Moving a 125

michelle l

Member
Later this year, probably in the summertime, my husband and I are moving to a new place. I have moved tanks before, but never one as big as we have now.
How would you recommend moving a 125 FO? I know to be able to actually lift it, all of the sand will have to be removed and kept wet in buckets. Will that kill all of the bacteria before we are able to reassemble the tank? Does it need air movement during that the time it's in buckets? We are moving only a few miles.
We are debating buying a new, smaller tank and getting it cycled at the new home before we ever begin to make the move, so that we have a place to keep the fish in the event that the move triggers a new cycle in the 125. (we only have a few fish right now and they are small, because the tank just cycled not long ago so we have went easy on the bioload) We need a QT tank anyway and later on I could use it for that purpose. Would that be a wise decision?
If I did set up another tank as a temporary tank in case the 125 cycles again, what kind of setup would you recommend? I can transfer an Emperor 400 from the 125 to the smaller tank as filtration. What else might be needed as a temp. setup? We have a Royal Gamma, a Maroon Clown, an Emerald Crab, some Turbo Snails (not sure how many), and a small Yellow Tang. I know the Tang can't live in a small tank, but can we pull it off as a temporary measure?
All of these questions are *just in case* the 125 goes into a new cycle after the move.
 

mana_man19

Member
What shape is the 125? Is it a really long one, or one of the more square ones? How many lbs. of sand and rock are in this tank? How many miles is a few?
 

michelle l

Member
It's a longer one, 6 feet long I believe. We have 180 pounds of sand, and currently we only have about 30 pounds of LR in it.
Edited to add...a few miles probably two to three miles from our house to the new one.
 

jester805

Member
That's a tough one to answer. Just in my own personal opinion, if it were ME doing the move, I think I would take the 125 a part and move things one at a time.
Get a bunch of water jugs (or buckets or rubbermaid tubs) and start filling them with the water from your tank. Maybe get a 10 gallon tank (for $10 at PetSmart) to keep the fish in temporarily. Once you have the 125 down to where you can lift it....move it to the new place. Start dumping all of your water & sand back into it. Once the sand settles, check your levels and add the fish back.
Oh, and you'll want to make sure you keep the 10 gallon heated. :yes:
 
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