Advice for moving my 180?
- Thread starter hefner413
- Start date
flower
Well-Known Member
Do a SWF.com search on moving and see what comes up, I know I personally have posted big time on moving, and others have as well. If you can't find an answer to make you feel comfortable about the move...post back
The new SWF setup might have things unavailable, and we are happy to help, LOL just too lazy to post it all again if we don't have to..
n8ball2013
Member
have tons of water mixed and ready to go on hand and lots of ways to transport the water.
flower
Well-Known Member
Okay…
You need tubs, for fish, coral and rock…keep everything separate. Have EVERYTHING ready before you start.
The plan is to do this within hours. First remove your lights, heaters and filter stuff…keep everything..pads everything
Next remove the rock and put it in tubs, no water just drape newspaper over everything to keep it moist. By keeping your filter stuff and not replacing anything like pads your good bacteria should be enough to keep any small die off ammonia from the rock to a minimal.
Next remove coral if you have them and put them in a separate tub, add a power head and a mesh bag of carbon, because the corals are really stressed and will emit toxins to fight. Now this leaves your tank empty enough to catch your fish and place them in tubs, only fill tubs half way for fish and coral so it will not be too much splashing…cover the fish to prevent jumping.. but not until you are ready to move, use a power head to move the water for them, till the last moment.
Scoop out your sand and put in buckets, sand is very heavy, I only filled my buckets to 1/3[sup]rd[/sup] , there is no need to add water the sand will stay wet enough. DO NOT leave any sand in the tank to move it. Sand is too heavy and if a seal breaks your critters have nowhere to go. Better safe than sorry so don’t chance it.
Grab the stand and tank and go. First add the rock, then the sand around it, refill the tank and wait for it to settle. Keep your fish with a power head and check for stress, do an ammonia test and be ready for a quick emergency water change if need be. Don’t add any power heads at this time to the tank because it will keep the sand blowing all over.
Once the sand is settled hook up the filters, and everything except what the corals and fish need. Re-acclimate your corals and fish to the new tank setup. I would leave the lights off for the day to let everything settle down, the fish will hide and not eat and expect the corals to close up and be very stressed. Delicate inverts like shrimp or sea stars will have the hardest time in the move, so re-acclimate them really slow.
I think that covers everything, if you think of a problem just post it and we will tweak things if needed. Don’t do your move until you are very comfortable with the moving plan. If you can think of a potential problem it’s good to iron it out ahead of time.
hefner413
Active Member
So how long would you leave a 180 "settle" before adding back the livestock? I assume this is the most vulnerable stage for a spike?
Would you transport the 180 gallons of old saltwater from the old to the new setup? Or would you just make new?
Also, any special precautions that I should take in moving the 3 ft long zebra eel? I'm somewhat unsure of how to catch / move it...
Would you transport the 180 gallons of old saltwater from the old to the new setup? Or would you just make new?
Also, any special precautions that I should take in moving the 3 ft long zebra eel? I'm somewhat unsure of how to catch / move it...
flower
Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hefner413 http:///forum/thread/380073/advice-for-moving-my-180#post_3307192
So how long would you leave a 180 "settle" before adding back the livestock? I assume this is the most vulnerable stage for a spike?
Would you transport the 180 gallons of old saltwater from the old to the new setup? Or would you just make new?
Also, any special precautions that I should take in moving the 3 ft long zebra eel? I'm somewhat unsure of how to catch / move it...
If you are quick and things are well planned you should not have a spike at all. The tiny bit of die off on the rock if any would be easily handled by the good bacteria on the filter pads, sand and most of the rock. I personally always kept about half of the water, but my tank is only 90g, however in reality very little good bacteria is even in the water. If you can keep that much old water fine but if you need to swap it out, I don't think it will hurt anything.
Make up more new water then you expect to need, have it sitting and waiting at the new place. The only thing that needs to settle is the sand, it will make everything cloudy. When it settles the tank will be clear. It should not take more than a few undisturbed hours.
Since it isn't far. If you can leave your critters in tubs with power heads and maybe a heater at the old place until you have your tank set back up, then wait for the sand to settle and water is clear...THEN return and get the critters and bring them to the new home, acclimate them like you just received them from the LFS.
I am not at all familiar with your critters, I always had a reef. Will the eel get out of the tub? If so then a good tight lid would be needed, or weighted glass on top..I really don't know.
Originally Posted by Hefner413 http:///forum/thread/380073/advice-for-moving-my-180#post_3307192
So how long would you leave a 180 "settle" before adding back the livestock? I assume this is the most vulnerable stage for a spike?
Would you transport the 180 gallons of old saltwater from the old to the new setup? Or would you just make new?
Also, any special precautions that I should take in moving the 3 ft long zebra eel? I'm somewhat unsure of how to catch / move it...
If you are quick and things are well planned you should not have a spike at all. The tiny bit of die off on the rock if any would be easily handled by the good bacteria on the filter pads, sand and most of the rock. I personally always kept about half of the water, but my tank is only 90g, however in reality very little good bacteria is even in the water. If you can keep that much old water fine but if you need to swap it out, I don't think it will hurt anything.
Make up more new water then you expect to need, have it sitting and waiting at the new place. The only thing that needs to settle is the sand, it will make everything cloudy. When it settles the tank will be clear. It should not take more than a few undisturbed hours.
Since it isn't far. If you can leave your critters in tubs with power heads and maybe a heater at the old place until you have your tank set back up, then wait for the sand to settle and water is clear...THEN return and get the critters and bring them to the new home, acclimate them like you just received them from the LFS.
n8ball2013
Member
you may want to look into a diatom filter to help clear the water faster. Some LFS will rent it out for new setups. its relatively cheap though compared to what we spend on this hobby.
flower
Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by n8ball2013 http:///forum/thread/380073/advice-for-moving-my-180#post_3307229
you may want to look into a diatom filter to help clear the water faster. Some LFS will rent it out for new setups. its relatively cheap though compared to what we spend on this hobby.
This is new...something I have ever heard of.
The water only looks cloudy until the sand settles to the bottom of the tank. Then again I forgot to ask...how long has this 180 been up and has the sand been moved around or sitting compact and untouched?
If the eel likes to dig we don't have a problem, and if the not, the sand being stirred when it has been undisturbed for a long tiome could release toxins locked deep inside. if that's the case you might have to rinse the sand using old tank water to get it cleared up before putting it back in the tank.
Originally Posted by n8ball2013 http:///forum/thread/380073/advice-for-moving-my-180#post_3307229
you may want to look into a diatom filter to help clear the water faster. Some LFS will rent it out for new setups. its relatively cheap though compared to what we spend on this hobby.
This is new...something I have ever heard of.
The water only looks cloudy until the sand settles to the bottom of the tank. Then again I forgot to ask...how long has this 180 been up and has the sand been moved around or sitting compact and untouched?
If the eel likes to dig we don't have a problem, and if the not, the sand being stirred when it has been undisturbed for a long tiome could release toxins locked deep inside. if that's the case you might have to rinse the sand using old tank water to get it cleared up before putting it back in the tank.
hefner413
Active Member
The 180 has been up for a couple years. The sand has moved around some, but not much. The eel lives in a 3inch pvc, thus doesn't dig much. So there is definitely a lot of older untouched sand in the bottom of the tank. So you would recommend rinsing this with some old water? Makes sense.