I'm Moving and need to move my tank

[supersmile]

So we are moving at the end of the month and we are going to have to move our 44Gallon Saltwater tank (I have fish, coral & Invertebrates). Does anyone have any suggestions? I am really nervous about moving the tank and not causing anything to die! Please help.

[LeeR]

put all rock in 5 gallon buckets with tank water, bag all fish and corals like fish stores do when you buy something and save as much tank water as you can.. if you have a sand bed either chuck it out (easiest way to go) or leave it in the tank with just a tinny bit of water on it. do not mix the sand about.. if you end up taking the sand out you will see and smell what i mean by not mixing it up.

[Redrover]

It depends how far the move is ?
In town: rock in bucket...wet news print and cover
foam containers from fish store...one for fish...one for corals...
add water from tank
save as much water from tank...I would toss sand and replace
Out of town: rock same as above
bag fish and corals snails ect. as per fish store
toss sand
hard part would be saving water...half would help until you get
a new batch made up
Good Luck: RJ

[Aquattro]

Depends on distance. My moves have been "drain water, pick up tank and move it" . I keep the water in rented 5g water jugs. This was with a 75g setup, so a 44 should be fine as long as time out of water is less than 30 minutes. Set it as the last thing to go, first thing to set up.

[mark]

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.

[supersmile]

Thank you everyone for your replies. Luckily I am only moving 5mins away. Is it really necessary to get new sand??? What happens if I keep my existing sand? Is my tank going to cycle again?

[LeeR]

lots of waste from fish and what not settles into the sand bed and if you mix it up it releases into your water.

so if you can drain pretty much all the water except for a few mm over the send bed and then put the water back in without mixing the send bed up then you will be fine.

[Renegade]

p.s. i would keep the rock in water for the move as too ensure you do not have any die off and do not have to re-cycle.

Kyle