Moving FO 125

[jerrybsal]

I recently sold my home and will be moving to a rental until my new home is finished in Feb. I am not looking forward to moving my 125 FO,I have had my fish for 7 years and would hate to lose them by doing something wrong.I have a Lion fish,Emperor Angel,Naso,Powder blue and a SFE.The rental and new home are about 20 minutes away from each other. My major questions are how much water should I take from the current location? I was thinking about buying about 20 five gallon jugs for water (100 gallons) and a couple of 5 gallon buckets for fish and some for the rock.What would be the least amount of water I could take,I can always buy RO water and make new saltwater.The other ? is how should I handle my live sand I currently have a Plenum and hate it . I figure this is a good time to get rid of it.What should I do,If I take the plenum out and just leave the sand on the bottom will this cycle the tank again.I have never moved my 8 year old tank And I have lots of questions and fear of losing a fish after so many years.Any advice would be greatly appreciated . Thanks!!!

 

[stacyt]

I would recommend that you purchase a few of the large rubber maid containers from wal-mart. Drain about half the tank or so into the tubs, and then place you LR into the 1 of the tubbs, and fish into another. I would try to keep at least 50% of the tank water. Drain the remainder of the tank then move it, and the livestock. Setup the tank in it's new location, add the old water, LR, and then fish. Then slowly add the new water. Remeber that your fish will need to acclimate slowly to the new water so you don't want to add it to fast. Make sure that you have plenty of water ready at the new location, and that the temp, and salinity match the tank water. Good luck with the move.

 

[ocellaris_keeper]

Your idea of the jugs is right on!! Make sure you bring as much of your water as possible
1. Do a water change the night before. - but save the water for your change over - this will mean you will more than 125 Gal of water (I'll explain)
2. Drain some the water into your jugs
3. Drain more into a container for your fish - a 20 gal jug with a power head and a heater (unless you can get to the other site and set up within three hours.
4. Put your live rock/LS in another container with water and one power head.
(I used my DC to AC converter in my van to keep the Power Heads running in my truck)
5. Take the empty tank (DO NOT CLEAN IT) and filter equip (with water still in it) and move to the new site.
6. Add the excess water from the other jugs first.
7. Add the Live Sand
8. Add the Live Rock - take the Power head from the LS/LR container and start the water movement.
9. Add the excess water you have from the previous water change.
10. Reconnect the filter system and start the tank.
11. Start by reacclimatin your fish one at a time.
12. Turn light on the next day and your fish will never know the difference.
Good Luck!