Advice for breaking down and moving aquarium

[WABlonde]

We have purchased an established 75 gallon reef and fish aquarium and need to break it down and move it on Friday. Fortunately we only live about 15 minutes away but I know it will be a time consuming project.

Seeking advice from you experienced members on do's and don'ts.

The plan as it is now....

Tonight - purchase lots of buckets for the move & prepare salt water in plastic garbage cans (heat, measure salt, etc.) BTW.. thinking of getting our water from the Olympia artesian well. It's supposed to be the purest water you can get. Opinions?

Move day - take out live rock/corals and place seperately in 5 gallon buckets with tank water. Leaving sand and snails with minimal water for the journey. Paying strong friends with liquor and beer to help!

Fish - going in another 5 gallon bucket. All are non-aggresive

Set-up - planning on cleaning algae off of rock, placing in tank and filling with water. Then bring in fish.

Questions off top of my head. someone said it to be best to replace the sand. I really want to disrupt the tank as little as possible and thought to leave the current sand in there. Thoughts?

Same with water. Wanted to bring much of their existing water and do about a 1/3 tank change with new saltwater. Thoughts?

I really do appreciate any advice. And yes - I realize I may have jumped into something big very quickly. I do not need this pointed out to me.

Thanks!

Sarah

 

[Faciosity]

Sounds like you have everything pretty well thought out. Main thing is to provide all the livestock with proper temperature and oxygen. I just recently put my whole established system into a new tank with very few problems. Speed is not critical if your inhabitants are at the right temperature and have flow. I would suggest a larger bucket like a 15 gallon rubbermaid for the fish to make sure they have plenty of oxygen (larger amounts of water also change temperature slower which will help). A while back, a friend moved a huge tank and took too long, and all his fish in a 5 gallon bucket started getting cold, so he threw a heater in there, and due to the warmer water they all suffocated. I would keep the old sand, but when you fill the tank at your destination, you will have to wait a little while to settle and clear up before putting everything back in.
When I did mine, the new tank had to go in the same spot as the old one, so I used 3x 18 gallon containers side by side, and placed some rocks, corals and a few fish in each one, then set up lights and pumps/powerheads to make sure they were going to be happy and stable while I made the change over. If you leave everything in small buckets they might start to stress, and then so will you! I highly suggest making their temporary container as comfortable as possible to make the change less stressful for everybody.

 

[DonW]

Be prepared to do lots of emergency water changes. The move may force a tank cycle.

Don

 

[WABlonde]

Thank you. I have a large tub that may be better suited for the fish if you feel they will stress.

 

[Coral Frenzy]

I would use RO water. Our local stores around here sell RO water for 50 cents a gallon and pre made saltwater for $1 a gallon. I would be willing to bet that even though the Olympia artesian well is clean it still isn't clean enough.

Make sure you provide the beer AFTER the tank has been moved.

Now will be the time to clean all the pumps, tank, filter, etc. Once you have the stuff out of the stand it will be easier to do. You can clean them all in vinegar and water in a 5 gallon bucket. Make sure you rinse everything off after cleaning it. If you don't remove the sand, don't use vinegar on the inside of the tank.

The other thing, I don't know how new you are to the hobby but don't used Windex on the inside of the tank before you put the water back in. The ammonia can kill the corals and fish. At very least it will annoy them.

 

[user 26995]

IMO I would not put the sand back in right away. I would set the tank up and rinse the sand good and add it back in a little at a time at a later date. I have moved three tanks in the past year and have not had a problem with any of them. As mentioned above, larger containers with flow and stable temp. Keep as much water as possible. What I did was put as much of the original water into the tank then add a little new water to both the tank and the storage containers. Try to do the same percentage on the tank and all containers. This will be like a small water change and as you add your rock and livestock to the tank, you can put the water from the storage containers in also and this will reduce any shock from different water parameters such as ph and alk and temp and so on. Hope that didnt sound confusing. PM me if you need clarification.

 

[Faciosity]

Good advise, but if you have everything stable enough to take your time, what I did was put my old sand in with high flow until it settled and then added my hang on skimmer to remove the rest of the filth floating around, and syphon vaccumed the top layer of the sand to remove any waste that got stirred out. After that, the old sand was clean looking again, and the tank was clear enough to start adding the rock and livestock. Using this method saved a lot more of my pods, mini brittle stars and little organisms than rinsing it outside the tank.

Whichever way is easiest for you and least stressful to your critters.

