Moving help

kelso

kelso

Member
Hi guys, hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!
I am moving at the end of the month and was wondering if anyone had any tips on moving the aquarium. It's a 55 gallon set-up, 40 lbs of sand, approximately 50 pounds of live rock and some fancy pants corals. There are 2 damsels who are jerks (they bite), an arrow crab and several creepy crawly hitchhikers. I bought 11 five gallon buckets from Lowe's so I'm set for that. The tank is pretty young; about 6-7 months and I'm just wondering if anyone had any advice to make the trip as easy and stress free (for both me AND the tank) as possible. Thanks in advance for any help!!
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
I've moved my 90g twice and upgraded that to a 120 once so I've got a little experience here.
1.) take EVERYTHING out of the tank, don't leave sand or anything in there to make it heavier to lift or to put weight on the glass during the move
2.) you don't need all the water. the bacteria lives on the LR and LS mostly, there is very litte in your water that is needed that new saltwater cannot do. so just the water you need to cover up your LR and fish
3.) Fish go in a seperate container from everything esle, no LR
4.) You will probbaly hear that you should replace the sand. I have had really good luck with simply getting a 5g pail 3/4 full of saltwater (new or old) and dumping the sand into the water, then stir it and slosh it around real good in there, then take it out and place it in the tank or in another bucket with a ladel or your hands or something that will strain the water out of it, rinsing it as you bring it up through the water and out.
Throw out the leftover water.
there are verying opinions on this, but LS can be spendy for the decent stuff and the stuff you have is full of bacteria.
5.) I put the sand and LR/wo corals in 5 gallon pails everything else went into rubbermaid tubs that were about 20 gallons, dont fill them too full of water or they will bulge badly
these tubs can also be sued to house the fish at the new location during setup if needed, I've had my fish in there for 3 days when I did my upgrade, added my LR in with the fish, a powerhead and my light right on top.
6.) If you plan on ever having any livestock that burrows, now is the time to make the rocks safe from these creatures so they don't come domn on them or bust your glass.
Put down eggcrate on the bottom of the tanka nd sit your base rock on top of it and lock it in good, then fill your LS around the base rocks and then build up from there.
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
That seems like a great idea, food safe, insulated and has a tight lid.
Good idea
 
kelso

kelso

Member
Thanks guys, I think the cooler idea is great. I have two pretty big ones; one for coral, one for fishies? And use the tubs for water, rock and sand?
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member

I have move 3Xs myself....My method
First and foremost..before your move have ready mixed saltwater..more than you think you will need. Make it up and have it at the new place churnning 24 hours BEFORE you even begin your move.
Indeed have nothing in the tank, take no shortcuts. This is not because the tank is heavy to move (so having six strong men to help move it won't help) but because it can stress the seems and cause your tank to leak and it can take days to replace it while your critters die in buckets.
If you are really smart find a home for the damsels..a toilet will do (JMO) I really hate those evil pretty fish.
HEALTH TIP: You can't fill a bucket with wet sand and try to move it...it will be so heavy you will need hernia surgey after the move, so fill each bucket with only enough sand to lift and feel comfortable.
Rinse the sand in saltwater, a dip in and out will do, you just want to wash away any toxins in the water it sits in from not being stirred. If your sand was regularly turned by snails or a goby you can skip this stage.
Do not overcrowd the fish in whatever container you choose. Coral in one container in bags..because stressed corals give off a toxin to protect themselves and poison each other.
You don't really need to keep the rock in water as long as your move is quick...newspaper will do.
Take the tank, stand, sand and rock to the new place and set it up with the new water...after all is settled, reacclimate your critters just like you had just purchased them. If you are not going far, I would leave the critters in the old place until I was ready for them so they won't be messed with any more than needed and acclimated back ASAP after being bumped around.
The reason you make up more than you need, you might run into a problem and need the new water for an emergancy water change while the fish live in the bucket...you never know and the water is the life of your fish and corals.
Hope this helps.
 
kelso

kelso

Member
Thanks for all the advice. It was a HUGE pain in the ass, but it's done and everything looks... good actually! Thanks!
 
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