Moving a 150 Gallon Reef

[giambi4343]

I am in the process of waiting for a short sale approval on my hopeful home to be and I've been thinking of the entire moving process. I've moved a friends fowlr which was pretty easy but never a 150 packed with corals. Most of my corals I have been keeping on the frag plug since I don't want anything spreading before I move so I think I'll be okay wi th baggie the corals individually. I have 2 wrasses, clown pair, little goby/pistol shrimp pair, and a 4 inch purple tang.

I'm wondering if anybody could give me some advise on how to move everything without killing anything and starting another cycle. I have about 160 lbs of sand In the tank which I plan on getting rid of and just going bare bottom. Any issues with going barebottom when there was that much sand in the tank before? Should I put some of the existing sand in the fuge after the move? I have pvc plumbing underneath the tank going into a custom fuge/ skimmer Return tank. I think I would have to cut the pvc and add unions. Any other advise for the move would be great. Thank you
Andrew

 

[Tommyboynj]

How much rock do you have. If there's no significant bioload you'll be fine with the sand. Just watch your po4 levels after the move. Tanks moves tend to disturb nasties.

Have a lot of water made and extra ro on hand. Where are you located?


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[giambi4343]

I have about 150 lbs Of lr.I was thinking of going bare bottom because I am kinda getting tired of sand getting all over the tank. I live in mount laurel and will be moving about 20 miles to sicklerville

 

[asonitez]

If your new house is purchased already and is move in ready go ahead and get yourself some stuff.

The Basics
Manual Timers
2 or 3 Brutes from Home Depot
Some 5 Gallon Buckets
A rolling 4 Wheel Dolly from Harbor Freight

The Procedure
A) Scour the forums/Craigslist for 30/40/ or 80 gallon Frag Tanks. Or order a new one from TropiAquarium. (best option)
A1. - Alternatively you can purchase Multiple 20 gallon tanks during a $1 Gallon sale
A2. - The same can be repeated for multiple 40 Gallon breeders that can be drilled and plumbed to each other.

B) The idea is simple. You want to setup your frag tanks at the new place plumb them in and rig some lighting. You don't need a stand and you just need the tanks level, on the floor and out of the way.

C) What you want to do is setup the holding BRUTES at the new place and get them filled with tank water from your existing tank. The same goes for those frag tanks I mentioned. You want 1/2 NEW Fresh Water and 1/2 Old Tank Water.

Do a Water change... save the water.. drive the water over to new tanks... fill brutes and frag tanks with water... repeat until you have aged water in both places.

D) Once you have adequate aged water in both places you can start with your rock.
1. Remove coral from Rocks and place on Sand bed.
2. Remove rock to the holding brutes.
3. Drive rock over to the new place and place in aged tank water.
4. The best thing to do here is to mvoe as LITTLE of the sand bed as possible when removing rock. So if the LAST layer
is buried in the sand then leave it there. It can go LAST. With the rock gone the fish should still be fine and the corals
should be ok as well.

E) Once the rock is moved out you can bag the corals and move them to their new home in the frag tanks at the new place along with their lighting. Run the lighting LOW at first and because you have been doing water changes to get aged water from your existing tank to place into the holding tanks the corals should be in great shape to make the move.


F) Once the corals and fish are moved over to the frag tanks you now have a chance to break down the old tank, cleanup the equipment, and get it ready for its move to the new house.

G) Perform the cleaned tank move and setup your tank. Used the Aged Water and the rock from your holding tanks at the new house to perform a quick cycle at a ratio of 1/2 hold and 1/2 new water. Once the tank is setup at the new house and the water has settled, You can move a coral or two into the new tank. I would take this time to evaluate your fish choices and health. Pre-emptively treat for ich or any other diseases now that they are easily caught and then add them back from least aggressive to most aggressive.



This approach is what I used. It allowed me to

Take my time setting up my controller.
Make changes to my filtration and rock work.
Move my tank with MINIMAL losses to ANYTHING.
Replace old or broken equipment.
Prepare the room the tank was going in.
Cure Ich that was in my fish.
REST. You have to realize that moving the tank is YOUR priority. It might not be your familys priority. Honey-do Lists are MASSIVE when you move. I would rather be concentrating on knocking that list out than fighting with a 1 day move and setup of my tank and not kill anything.

 

[mrehfeld]

I moved an established tank, I saved 80% of the water in hand cleaned home cheapo buckets with lids(they have gaskets) i also placed the fish in their own buckets. I put the rock in a cooler and covered it with wet newspaper. I tossed the substrate with the other 20% of water. At its destination I thoroughly cleaned the equipment, and rinsed the rock of loose detritus, and reassembled with new substrate. I fortunately had no losses, you mileage may vary. Good luck

 

[giambi4343]

I'm only moving about 40 minutes away and about 20 miles so I'm hoping that with one trip and 2 trucks I can do everything at once. I may do the frag tank setup so I can take my time with it but the only downside to that is I will have to take a ton of trips back and forth to transport the water each time I do a water change.

 

[asonitez]

I'm only moving about 40 minutes away and about 20 miles so I'm hoping that with one trip and 2 trucks I can do everything at once. I may do the frag tank setup so I can take my time with it but the only downside to that is I will have to take a ton of trips back and forth to transport the water each time I do a water change.

What's your stuff worth to you? When I moved I had apt of rare chalices and acans. Colony's of sps that had grown out for years. If you don't age the water or use aged water at least make new water and age that in the house instead. Something for like every 20 gallons of new water add s 5 gal bucket of old..


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