MOVING HELP PLEASE

[NemoanDory]

Ok so I am really in a hard spot I need to know your guys opinion.

This has been a very tough decision for me, so need advice from ppl just looking more for IMO type answers. Not looking for a solution.

IF this was your tank and was your biggest dream and most successful tank you had ever had and everything was flourishing in it for over 2years, what would you do in this situation.

I have to move I have a 240 gal NEW tank My original plan was going to be to transfer everything from the 110 that all my stuff is in now. I was just going to do this in the house I am in now but landlord decided to sell
So I have ended up deciding to move from my place into my boyfriends house which has no room for even a 33 gal tank and he just bought it. SO he leaves in the far far se and his parents have said we can put the tank at their place which is about a 20 to 30 min drive from his house. We will not be getting a new house for a few years obviously as this is a brand new home he just had built and moved into. So my tank would reside at his parents house which means I will have to make trips there every other day or every two days to make sure all is right with the tank and maintence is done.

Would you sell everything in the tank now and keep all the equipment that is running it such as sump, skimmer, pumps heaters and light and redo everything in a few years when you have a bigger house.

OR

Would you set up the new tank at the parents house and go out of your way a few times a week to maintain it?

What would you guys do?

Thank you.

[sphelps]

Being in a similar situation before I would (and did) sell all livestock and keep the equipment. It's hard work to maintain a tank that isn't in your house, it's a lot of stress and you risk loosing livestock that you could have recovered cost and replaced later. There's very little that can't be replaced.

Also it's a big tank, and just the move alone is a lot of work and could result in loses.

In terms of how to sell, part out for sure, it's actually the easiest and best way to recover the most money.

Setup a numbered list with prices.
State a day and time frame that works for you.
Request people to PM with what they want but only if they can make it during the time frame.
Hold corals in order for those who PM first
Tell people to bring their own transportation containers, as in buckets or bags.

I would setup one day for coral first and certain portion of rock if there was interest. Then fish another day.

The prices you ask will determine how much interest you get and ultimately how fast things sell.

[Coralgurl]

I would hold onto the tank and equipment, if you can have it set up at his parents then do it. I hope this doesn't sound offensive as it's not meant to be but here goes...it sounds like you are moving in together out of necesscity. Not sure how long you and your boyfriend have been together, but i wouldn't give up a thing at this point and see how things go, would say a year...maybe by then you can build/buy a place together to include plans for your bigger tanks! Good luck!

[sphelps]

I guess of terms of equipment as well you'll have to consider if a tank that size will fit in your future plans. A tank that size can be hard to fit in some places, it may not work with your future house so you should way the odds and the cost of storage.

[Coralgurl]

Very good points! I have resented bfs in the past that I gave stuff up for, whether it was out of necessity or money, whatever, so just thinking to take that part out of the picture...that might just be me tho!!:biggrin:

Being in a similar situation before I would (and did) sell all livestock and keep the equipment. It's hard work to maintain a tank that isn't in your house, it's a lot of stress and you risk loosing livestock that you could have recovered cost and replaced later. There's very little that can't be replaced.

Also it's a big tank, and just the move alone is a lot of work and could result in loses.

In terms of how to sell, part out for sure, it's actually the easiest and best way to recover the most money.

Setup a numbered list with prices.
State a day and time frame that works for you.
Request people to PM with what they want but only if they can make it during the time frame.
Hold corals in order for those who PM first
Tell people to bring their own transportation containers, as in buckets or bags.

I would setup one day for coral first and certain portion of rock if there was interest. Then fish another day.

The prices you ask will determine how much interest you get and ultimately how fast things sell.

[gobytron]

I would hold onto the tank and equipment, if you can have it set up at his parents then do it. I hope this doesn't sound offensive as it's not meant to be but here goes...it sounds like you are moving in together out of necesscity. Not sure how long you and your boyfriend have been together, but i wouldn't give up a thing at this point and see how things go, would say a year...maybe by then you can build/buy a place together to include plans for your bigger tanks! Good luck!

Lol...

I think she was looking for advice on keeping a tank away from where she lives...not her relationship.

[Coralgurl]

Lol...

