MOVING HELP PLEASE

NemoanDory · #1 02-14-2012, 01:49 PM

Sooooo the boyfriend seen how upset I was and was able to convience his brother to allow it in the basement of their house (they bought it together the basement area is his brothers area)

SO I am moving it!

NOW I need a little advice as to how to transfer everything from the existing tank to the new tank. I am NOT looking forward to this part lol.

So if anyone has moved a tank and done a huge upgrade at the same time and has some imput it would be greatly appreciated.

The tank I have right now is 110 gal (for sale in the add section) Upgrading to a 240 gal tank.

Once everything is settled in and doing well I will add photos

Coralgurl · #2 02-14-2012, 02:16 PM

So happy to hear this has worked out for you!! Good luck with the move!!

NemoanDory · #3 02-14-2012, 03:20 PM

Thank you Coralgurl

I am very excited about this but very worried with such a big move

I have lots of nice corals and am very worried about losing them

Gripenfelter · #4 02-14-2012, 03:32 PM

I've done the "big move" twice.

Here's what I did...

Set up new tank.

Every water change add water from the old tank to the new tank. If you are pressed for time I would transfer over as much of the water from the old tank to the new tank to minimize break-in time. Top up the rest with new saltwater.

Set up sump/pump/powerheads and optimize flow rates.

I added lots of micro-bacter and cycle to keep the bio filtration at optimum.

Brought the temp of the water up to match the temp of the old tank within 0.5 degrees.

Place all of the rock in the new tank and do some preliminary aquascaping.

Place the coral in the new tank and mount it.

Catch the fish and transport them in 5 gallon buckets to the new tank. Add Prime to the tank to help de-stress the fish.

Add lights.

Stir up and rinse the sand in the OLD tank daily or every few hours. Let the garbage get filtered out. Vacuum it and then transport to new tank. I put in about 1 KG of sand from the old tank to the new tank daily to minimize fogging and prevent nitrate shock. I left one powerhead in the old tank to keep the sand live in the old tank until I was ready to move all of it.

Monitor all your levels daily for the next 2 weeks.

I have nil nitrates and ammonia from day 1.

*Knock on wood*.

NemoanDory · #5 02-14-2012, 04:40 PM

Thank you so much! Yes very pressed for time I have to have EVERYTHING out of this house and into the new place by march 1st already bought lots of bacerial stuff.

I am going to use new sand as my sandbed was used before and not very nice. Going to go with a very thin layer of the sugar like white sand.

I am going to try and bring over at least 90gals of water from the old tank to the new. I went to walmart and go 30gal rubbermaid tubs to transport the water in.

I have lots of bags and styrofoam boxes to transport the fish and corals in.

UHG I will be so happy when this is all done.

reefwars · #6 02-14-2012, 05:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NemoanDory

Thank you so much! Yes very pressed for time I have to have EVERYTHING out of this house and into the new place by march 1st already bought lots of bacerial stuff.

I am going to use new sand as my sandbed was used before and not very nice. Going to go with a very thin layer of the sugar like white sand.

I am going to try and bring over at least 90gals of water from the old tank to the new. I went to walmart and go 30gal rubbermaid tubs to transport the water in.

I have lots of bags and styrofoam boxes to transport the fish and corals in.

UHG I will be so happy when this is all done.

its really not hard the idea is to get everything over as fast as you can and avoid any big changes.

ive kept many sandbeds def alot more than i went new and the idea is not to stir it up just bring the water to the sand line and carry tank like that, when putting water back in do it through a pump so it doesnt stir to much sand but that doesnt matter as your going new

extra people(min 4 i find), 2 trucks, extra mix water, and a good understanding of curse words.

set your display up and get everyone in their, then work on sump and everything else later.

extra plumbing parts if need be:P

i would use as much of the actual tank water not just whats left from water changes, i would use 80% tank water and 20% new water.

fresh carbon and prime.

its also a good time to think about any fish you dont want, any rock thats been a pest or any pest anemones or inverts as they will be easy to get at now

cheers and good luck

Gripenfelter · #7 02-14-2012, 05:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NemoanDory

Thank you so much! Yes very pressed for time I have to have EVERYTHING out of this house and into the new place by march 1st already bought lots of bacerial stuff.

I am going to use new sand as my sandbed was used before and not very nice. Going to go with a very thin layer of the sugar like white sand.

I am going to try and bring over at least 90gals of water from the old tank to the new. I went to walmart and go 30gal rubbermaid tubs to transport the water in.

I have lots of bags and styrofoam boxes to transport the fish and corals in.

UHG I will be so happy when this is all done.

Only half fill the rubbermaid containers. They bend and bow out at the top lip. I used one as a quarantine tank once and the lip tore after 1 day of use.

Also I would transport the fish in the containers as well rather than in bags. Less stress and better temperature stability.

Seriak · #8 02-14-2012, 06:33 PM

I would also sell some of your equipment. Technology changes over the years and you may want the new LED or the new Vortech pump and if you try to sell your outdated stuff years from now you will not get much for it. Certain things don't change much so keep those, but anything techno, I would try to sell now as well.