Tank moving plan...

[fireguy98]

Okay so I'm moving march 1 to our new house and I think I have a plan together just want some input. Tank is a rsm 250 65 gallon
So it goes something like this. Have 65 gallons of salt water made and ready to go. Empty half the water into this giant cooler I have and put rock, corals, and fish into cooler. In the cooler will be a powerhead and heater. Should I put in a air stone? Drain remaining water and keep it. Empty tank completly. What should I do with sand? Replace or rinse its 1 year old. Move tank. At new place pull all pumps and clean. Clean and scrape all coraline algea off back glass. Clean entire tank spotless. Refill half way with original water. Introduce sand bed. Put in rock. Refill rest of way. Let sand settle ect. Then test all parameters and if all good introduce live stock. Should this work or am I destined for failure?
Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk 2

[BlueWorldAquatic]

I would recommend getting new sand, or you can leave it in with minimal water, just dot disrupt it too badly.

but if you are planning a good scrub job, just replace it, sand is cheap, better than spending hours rinsing it.

Re-use as much water as you can then replace the remainder with freshly made.

[fireguy98]

Okay cool sounds like a good plan. Replace the sand it is.

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk 2

[BlueWorldAquatic]

sand is cheap

[fireguy98]

Recommendations for sand. Currently use carib sea fiji pink. I have a diamond head that lives on the sand bed so I need something that is okay for him.

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk 2

[fireguy98]

Also should I put in a air stone or something or is a maxi 1200 good enough. The fish rock ect will be in the cooler for atleast 4 hours I figure maybe a little bit more.

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk 2

[BlueWorldAquatic]

just needs good flow

[fireguy98]

Tank moving day is coming up soon. Not going to lie I am dreading this!!

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk 2

[kien]

I'm dreading it too and I'm not even the one moving the tank! Seriously, it can be quite stressful. I feel your pain. One thing I would do differently is actually clean the tank before the move. That will save you a lot of time on move day. You already have a gajillion things to do so anything you can do before hand will help a lot.

[fireguy98]

I am lucky in one way I can move the tank in a day early so I have all day to get it done. How long do you figure my rock coral and live stock can stay in the cooler with a power head and a heater?

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk 2

[kien]

What kind and how much of live stock are we talking?

[fireguy98]

Cooler is massive. Live stock goes like this.
1 solar wrasse
2 clowns
1 bi color blenny
3 cardinals
1 diamond head goby
2 cleaner shrimp
Various snails
2 urchins
And some lps corals

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk 2

[kien]

Cooler is massive. Live stock goes like this.
1 solar wrasse
2 clowns
1 bi color blenny
3 cardinals
1 diamond head goby
2 cleaner shrimp
Various snails
2 urchins
And some lps corals

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk 2

Ya that's not a lot of livestock. You should be OK in the short term during the move.

[kien]

Make sure to point your powerhead to the surface to agitate it for oxygenation. In fact, if it were me I would throw in an air stone as a precaution. During the move livestock can get quite stressed and as a result respire a lot more than they normally would.

[fireguy98]

I'm thinking they will be in the cooler for at least 4 hours while everything gets moved and cleaned.

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk 2

[fireguy98]

I was on the fence with the air stone but I think I'll put one in.

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk 2

[HaZRaTTy]

I would be worried about the movement of rock inside the cooler on transportation with the fish, might come out with some disappearing injured fish.

I would try to transport them separate then maybe at the house transfer them over? Just my opinion but it could be okay as long as you don't drive like my wife.

[fireguy98]

Hmmm good point.

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk 2

[Mike-fish]

Definatly use an air stone the fish will do way better

[fireguy98]

Another issue I'm on the fence about is the sand. To replace the sand is going to be 80 dollars or do I rinse my current sand that is just over 1 year old.

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk 2

[kien]

The sand is kinda preference thing. I've used sand that's 4 years old that I just rinsed with each tank change but recently I added some new sand for the extra sparkly look of a new sand bed. Keep in mind that if you use new sand you will likely get a diatom bloom on the sand bed. Nothing to panic about tho. Unsightly but you can easily wait it out. If you want to save a few bucks using the old sand is fine to.

[fireguy98]

Old sand it is. I'll just be sure to give it a really good rinse. One postive about the move is I can finally break down my aquascape and search and destroy some nasty hitch hiker crabs. They are black and getting massive.

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk 2

[swill]

We just moved two aquariums and I thought I would post some things here that I found helpful with the move.

We first moved a 190 gallon custom tank and sump. This tank was being moved into our house from another persons house. The biggest thing that helped with this move was NO SAND!! The previous owner had a no sand bed approach and although I found it difficult to get use to I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm telling you, the day after the move, the tank looked like it had been in my living room for years. The water was clear and the corals looked amazing. We weren't moving too much livestock but bought a used 10 gallon and had it setup and ready in my basement so that is where the livestock lived for the first 24 hours after the move. We used their tank water so there was no need to acclimate them or anything. This was helpful as the day after the move we did some more aquascaping and it was just easier to do knowing there was no fish in the tank to watch out for. We used tupperware bins to move the water and just took our time with everything. The whole tank move from start to finish took 10 hours.