IMO I would not put the sand back in right away. I would set the tank up and rinse the sand good and add it back in a little at a time at a later date. I have moved three tanks in the past year and have not had a problem with any of them. As mentioned above, larger containers with flow and stable temp. Keep as much water as possible. What I did was put as much of the original water into the tank then add a little new water to both the tank and the storage containers. Try to do the same percentage on the tank and all containers. This will be like a small water change and as you add your rock and livestock to the tank, you can put the water from the storage containers in also and this will reduce any shock from different water parameters such as ph and alk and temp and so on. Hope that didnt sound confusing. PM me if you need clarification.

 

[WABlonde]

Thanks. I know we have a giant snail living in the sand and don't want him to be displaced. Many little stars too. I'm getting excited!!! I'll call about premixed water today although I'm still leaning towards the artisian well. Current owners use their well water for water changes... which might add to the algae problem... hmm..

 

[DonW]

Thanks. I know we have a giant snail living in the sand and don't want him to be displaced. Many little stars too. I'm getting excited!!! I'll call about premixed water today although I'm still leaning towards the artisian well. Current owners use their well water for water changes... which might add to the algae problem... hmm..

Id take a look at the overall condition before making a decision. Well water?? Thats suspect right there. My guess is your buying some problems based on your description. :?::?::?:

You may want to get an experienced reefer take a look.

Don

 

[fishoutofwater]

Sent you a PM

 

[thatguy559]

heres what i did

took out all coral put into a seperate container with a heater,light and flow.
took out the rock and put it into 2 32g brute trashcans with about 1/2 filled with water and put wet towels on top of the rock that was out of the water.
put the sand in a seperate container and then cleaned it in saltwater.
all livestock was in another container with a heater.

after the transfer i placed all the clean sand and rock in the tank with a pump and heater. let it sit for 24hours. then added the corals and livestock. had 60g of saltwater on standby for water changes. the tank had all new water in it.

 

[capdippe]

I only have 7 months experience, but I moved a 100 gallon tank when I bought it knowing only 3 months worth of reading. I put the water from the tank into 5-7 gallon buckets stocked with the few corals and rocks. I put the fish in the plastic bags like you get at the pet stores, and added air. Then put the fish bags in a styrofoam box and sealed it. I moved all water and equipment as fast as I could it took about 12-13 hours to complete and lost nothing. However knowing more now from the LFS and this forum I would be a lot more careful than I was. I would absolutely stick to RO/DI water ONLY, and from a LFS. Is this your first tank?

 

[WABlonde]

First salt/reef tank - yes. I've been armed with books. The bf and I spent a solid hour and a half talking with a salt veteran. All very good information.

 

[Holygral]

I also would not reuse the old sand, keep just a cupful or two for seeding, start clean.

 

[Holygral]

You might want to think about getting a small kiddy pool and put the water, heater, fish and LR in to that and it will give yourself more time to do it right,

 

[thatguy559]

Why would you waste money keep a few cups and wash the crap out of it with the garden hose I have always been doing that. No point in wasting money

 

[WABlonde]

Well.. getting prepped and buying supplies, I've been getting anxious. Met a super nice guy who's in the business of doing this stuff. Just makes sense to have him help us out and learn from him.

 

[jaygalindo]

I would definitely use a tds monitor and test the well water. Even bottled water will test between 15-50 ppm. My guess is that this water wont test at single digit ppm because of the chemicals they leave in there to make It suitable for drinking. U may want to start thinking about a rodi unit as I think its one of the best investments we can make in this hobby. Hope all goes well.

 

[bigblue141]

The only thing different I would do is Mix up a 100 gallons of water at your house now.

Get buckets and only put 1-2 fish in each bucket. That way there's plenty of space and should cut down on their stress levels.

When you get the tank to your house and set up, start filling with your new salt water.

Let it run for a little bit and start acclimating all your fish. There will probably be a small cycle from die off from the move. You have no idea what the parameters are in the current water that's in the tank. Acclimate your fish to fresh new water. This will give you a little more "room" for the mini cycle that will probably occur.

Plan to start early in the morning and don't plan to finish until the wee hours of the night. It's a long process. Since all the fish will be in buckets you will be able to easily "drip acclimate" them to your new system.

 

[WABlonde]

Well.. it wasn't a perfect move but we're doing ok. Water is still cloudy but improving by the hour.. First photo taken at about 7:30. Started the move at 1:00.