I think she was looking for advice on keeping a tank away from where she lives...not her relationship.

True enough! I had said i wasnt meaning to offend...Tough place to be regardless. I think keep tank and equip and set up again down the road.

[Nano]

I would sell the live stock for the time being IMO. keep the equipment if you have a place for it, and then, if you still want a tank why not just do a little nano tank or something for the time being to tie you over? nothing wrong with that :)

[Mrfish55]

I temporarily set up a tank at my parents place 10 years ago, mom fell in love with the fish, didn't want to let them go, they grew, cost me a bundle to upgrade and the tank and fish are still there. Personally I would sell off most of my stuff and start new when the timing was right, what you have now may not work later so why store it, tanks especially don't take kindly to repeated moves and unless you crate it up I find they are far more susceptible to accidental damage.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

I don't think driving back and forth for years is a workable solution. A tank is something you keep for your enjoyment and this sounds like a very inconvenient and expensive "solution" to your dilemma. I would set up a small nano to keep your favourite corals and small fish, but sell off the rest, including the equipment if you have no place to store them. Sounds like you wouldn't have room at your place to store the tank even if its empty. Get a nice AIO (like a RSM) and actually enjoy your hobby instead of dreading the drive back and forth and doing maintenance at someone else's house.

For myself, I don't get how you have a whole new house and not enough room for even a 33g tank. Is that because he has too much stuff and is unwilling to give up any of it so you can set up a tank? We have a small two bedroom groundfloor suite and I have had close to 1000g of tanks setup in here. Just something to make me go "hmmmmmm".

[The Guy]

I agree with Sea Horse Fanatic, set up a Smaller nano tank for your enjoyment at your home and sell off all of it. Start up new once you get into a bigger place, chances are equipment in the hobby will be improved upon when you start again.
There's my 2 cents worth, good luck.

[HaZRaTTy]

I agree with Sea Horse Fanatic, set up a Smaller nano tank for your enjoyment at your home and sell off all of it. Start up new once you get into a bigger place, chances are equipment in the hobby will be improved upon when you start again.
There's my 2 cents worth, good luck.

I will also agree with SHF, and Clown lover. A tank is definetly for your enjoyment. I wouldn't want to set up my tank at someones house 30 mintues away it would kill me.

IMO I would sell and rebuy when you can and have the space. If you can a nano might fill the "dry" void and still give you somethign to look at. I know when I moved from 6 - FW Tanks to have 1 - 20G Planted it gave me a chance to improve and make the one tank super nice and it has been my nicest tank thus far as my time and energy was solely based on one tank and not 6. or 20G and not 200G+.

[NemoanDory]

Thank you very much for all your guys input. I think this little
Community is such a nice community I don't post much but I do read alot and see that alot of you are good friends on here really nice to see that. Anyway thank you again for your thoughts on this. Looks like I am going to try to figure something out if I cannot keep it with me I will be selling it:(




NemoAnDory

[lockrookie]

well if you sell it all this is my suggestion. open a bank account that is stirictly for your tank funds put all the proceeds in said account and let it collect intrest and add a little here and there. so when you are ready to return to the hobby and the stars have aligned you can use the funds in your account for it. sure in emergency if you need to dip into the account. but it will be easier to get a new setup if you have it there waiting down the road and not such an blow to your wallet.

just my 2 centss
jeff

[NemoanDory]

Sooooo the boyfriend seen how upset I was and was able to convience his brother to allow it in the basement of their house (they bought it together the basement area is his brothers area)

SO I am moving it!

NOW I need a little advice as to how to transfer everything from the existing tank to the new tank. I am NOT looking forward to this part lol.

So if anyone has moved a tank and done a huge upgrade at the same time and has some imput it would be greatly appreciated.

The tank I have right now is 110 gal (for sale in the add section) Upgrading to a 240 gal tank.

Once everything is settled in and doing well I will add photos:)

[Coralgurl]

So happy to hear this has worked out for you!! Good luck with the move!!

[NemoanDory]

Thank you Coralgurl:) I am very excited about this but very worried with such a big move:( I have lots of nice corals and am very worried about losing them

[Gripenfelter]

I've done the "big move" twice.

