Moving an aquarium

[the infamous sea cucumber]

Here is the scoop. I bought my aquarium a few years back, set it up and had it running a year before i went off to college. Im out of the dorms now and about to move into an apartment and i need my tank back! (I cry myself to sleep every night....that serious.)
Its 75 gal, probably close to 100 lbs. of live rock, a few soft corals, anenome, lots of hermits, snails, "clean up" crew ect., maroon clown, yellow tang, standard blue damsel, a runt niger triger (tame sucker luckily, dad put him in there before i could protest), starfish (blue linka), sea cucumber YES!, yadda yadda.
Is there any way i can move this 1 hour away? 5 galon buckets galor? I wont risk it if there is going to be massive die off, but...i am a poor college student, and im sure all of you know how addicteding this hobby is. I really cant afford to set up a new one.
Oh, and my dad is now in love with my tank. He's pushing fifty, and thats heart attack range....so if you have any advice on that matter please indulge me .
Thank you all.....

 

[ren]

it can be moved safely. There was a post here somewhere about moving a reef. I'd use a 55gl new trashcan for the water and bag everything cept for the lr. Keep it moist - wrap in newspaper if ness.

 

[predator]

OK, I'm a little experianced when it comes to this whole thing. I have a tank maintence service and have done this alot.
1st: Get you a couple of those large rubbermaid containers and enough 6 gallon gas cans(make sure they do not smell like gas)from Walmart. You can easily return them when your finished. This will give you plenty of places to place your LR, LS and corals. And the water will alot easier to carry than trying to lug a 55 or even a 38 gallon container of saltwater around(either way you go thats over 300lb).
2nd: Syphom some water into your containers so you have places for you corals and litle critters. Then take all corals out and place them in the containers. Unless you do decide to bag them and then just simply place bags in a container.
3rd: Remove all rock and place in a container or two. It would be best to individually wrap each peice of rock with news paper. Keeps any die off ata minimum. Be sure to look for all life on rock. Hermits, snailks, crabs, shrimp, etc.
4th: Catch all the fish and bucket them up. Again unless you decide to bag them.
5th: Syphon all the remaing wayetr into the gas cans. Those 6 gallon jugs have two handels and are great for this. I use them as my ro containers now.
6th: If you can leave the sand in the tank with a little water covering it. But this really adds to the wieght of the tank so if you need to container it as well.
All thats left now is the equipment. Just break it down, load it all up and get it done. All you have to do is reverse the order when you get home and you set to go. I usually get a little new Ro water when moving a tank and add it in when setting up. Just like doing a water change.
Good luck and I hope this helps.

 

[kdlbem]

Predator pretty much covered it all. Just a couple of things that I think played a part in my successful move in December(75 gal. reef without a single loss)
1. I used the styrofoam shipping containers with the boxes, that are used to ship fish and corals, to move all bagged corals to the new house. These containers hold the temp. very well. You can ask your LFS to lend or give you some(mine gave me so many, I still have a couple here and there).
2. Have plenty of rubbermid tubs handy for water, rock, fish, etc. I used 5, plus 2-32 gal.plastic trash cans. Powerhead and heater are pretty important in the one with the fish.
3. The biggest help when I moved, was finding out the tank could be moved with the sand in it. Get a piece of 3/4 inch plywood, and have it cut a half inch bigger than the bottom of the tank, drain the water down to the sand, and put it on the plywood to move it. DO NOT DO THIS ON ANYTHING LARGER THAN A 75(or maybe a 90 with the same footprint)!!!!!!
HTH,
B

 

[the infamous sea cucumber]

Thank you all so much for the help. I have a few more months to plan, so I will be sure and implement your advice. Here is too no more reefless days and nights!!! Thanks all.

 

[lm]

What if you want to switch to sand at the time of the move? How do you do that?

 

[ky]

Hey cucumber, do you get your stuff at the place on Haslet Road (didn't want to say the name). If so, I can tell you where to get your drygoods for half the price. They have great live goods and service, but their dry goods are way too expensive. For instance, 16oz of Kent DKH buffer is $12.95 there. I got 64oz for $10.95 at ***************.com ($4.00 S&H). Just thought that I would try to save you some money.

 

[fishfood]

LM - I'm about to move my 55 also and have cc currently. I intend to cycle some playsand in a container for the next month with a few pounds of ls. I plan to just take out all the cc and put in the sand. I don't think there is anything more to it than that. I hope that i will have enough life in the sand that there won't be a big cycle when the tank is set back up. From what i read the best way to put the water back into the tank is by covering the sand with plastic so it doesn't get too disturbed which helps keep the cloudyness down.

 

[tru conch]

predator---thanx for the advice, cuz i am going to have to go through the same thing as sea cucumber in a few months. i will remember the trick about the gas cans. i just have to remember the six P's (prior planning prevents piss poor performace)