Moving a reef tank...

I moved an established tank of this size about 8 mos ago (in the summer)
The trick with the deep sand bed is to remove it and put it in a pail with holes in the bottom, so it moves wet, but not standing in water. Before removing it from the tank, remove all the water you want to save ( I tried to save most of it) and then stir up the sand bed really well, it will stink and be
black and murky, now siphon off the sludge as much as you can and get rid of it. Now load up the sand into the pail with the drainage holes, and its ready to add back to the new setup. I didn't get any cycling after moving, and lost no livestock. I did do fairly frequent water changes for the first while
and tested water alot. The live rock I just transported in styrofoam boxed with wet newpaper over top. I guess the big concern will be keeping the temperature warm while transporting. Good luck and hope this helps. Karen

[danny zubot]

I just moved my 65 gallon system a couple of months ago. Logistically you want to make sure you have plenty of buckets or water tight containers for everything. I used 5 gallon salt buckets for everything, fish, live rock, corals and water. I filled each bucket with a few rocks then added water. I only filled them 3/4 to the top so that they weren't too heavy. Fish went into a few different buckets, and corals in a few other buckets, all with lids. I managed to salvage about 65% of my original water this way.

As far as the sand bed goes, I've always cleaned mine befor re-using it. There are a ton of nasties laying at the bottom of a sand bed that will surely spike the levels once the system is setup. I used tap water, and rinsed it until the water was no longer brown.

I think the most important tip in moving a tank is to make sure that you have plenty of salt water waiting at your place for when you start to set up the system. You never really know how much water you will loose. You may find that some of the water is too dirty by the time you get home to put back into the tank. I would recommend having at least 50 gallons for the tank you are buying.

Good luck, and welcome to Canreef!

[fishbait]

Thanks guys! We went to see the tank today and it looks great, so we'll be putting your tips to use shortly!

One other question though: if we have some live rock in the sump, how important is it to have a light running down there? Does LR need a solid dose of light each day, or can it live in the dark?

[marie]

Live rock doesn't need light you will just get sponges and things growing on it instead of algae

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Without light, the coraline algae & any polyps & such will die out.

[Myanth]

Having some liverock in the dark is good as there are strains of very good de-nitrifying bacteria that grow in the dark. I don't have any myself becuase I like to see it.

As far as the sand bed goes, I would agree strongly with washing it. Drain all the water from the tank that you want to keep and then start moving stuff. Even a rock lifted out of the sand can release some gross stuff that can cloud the water in a hurry.

I would recommend transporting the liverock in water at a constant temperature as you never know what is living inside of it. I found a couple of emerald crabs and a porcelain that didn't make the trip after I moved some rock in a cooler with damp newspaper. It can be transported damp but you will always have some die off and the resulting ammonia increase.

Good luck.

[Raf]

We move reef tanks frequently, are most valuable tools are those 20gallon plastic trash cans with lids, that way you can place some of your rock in there with water, or all your fish, or your corals, whatever.....you can even place the trash cans in your truck and pump the water out of the aquarium directly to your truck bins and then back ouit when you get to your destination. Coolers come useful as well.

good luck, it will take a good part of your day to move and set-up.