The second tank was a 90 gallon reef, it was being moved from our home to it's new home across town. This one did have a sand bottom and it was being moved later at night so we did not take our time. Something that we did with this tank I think helped, we took a big bucket and filled it with the tank water, then we started to fill the tupperware bins. Once we got down to where the rocks were starting to stick out of the water we started to take the rocks out. We first would take the rock and rinse it off in the bucket of water. we would stick it the bucket and shake it. This allowed any debris to be remove from the rock before we would place it into the tupperware bin full of water. Someone might have a different option on this way of doing it I'm sure but I really think it helped. The bucket water got really dirty after awhile so we dumped it down the drain and filled it again with tank water and continued on with this method. It's almost like you're cleaning your rocks just as you would with your sand. Once we moved the tank and started to put the water and rocks back into the tank we could see that the rinsing method worked as aquascaping was much easier than moves in the past as we could actually see in the tank instead of just murky water. We had planned on doing a water change anyway when we moved it so dumping some of the water was not a big deal. There was some definite murkiness to the water though from disturbing the sand bed. We went to see the tank the next day and you could see the brown dust film on the bottom of the tank. It made me appreciate the NO SAND approach even more. The fish in this tank were put into the tank immediately after the move and they had still not come out from hiding. It's way too stressful for them which is why I used the extra 10 gallon for our new fish.

I hope this info helps you, good luck with the move!!

[fireguy98]

Great info thank you very much.

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk 2

[fireguy98]

D-day has arrived!! Starting the move in t-minuse 30 mins. I think this is going to be a interesting learning experience. Wish me luck..

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk 2

[kien]

good luck! Remember, don't panic! It's clear to me that you have it well planned out and you know exactly what you're doing. Keep calm, and carry on. You got this :biggrin:

[lastlight]

i wash a little bit of sand at a time in a bucket and grind handfuls against itself in my hands. i spend a lot of time doing this and old sand ends up looking new when you're done. It seems that a lot of detritus is not only mixed with the sand but stuck to it as well.

your hands will be palmolive smooth afterwards too lol.

also thermometers are not always accurate even if they're consistent. i'd test temps in both tanks with the same one to make sure you're not stressing the livestock too much.

[fireguy98]

Awesome thank you.. I bought all new sand yesterday

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk 2

[HaZRaTTy]

Remember to have fun, don't swear at your wife too much its not her fault and from my expirence lousey helpers!

Good luck!

[fireguy98]

Lol she steered clear of this. Had a buddy come out. Tank took 4 hours to dismantle and clean. Fish rock corals are in a 45 gallon brute with powerhead and heater. I'm hoping they all make it. Can't set the tank up till tomorrow. Now I wait.

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk 2

[fireguy98]

Thought I would post a update. Tank is still not fully set up. Had some issues with my stand and needed to have it repaired so livestock is still in the brute :( everything seems to be okay nothing dead can't see any signes of stress so I'm hoping mid day tomorrow I can put them all back in the tank.

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk 2

[duncangweller]

I'm moving end of the month too so I've been following this closely. I had to move ny tank a few months ago and now I have to do it all over again.

Although this time I have bought a place so I'll be there for a wee while I hope.

Keep on with the updates.

Sent from my HTC Incredible S using Tapatalk 2

[fireguy98]

This move has been anything but smooth. Even with all my planning I still had some issues come up that I didn't foresee.
I did end up buying all new sand and god i'm glad I did. Fish are still in the brute but there is nothing I can do about that they seem fine water parameters are good so far. Hopefully tonight I can transfer them back into the tank. I'll post once they are back in there home.

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk 2

[fireguy98]

Finally I have my livestock back in the tank. I did loose two cardinals though but I'm not going to beat myself up over it I did the best I could. I was extremely happy to see my clowns made it through no problem. Wrasse looks stressed out. Blennie seens okay. Goby ok. shrimps no problems. Nems seem okay they are open and bubbled up. Surviving cardinal is good. I think the other two got crushed by a rock. So lessons learned are always have lots of heated tank water. Aquire lots of 5 gallon buckets to move water around. extra carbon is good have and prime on hand if needed. Replace your sand bed. Since your moving the tank give it a good scrub I did and am very glad I did. Soak your pumps in a vinegar solution while they are out of the tank. Have a stack of towels on hand you'll need them. Take a picture of your aqua scape before you brake it down.ect ect ect. Biggest thing take your time go slow think 5 steps ahead of yourself. If it goes sideways like my move did just adapt. My livestock spent a total of 4 days in a 45 gallon Brute can with all my rock and corals. I used a powerhead and a heater that I calibrated before the move. 3 days would have been fine 4 was pushing it.
Its 2 AM so time for bed.
Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk 2