Here's what I did...

Set up new tank.

Every water change add water from the old tank to the new tank. If you are pressed for time I would transfer over as much of the water from the old tank to the new tank to minimize break-in time. Top up the rest with new saltwater.

Set up sump/pump/powerheads and optimize flow rates.

I added lots of micro-bacter and cycle to keep the bio filtration at optimum.

Brought the temp of the water up to match the temp of the old tank within 0.5 degrees.

Place all of the rock in the new tank and do some preliminary aquascaping.

Place the coral in the new tank and mount it.

Catch the fish and transport them in 5 gallon buckets to the new tank. Add Prime to the tank to help de-stress the fish.

Add lights.

Stir up and rinse the sand in the OLD tank daily or every few hours. Let the garbage get filtered out. Vacuum it and then transport to new tank. I put in about 1 KG of sand from the old tank to the new tank daily to minimize fogging and prevent nitrate shock. I left one powerhead in the old tank to keep the sand live in the old tank until I was ready to move all of it.

Monitor all your levels daily for the next 2 weeks.

I have nil nitrates and ammonia from day 1.

*Knock on wood*.

[NemoanDory]

Thank you so much! Yes very pressed for time I have to have EVERYTHING out of this house and into the new place by march 1st already bought lots of bacerial stuff.

I am going to use new sand as my sandbed was used before and not very nice. Going to go with a very thin layer of the sugar like white sand.

I am going to try and bring over at least 90gals of water from the old tank to the new. I went to walmart and go 30gal rubbermaid tubs to transport the water in.

I have lots of bags and styrofoam boxes to transport the fish and corals in.

UHG I will be so happy when this is all done.

[reefwars]

Thank you so much! Yes very pressed for time I have to have EVERYTHING out of this house and into the new place by march 1st already bought lots of bacerial stuff.

I am going to use new sand as my sandbed was used before and not very nice. Going to go with a very thin layer of the sugar like white sand.

I am going to try and bring over at least 90gals of water from the old tank to the new. I went to walmart and go 30gal rubbermaid tubs to transport the water in.

I have lots of bags and styrofoam boxes to transport the fish and corals in.

UHG I will be so happy when this is all done.



its really not hard the idea is to get everything over as fast as you can and avoid any big changes.

ive kept many sandbeds def alot more than i went new and the idea is not to stir it up just bring the water to the sand line and carry tank like that, when putting water back in do it through a pump so it doesnt stir to much sand but that doesnt matter as your going new :twised:


extra people(min 4 i find), 2 trucks, extra mix water, and a good understanding of curse words.

set your display up and get everyone in their, then work on sump and everything else later.

extra plumbing parts if need be:P

i would use as much of the actual tank water not just whats left from water changes, i would use 80% tank water and 20% new water.

fresh carbon and prime.

its also a good time to think about any fish you dont want, any rock thats been a pest or any pest anemones or inverts as they will be easy to get at now:):)

cheers and good luck:)

[Gripenfelter]

Thank you so much! Yes very pressed for time I have to have EVERYTHING out of this house and into the new place by march 1st already bought lots of bacerial stuff.

I am going to use new sand as my sandbed was used before and not very nice. Going to go with a very thin layer of the sugar like white sand.

I am going to try and bring over at least 90gals of water from the old tank to the new. I went to walmart and go 30gal rubbermaid tubs to transport the water in.

I have lots of bags and styrofoam boxes to transport the fish and corals in.

UHG I will be so happy when this is all done.

Only half fill the rubbermaid containers. They bend and bow out at the top lip. I used one as a quarantine tank once and the lip tore after 1 day of use.

Also I would transport the fish in the containers as well rather than in bags. Less stress and better temperature stability.

[Seriak]

I would also sell some of your equipment. Technology changes over the years and you may want the new LED or the new Vortech pump and if you try to sell your outdated stuff years from now you will not get much for it. Certain things don't change much so keep those, but anything techno, I would try to sell now as well.

[NemoanDory]

I will be keeping my equipment for my new tank I am setting it up right away.:)


NemoAnDory