Tank move tips??

[mikestod]

I'm moving my 65g sometime this week. Anyone have any ideas on the best way to do it? Its a reef tank with about 100lbs of live rock and 100 lbs of live sand. For tricky livestock I have a BTA that just split, and a pistol shrimp goby pair, and would also like ideas on the best way not to stress them out too much. The rest of the inhabitents should be easy to catch one I start removing the rock.

I have a large rubbermaid container that is almost the size of my display tank, an empty 20 gallon QT tank, and a couple 5 gallon buckets. An extra mag 5 and powerheads to help swap water, and a seio 820GPH powerhead for some temporary flow in the holding tank.

In addition to tips on moving, I'm looking for advice. I was wondering if I should make a large batch of new water and fill the temporary container partway, then move everything slowly? Or should I just move everything at once and use the existing water> Also, should I move the existing sandbed (How?) or start a new one?

Any help would be greatly appreciated! -Mike-

 

[xray-reefer]

The first thing I'll say is that you should pick up a battery powered airpump for each container if you are moving any significant distance (like 30 minutes or more maybe). Having these things keeping the water moving and oxygenated is huge - and they're cheap, like 3-5 dollars.

As for the sandbed, you can use the existing sand. Just scoop it out in ~1 inch layers using a new, clean dustpan and put it in labelled bags. Then, when you set up the tank again just empty the bags in the right sequence and you should be able to reconstruct your bed. Oh, and get a clothespin for your nose

The only other advice I have from my move is that if you are thinking of hand carrying the tupperware containers, like by the handles, don't do it. I had about 10# of rock and a few gallons (maybe 20#) of water and the handles, plus a good portion of the walls of the container came off in my hands - while I was carrying it. Get a wheelbarrow or cart to carry the containers in. HTH
Nick

 

[mikestod]

I'm only moving 3 minutes away luckily. As to the sandbed...can it cause any ill effects by disturbing it greatly? For the few dllars it would cost, I can get a couple bags of southdown and re-seed with some of my live sand. Or would I be better off having the old sand because of the live filtration concerns?

 

[Scarfish]

Mike...

I'd reuse as much water as you can, but definitely have backup water ready. 15-20g

I don't think you'd disturb anything if you bought some southdown and re-seeded that with some of your existing sand.

 

[mrw64]

Mike,

Klems has Southdown sand, $3.99/bag

Mike

 

[Ba19Ma88]

Just a note on the sandbed.
I am bar far not an expert, but I moved from Marlborough to North Andover and we transported my tank with sand bed in side (bed is about 3.5" to 4" deep) and we left just enough h20 inside the tank to keep bed covered. Everything else was removed using the above-mentioned posts from other members. We had to bring the tank down a flight of stairs and up two flights at the new place. My tank was not as big as yours (46 Gal Bow) but just go slow and have good support for the tank you should be fine and have enough manpower on had to move it. We also used 1/2 old and 1/2 new for water.

 

[NateHanson]

You'll probably have to deal with a bit of a sandstorm with new sand, but you can probably minimize that by putting some of your old sand on the new southdown to get it all seeded and stuck down.

About the goby/pistol pair, I recently had to remove the rock that my yashi and candycane live under. I was worried that'd I'd crush them in moving it, so I planned to scoop out the shrimp, and return him when the rock was back in place. When I picked up the rock, I was amazed that the now exposed goby stayed right on top of his denuded shrimpy friend, and I was able to simply scoop both the shrimp and the goby into a 1-cup measuring cup. They sat buried under the sand in there for about 10 minutes while I fussed around, and when I laid them back in they set at repairing their caves immediately. Hope your move goes as well!
(Since you're moving, maybe you should sell me the 65, and get yourself something bigger instead!)

Nate

 

[mikestod]

Its moving from the second floor of the old place to the second floor at the new place. Thanks for the tips guys. Keep them coming. Nate, thanks for the info on the shrimp/goby. I've been contemplating a bigger tank, but can't really afford one at this point. If it was to happen, I'll let you know.