Best way to move 72g tank?

[99Hawk]

I am moving here in the next few weeks and was wondering if anyone had a write up or website for the best way to move a tank. I will not be moving too far, only around 5 miles from where I live now.

My tank is a 72g bowfront FOWLR with around 90lbs of liverock and 4 fish.

Any information or help is appreciated...thanks in advance.

 

[Krish]

Not sure if there is a write up anywhere, but from personal experience, I think whenever moving a tank, it is an opportune time to take advantage of a good cleaning and a nice sized water change. What I normally do is get a few rubbermaid containers and put the live rock, fish corals etc in them and get some pumps running in there for circulation and in your case, maybe a heater to keep the temp from dropping too much. Afterwards, whatever extra water I wanted to transfer back into the tank, I usually put in 5 gal water jugs to make it easier to lift. You'll want to drain the tank fully as any water, rocks etc left in the tank can put stress on the seals and potentially break them causing a leak. Once the tank is drained, you can trasport everything to the new location and basically set it up as you did the first time around.

Just a few thoughts. I'm sure the others will chime in soon. Good luck with the move

 

[Scooterman]

If anyone has experience with moving a tank it would be Krish
I say that making lots of extra water for replacement is a very good idea, also cleaning things is really beneficial as Krish mentioned

 

[mmkeeper]

I just moved a couple of months ago. I had some time to plan and to get some things in place. The first thing I did was to have my ro/di filter set up and mine salt and replacement water container full. I got by my lFS and got as many of their styrofoam shipping boxes as I could. I used an ice chest for the fish. I put all of the rock in the boxes with water. I drained water into the ice chest and I put the rest in water jugs.

I set up the dry tank as quickly as I could, and took the time to clean any thing I could. I add the rock and water from the jugs and some of the lR boxes. Let things settle some then the fish and cover the tank. Mine was a reef not a fowler and I had no loses. I did a water change the next day, and a couple of days later, because of stirrring thesandbed.

 

[99Hawk]

I just moved a couple of months ago. I had some time to plan and to get some things in place. The first thing I did was to have my ro/di filter set up and mine salt and replacement water container full. I got by my lFS and got as many of their styrofoam shipping boxes as I could. I used an ice chest for the fish. I put all of the rock in the boxes with water. I drained water into the ice chest and I put the rest in water jugs.

I set up the dry tank as quickly as I could, and took the time to clean any thing I could. I add the rock and water from the jugs and some of the lR boxes. Let things settle some then the fish and cover the tank. Mine was a reef not a fowler and I had no loses. I did a water change the next day, and a couple of days later, because of stirrring thesandbed.

So did you leave the sand in the tank when you transported it?

 

[mmkeeper]

I moved a 46 bowed and left the sand in and try not to stir it to much

 

[james734]

Empty... Sorry not much help but i thought it was funny.

Looks like your getting good help, but either way it's always been a pain for me.

 

[Wieselsport]

If you have to move the sand around you might consider new sand. When I transfered my sand from one tank to another I think I unleashed some nasty stuff that was brewing deep in the sand. I lost a few things but not bad.

 

[aedeos]

excellent thread. I'll be doing this in the next month or so, too, so this is something I'll follow closely. Keep us updated, please.

 

[moortim]

The best advice I can give is do it slowly, don't rush yourself or you will screw something up or break something. It is going to take a lot of time and work to get everything looking the way you want it again. I moved my 55 several times without any losses.

Tim

 

[moortim]

If you have to move the sand around you might consider new sand. When I transfered my sand from one tank to another I think I unleashed some nasty stuff that was brewing deep in the sand. I lost a few things but not bad.

I moved some sand once, buying new is easier than cleaning old but if you can't afford that you can rinse it thoroughly, spread it out on a tarp, and blow across it with a fan until it's dry. Worked fine for me.

 

[99Hawk]

Thanks for the help everyone. I will report back after my move.

Anyone else with advice please feel free to post!

 

[burning2nd]

we moved a tank from the Mrs house to my house. granted its only a 5.5 but

if i had to move your tank i would just scale it up what i did.....

lots of buckets with lids (in your case buckets and rubber maid contanor)

I kept the rocks in the buckets with the water. I dont think you will be able to do that, but you can put the water in buckets or large contaner's place the rock in a larger sealable contaner put water in with the rocks.... you dont want the things in the rock to die cause they where outta the water for 30 min...... make sure you have large amounts of water (ither mixed) or rdy to be mixed where you going....

(so i would move my RODI the day b4... get everything i need at the new location rdy for the tank 2 come.)

brake it down. half the water, half the rocks, power heads equipment more rock, more water, some of the sand....

depending on how heavy the tank is with the sand in it... ( i left the sand and about a 1" of water in the tank) move it, and installation is the reverse order of removal