I THINK I'M SCREWED!

Well, this is how it is. this summer i will be buying a house. thats pretty cool and all, but i have a big problem now. my reef tanks have to move with me! i know all the procedures on how to move the tanks, but, i have no clue what to do. just about every piece of rock has coral on it. does anybody know what i should do? theese are big rocks with big corals on them. i don't want to do anything to harm my creatures.
 

kijak

Member
can you use another tank or refugium, and move one tank at a time, Saving the water, Then when setup, move the creatures over and then move the rest of the tanks. Need lots of buckets this way.
 
the only thing i can think of is, to keep my apartment for another month or two after i move, and just set up my new tank (180 gallon reef) and pray all goes smoothly! this really sucks! i have to move my farm tanks too!
 

predator

Active Member
I just went through a situation much like yours. Here's what I did. I went to walmart and bought several of those big tup-a-ware containers. The ones I always see people make sumps out of. I also bought eight 6 gallon gas jugs(make sure they do not smaell like gas). Then went home and syponed water in to the containers. Placed all the rock that had corals attached and some fish. Finished syphoning the rest of my water into the gas cans. Gently loaded evrything up, got it to the new house and set evrything back up. Cleaned out the containers and returned it all. They will take the big containers back no problem and the only reason they will not take gas cans back is if they actually had gas. So you can move it all and not loose any money. Hope this helps.
 

kelly

Member
When you move, you might want to take pictures of the tank from several angles,to see how the rocks are laid out. When removing the rocks, put them in the large containers that Predator recommended, keeping the rock in order from the way it was taken out of the tank. Label each container, and when adding the rock to it, do each in the same order. For example left to right starting at the front. This way you will know approximately where the rocks came from in the tanks.
When draining the water, just remove it to the same level as the sand or put a small hole in the sand to drain the water slightly below sand level. This way you will not disrupt the DSB to much, and move the tanks with the sand in them.
When adding the water at the new location, place plastic over the top of the sand, and add your water, this will keep the tank from clouding to much, and will keep the DSB intact. When I set up one of my tanks, I used aluminum foil to cover the DSB when adding the water, and I got no sand disturbance.
I hope this helps, and I hope the move is not too far away. If you have any other questions, you can e-mail me at Kelly@Pathway.net
 
Thanks kelly! i plan on running my vortex diatom filter when setting up the tanks again. that way, any clouding that accurs will be gone in minutes! i love that filter, and i don't know what i would do without it!
oh yeah kelly. i didn't forget about you! one day i'll get those pics to you, if i ever get a break from the world! :D
 

aj77

Member
LOTR-
Have you read about this guy's big move?
<a href="http://www.cyberreefguru.com/misc/move/move.html" target="_blank">http://www.cyberreefguru.com/misc/move/move.html</a>
Might help some...
AJ :)
 

taku

Member

100#'s approx. of lr never looked so skimpy :D
That's a picture I took just 2 weeks ago when I setup my 120 after tearing down my 55. It took me 2 full days *taking my time* to complete the project of moving everything to the new tank but believe me.. the kiddie pool was a LIFESAVER! In fact I think the fish really liked the kiddie pool's size :D
Prior to this transfer, I had to move my 55 from a 2nd floor apartment, to our new house. Let me say PURE HELL! But it CAN be done without any hitches :)
When moving, I used those 5-6 gallon buckets from Home Depot, filled each one up with water and put a piece of rock *or more depending on what coral was on the rock*. I also used the buckets to transfer the fish and sand.
My suggestion to you is get to the new house.. setup a kiddie pool with some mixed saltwater. Fill your buckets from tank water, bring it over and begin to fill the kiddie pool with your tank water and inhabitants. That way you can move the entire tank FIRST, then begin to setup the tank again when you are rested the following day and you'll have plenty of time to setup all your plumbing without rushing.
I'm somewhat of a beginner but I didn't lose a single fish or coral
<--- proud of self :D
-Mariam
 

ky

Member
LOTR
I don't know if you j=have the money for it, but when I moved, I had my LFS do it for me. I had two tanks (120, 90) that I had through most of med school and residency and all of that crap. In other words, they were like 8 years old. My new house had the tanks built into them (75, 90, 120), so everything was new. I used my 2 old (only 2 years old) eco-systems plus one more for the new tank, but I had all new lights and stuff. There is no way that I could have done iot on my own. My wife and I went on a 3 week vacation, came home, and it was all done. I did have to do alot of re-situating of the contents. I didn't lose a single thing.
 

maryc137

Member
I also had the LFS do it for me. 6 years ago we moved to a new house and had a 65 and 85 FO tanks. (Glad we weren't into reef yet) Anyway, the LSF guy had all the large water containers already and he brought his brother to help, and only charged us $100. What a deal. We were pooped from moving all the other stuff, so it was wonderful to have the tanks done for us. It would be a lot harder with a reef tank, though.
 

reeferx

Member
Hi Lordofthereef,
I put all my live rock in styrofoam coolers with a little water and thick wet paper towels on them.
I put all my coral and fish in separate thick fish bags, double bagged, double water and double 100% oxygen from the oxygen tank at the lfs. I then put all this in styofoam coolers and shoved it in my Honda Civic with my tank and left over water in plastic containers. It took me two days, but I got everything from NYC to Chicago and set it up right away. No deaths, but my back hurt big time.
Lots of good ideas here. (Esp. pics!)
Good luck man!
Matt
(OOPS! I just re-read the question. Sorry. Sounds like people have it covered though. ) ;)
 
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