Mike please post after your move. I'm going to be doing the same thing here pretty soon, after hubby finishes the stand. Only difference is I'm using all the 220 lbs of sand I have now in my 55 and 20. Too expensive around here to replace that much. I'll be interested in how your move goes. I think the sand first, plastic cover and bowl is a good idea. On moving livestock, I just moved the 55 to re-floor and we used a rubbermaid storage container, siphoned most of the water down to a few inches from the sand bed, put all the rock with anenomes, coral etc in baggies with tank water, laid them and the live rock in the storage container. Once 4 guys moved the tank were able to move everything back into the tank and arrange the live rock, no problems at all. We used one of the powerhead motors and the siphon hose to pull the water back up and out of the container into the tank. Hope this helps a little.