed:

- make sure you have lots of NSW made up at the new place to replace water you will lose during the move. Scrubbing off hair algae and a good swishing in lower salinity water (say, 1.016 to 1.020) will remove detritus that has gathered in the crevices of your rock without harming your bacteria. Don't know how much LR you have, but be prepared for the scrubbing and swishing process to dirty your water quickly. When the water gets too dirty, dump it and start with more clean water.
- once you get the livestock out of the tank and put in buckets of tankwater, there should be 2"-3" of water left with the sandbed. Get a large rigid plastic spoon and stir up the sandbed. This will off-gas the anaerobic gases as well as loosen the detritus, leaving you with stinky filthy water

Move the sandbed to one side so you can siphon out the dirty water, then move the sandbed into pails for transport.
- your idea of cleaning the walls of the tank while empty is excellent. Some or all of the coralline and nuisance algae will die while the tank is dry. Cleaning it and rinsing it off will help prevent ammonia spikes from this dead stuff.

The rest of your plans sound good. Good luck with the move

danny zubot · #10 05-05-2005, 02:22 PM

Hey Jason, I just moved/upgraded my tank this past weekend. I siphoned out as much tank water as I could into sealable buckets, and for the livestock bins. The last 15 gallons are what I used to swish of my live rock, after which I gave the sand bed a good swirl. The water left in the tank after was black, and siphoned right into the drain. I had a mixture of aragonite and fine crushed coral which I didn't like. I used a screan type strianer to separate the two types, it didn't take very long at all. I've moved sand beds in the past and they always die, so I think rinsing the sand under tap water to really clean it is the best way to sterilize the bed some what. I'm left with about a 1 inch bed in my new 65 gallon that I will re-seed soon.