Whats the Best Way to Move a Reef Aquarium?

[diverdick]

I am sure this topic has been discussed previously but, can you all give me your best advise on a reef aquarium move? I recently purchased a 125 complete system from about 100 miles away. The system is up and running and will be torn down the day of the move. Does anyone have experience with this sort of thing? There are about 6 - 8 fish and soft corals.

My thoughts are the have new water mixed (as much as possible anyway) and reclaim some of the original water in the transfer. All fish can go in 5 gal buckets, rock can be moved dry (rubermaid tubs) & sand left in the tank maybe?

Any ideas?

--Rich aka diverdick

 

[tigerarmy40]

sounds like a pretty good plan, though I would not leave the sand in the tank. The wieght of the sand can cause the tank two tweak and crack.

 

[krisfal]

I would try to keep the rock damp during the move, it contains alot of life and if allowed to dry that life will start dying, this will cause the tank to cycle again and may harm the livestock. I once bought some live rock from a local reefer and moved it in tubs with a bit of the tank water in it to keep it moist, although I put it into a newly set-up tank I had no noticable start-up cycle.

 

[jamiehill]

I would also get a couple battery powered air pumps and some air stones to keep the water oxygenated if you are travelling 100 miles or so. Just to be on the safe side. Mostly just the buckets with the fish & corals.

 

[diverdick]

Thanks a bunch for all the advice....I am a bit skeptical of the move but will take all into consideration......

Best Regards,

--Rich aka diverdick

 

[miwoodar]

I moved many tanks when I was in college (with nearly zero casualties). I've never moved a reef in less than 12 hours. Last time I moved my 65 it took 18 hours and I only had to move it 10 miles.

The best advice I can give - buy a cheap baby pool and set it up in the living room at your destination. When you arrive take all of your water and inhabitants and place them in the pool so you can aerate the water and stabilize the temp ASAP. You can then take your time reassembling everything else. The baby pool also helps when it comes time to place the rockwork because you can see all of the available pieces simultaneously.

I've always moved every drop I could rather than throw any away and I've always needed the pre-mixed water when I started setting it back up. Count on loosing at least a couple of gallons (I've lost as much as 15) due to ill-fitting lids and sloshing.

 

[pitmam01]

Hire Krisfal to move it and set it up while you go on vacation. He/she seems to know how to complete the task and seems like a nice enough person!!!!!!!!!!!!

:badgrin::badgrin::badgrin::badgrin:

 

[dhnguyen]

Get yourself a power inverter for your car/truck and plug an airpump or powerhead to it. Don't forget a heater too. I lost ALL of my SPS moving from Northern Cali to Seattle because I forgot to include a heater in the mix.

 

[diverdick]

Move is over - well almost

The move of the 125 is 90% at this point. The 100 mile trip proved to be tougher that expected. It took us 3 hours to break down the 8 yo system and package ALL SPS, LPS, Fish & Rock. /the system was nicely established and I ended up wet shipping everything, including the ~ 20 lbs of beautiful rock. The break down was the easy part. The one thig I wish I did different was I wish I at least partially washed the sand. The system had a deep 5" sand bed that, once disturbed, house anaerobic activity (barf). Any way, once the tank was located in its new home, I Put about 2.5 to 3" back in. When the mixed sea water was introduce, boom, a cloud that tested my magnum particulate filter for sure! After 6 or so filter purges and about 24 hours, the water was crystal clear (thank god). All corals and fish are housed in existing aquariums and seem to be fine. I must admit, I under estimated the cleaning component to this thing. I resisted the desire to clean everything in lieu of getting the system back up ASAP. I wall have to go back and incrementally chip away at.

As far as all the tip I got from you all, the one I missed and wish I did was adding a heater to the fish bucket. The move included aprox. 15 - 5 gal buckets, 4 - 40 gal totes. Impossible to heat all separately so, up went the heat in the rented cargo van. Even with the extra heat in the van, the water cooled off significantly (down to ~ 70 deg/f at the end). Anyway, it looks as is the inhabitants are a bit more resilient to low temps and lousy acclimation techniques that I thought. All did very well.

Thank you all for your tips and advise. That is what makes this forum such a success.

Best Regards,

--Rich aka Diverdick

 

[tigerarmy40]

congfrats on the succesful move!! now we all need a pic of the setup