Moving Large Aquarium - Suggestions??

[sorcha]

Hi, new here and would appreciate any input you could offer.
We are going to buy a 92 gallon corner All-Glass aquarium from someone who is moving and cannot take the set up with them. The livestock is:
Powder Blue Tang
Blue Girdled Angel - adult
flame hawkfish
Emperor Angel - juvenile
Kole tang
Yellow Tang
2 ocellaris clownfish
coral beauty angel
green chromis
blue damsel
Also 85 lbs of LR + LS, etc.
We currently have a starter tank which is a 25 gallon Hex w/LR, LR and 7 Damsels. It's worked out well so far, but the hex shape isn't the best for a reef tank and we want more corals.
Not sure we want to keep the Angels or the Powder Blue, we know they are difficult to keep. Our LFS said they would take them for us and we can use the credit later to get more corals once we upgrade the lighting.
The man we're buying this all from is 1 hour drive from our home and has suggested buying new Rubbermaid bins and putting the fish in their own water directly in there - same for the rock in another bin. Sounds like it's reasonable to me as long as we keep their temp where it should be.
Any input?
Also - will be posting again later for some help with our Frogspawn...I think it could be happier. Will post with pictures later.
Thanks so much!!

 

[pfitz44]

thats exactly what you will want to do.
Have fresh sw made up at home.. you will loose some in transport

 

[sorcha]

Yes, we had the LFS order some more seawater for us.
Are we right about the Angels and the Powder Blue being difficult? He also has a juvenile Emporer Angel that I want to keep, it's too pretty!
How bad is the "slosh factor" trying to move them like this?

 

[misfit]

"sloush factor" can be messy but not bad .I bought 2 used tanks and broght them home with no problems.Go to Home store and get a roll of plastic. Works great for putting down in front of tank while empting and in truck or car for traveling (less clean up) you just roll up and through away. Some old towels are also neccesity for this job. Good luck

 

[demosthenes]

With a few exceptions, most Angels shouldn't be kept in a tank that is sub-100G, especially the Imperator Angel, and especially with the bio-load that this tank already presents. I would advise that you get rid of the Blue Girdle Angel as well as the Imperator Angel and you should be able to handle the load of fish as is. Secondly, I would also advise that you simply go to your LFS and ask for a number of specimen bags that you can use to transport the fish in, rather than placing them all in a rubbermaid container and driving them to your house. It is likely that this will stress them greatly and you will not likely be able to drive smoothly enough to prevent them from getting sufficiently rocked. Secondly, my personal method for transporting LR is actually a lot simpler than trying to put 85 lbs of LR into a container full of water and expecting to be able to move the thing at all. I would simply put the LR in the container with a little saltwater in the bottom, and I would seal the lid tight as to keep all moisture in the container. That is unless the LR is covered in coral, in which case those pieces only would be kept underwater. The other LR can simply be moved while damp or moist and make it just fine. HTH

 

[misfit]

I too did it the way Demo suggested, only I got throw away tupperware containers for fish that way I could stack them in box, too many bags to have moving around .Altough my fish where not that large. You may have to use the bags for large fish. I also split rock up into carriable amounts with some water in each and 5 gal jugs for water

 

[sorcha]

"With a few exceptions, most Angels shouldn't be kept in a tank that is sub-100G"
I was also thinking that this was a bit much for this size tank. The Angels get up to 7" each, don't they??
We'll probably keep the Damsels in the starter tank...never catch the suckers anyway.
He has alot of plants that we'll remove and we will probably remove the 3 Angels and the 3 Tangs too. There are alot of fish that we want to try, most of them smaller and easy.
Plus we have small kids...so you know it will turn into a "Nemo Tank" anyway...