Moving an Aquarium

[jpence151]

Hi, I am a second time newbie. Although I have had aquariums in the past (15 years ago, 80, 2x50's) I am know watching things more closely. I am Moving a 120 gal. to another wall. Here's the setup
120 gal with two wet/dry filters (150 gal each) with one running skimmer.
50# of LR.
2 x tomato clown,
1 banded shrimp,
1 wrasse,
1 yellow tang,
Emerald Crab,
choc. chip star,
and a few snails.
Tank has been setup for about 6 weeks. No cycle to speak of. LR came from 45 gal with three of the fish. I had very Hi nitrates after buying and moving the 45 (I blame the Nitrates on the 4 hour transporting and setup of the astablised tank along with the fact the gravel in the tank was a mess). Did several water changes and could not bring them down. So I started the 120 with all new water then after two days acclimated the rock and fish over. After three weeks I finally saw some Nitrates but not Ammonia, or Nitrites.
My question, if I put all live rock fish in buckets. Drain the 120 into trash cans and move the aquarium and put all back into tank, will I likely see Nitrate problems again? I am guessing that I will have the move done within 2 - 3 hours.
TIA
John

 

[jeffro8332]

on a smaller scale. i just helped my friend move his 55 and we used all the same water -10% for a water change. that was 2 weeks ago and he has had no spike problems or any of that.
macro also lowers nitrates.
HTH
J

 

[jpence151]

This is what I was hoping... Don't remember having problems before, but I gave the hobbie up because my tank from 15 years ago crashed with some very nice fish that I had for a few years. I didn't want this to happen again even thought it's a new setup. Just don't want to stress the fish more than necessary..
Thanks for the reply.....

 

[jpence151]

OK I have moved the aquarium, I used 5 gal buckets to store the rocks in, I placed the buckets in the aquarium and placed the rocks without exposing them to air. I put the remaining water in trash cans, and the fish in food containers. Took about 3 hours to do the whole move. It's been 5 days and all looks well so far.

 

[wakeskater]

jeffro8332 how did you move the tank its self wasnt it still heavy?

 

[jpence151]

Yes it was still heavy, but with all rock and water out it was about 300 - 400 lbs. I bought some of the pads from Walmart advertised for moving furniture and used 4 of the large pads... Lifted each end of the stand enough to put the pads under the corners and then I pushed it like it was on rollers...When I got it where I wanted it I removed the pads... The pads have neopreme rubber on the top and the bottom is like teflon, very slick makes it much easier to move things on carpet....

 

[wakeskater]

o thats really smart:thinking:

 

[saltymom]

Those moving pads are really smart, it saves you from having a major backache the next day too!! You can moved the heaviest things with ease using those things. I moved a stacked up set of bunkbeds to the other side of the room once using those things..it was like pushing air!
Im so glad everything went well with your move... I hope I NEVER have to move mine! But in looking at my livingroom, I have no idea where we are going to have a Christmas tree this year.. at my moms house I guess!