Moving confirmed.

[sedrostyle]

I think I posted about moving a 55 gallon and all of its critters before, but I can't find the topic.
So i do have a 20 gallon that I could move all the stuff to temporarily but I'm guessing this is going to be a pain.

I'm moving about 20 miles.
Any advice for not loosing anything.
I would take the 20 set it up with all my corals but I only have a power compact like that sucks so I don't think that will work.
Ugh not looking forward to it.

 

[Zerc]

more info?

what tank are they in now? what kind of equipment do you have?

 

[sedrostyle]

55 gallon. 20 long below.
Reeflo skimmer
T5 lighting
2 power heads. Two heaters. Ones set at 74 just as a safe zone.


I think I'll just move as much as I can in one load. I plan one 8 buckets and two tanks at once. Probably throw stuff in the sump too

Guy up here locally said once I get it where I want it. To do water changes every other day till it settles again.

:/

 

[pandora32]

Heater packs. Weather is cold out. The temp is going to drop quick. I had to move my tank 17 miles and lost mostly fish, the smaller fish. Couple corals. You could just do a large water change, say 30% to 40% or so. Lot of stuff is going to get released into the water. Just my 2¢…

 

[Chichas01]

using sand? how long has the sand been in the tank? if it's been there a while, you might want to consider replacing it. When I moved my 40, the sand was maybe a couple years old and stirring it up caused some issues.
Oh, and make at least 2X-3X the water you think you will need for any emergency large water changes.

 

[swifter]

just to help calm your nerves, I had to move my 60 when I moved back in October. I was terrified at first. but I took a large trash can and moved all my live rock to it and as much water as I was comfortable moving, next I took another trash can with only water in it and put all my critters in there. I then broke down the tank and took everything up to the new place in the same load. (this was the last thing out of my house and it was the first thing into my new house). I had about a 40 or 50 mile commute to the new place. once I got there I got the tank back up and running with the live rock and about 40 or 45 gallons of water. after the sand settled down a little I added the critters back and they all did just fine.

when ever I could, I had an air pump in the trash cans and they were out of the main tank for roughly an hour and a half or 2 hours. but again overall it was a lot better than I expected. I may also be wrong but if you do a water change every other day, won't that remove all of your water after about a week and also most of the bacteria in the tank? again I may be wrong but that seems like it would be more stressful than just doing one or two water changes and going back to your normal routine.

good luck and I hope all goes well.

 

[james734]

Water changes won't remove the beneficial bacteria as it primarily lives on the rock within the tank. Very little of it is in the water column. The water changes are recommend as a way to keep ammonia, and nitrites in check as a more than likely the move will trigger a cycle to some degree. How large and for what duration is hard to say. Daily checks along with daily water changes will keep the levels low.

 

[TJL]

A couple of ?'s for you Steven What kind of vehicle are you moving with truck, truck with canopy, car? Do you have a decent ice chest in the 40-60 qt range? Using regular white tall kitchen bags lining a pre-warmed ice chest works well for livestock. Chemical hand-warmers activated (shaken) and placed under 5gal buckets or in baggies placed between garbage bag and cooler wall will help maintane temp. On the sand issue I strongly believe in recycling old unless a DSB and really fouled. The active bacteria is invaluable to stability in re-setting system. You can clean the old sand by using a aqua-vac to syphon off last 1/3 - 1/2 of remaining water in Display Tank while stirring with free hand (gloves recomended if you have a population of Bristle worms) I have some 5g buckets if you need to borrow still.

Cheers, Todd

 

[pandora32]

Dont stess about it. If you start to stress, more chance of a mistake. If you lived closer, i have 11 empty 5g buckets ready to go thursday. But Mt. Vernon is a long ways from me. Good luck and dont worry.

 

[sedrostyle]

So here's another question. I just realized where we're moving is on well water..... How bad is well water for my tank
I don't have a rodi unit yet.

 

[Zerc]

That depends entirely on the well. some wells are great, some are terrible. where are you going to?

 

[sedrostyle]

Thanks Todd.
I only have maybe a inch and a half sand bed.
The tank will probably be transported in the back of a truck with canopie
The thing I was worried about was the temperature. Like some one else stated it'll have to be the last thing to go and first business taken care of
I don't have a ice chest so I'm guessing 10 to 15 gallons in my spare 20,
Some left in the tank with sand.
Fill up as many buckets as I can with the rock and rest of water.
Separate all my corals/fish into one bucket.
Keep the bucket Or buckets in te an next to me

Thanks for all the advice.
Also say if I got everything loaded and traveled and unlaoded and going again in say 3 hours tops. Everything should be fine right?

And Todd and pandora I still do need buckets. Where do you guys live.

 

[TJL]

Steven, I'll shoot you a pm with contact info in a sec. I also have a 40qt cooler you can borrow, just need to remember to bring it back from Hansville with me on Thur/Fri

Cheers, Todd

 

[james734]

Just a thought and not sure it would even work. But what about a power invert to run a small heater. Of course I guess it would depend on wattage, but wonder of that might be a way to keep things warm.

 

[sedrostyle]

Just a thought and not sure it would even work. But what about a power invert to run a small heater. Of course I guess it would depend on wattage, but wonder of that might be a way to keep things warm.

I thought of that too. It should go well with no issues
Just wanted ideas.

 

[sedrostyle]

Anyone have a tds meter? Idk of these are portable but the one a guy has down the street is into his rodi unit.
I'd like to test my water now and the water I will be using.

Will running carbon have reverse effects on the well water?
Should I do a phosban also?

 

[james734]

Mine is like the one you mentioned connected to my RO/DI unit. They do make portable TDS meters.

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/catalog/product/view/id/401/

 

[zachrabbit15]

If you need help moving me and my van are avalable Sunday.

 

[pandora32]

Wish i checked this earlier. I live in port orchard. Pretty far from you. Im leaving in the morning for miami. Sorry man.

 

[sedrostyle]

All good man. I got it handled thanks to some people on here.