Moving a 120 gal tank any advise

[1eyedjyde]

Hey everyone I guess I will make this thread my intro to the forum, I've been brousing for a while now but have finally taken the plunge.

I have recently purchased a 120 gal “reef” setup. At the moment it really is a FOLWR but it has a few remaining coral pieces and a couple small fish and inverts. The tank itself has an over flow on the right side and a drilled 1” drain on the upper left side. Both drains feed into a 50gal sump w/ skimmer and Mag drive 12 return pump. The tank is also set up with a closed-loop system with a snapper pump however the pump housing will need to be replaced so the system is currently shut off with ball valves. The current lighting is a single 250 watt HQI pendent fixture with led moon lights.

After reading a bit on moving tanks and marine life I figure the best way is to move the livestock and as much LR, sand and water into an empty 30 gal tank with a few power heads and the light. The remaining sand, LR and water can then just be stored in some large containers (garbage cans) with an air stone and power head until the tank is set up at my house. I figure I should be able to have the tank up and running in a week or two. The stand is in need of some pant to hide the 70s wood grain and the tank itself could use a good scraping and reseal the bulk heads. There are probably a number of other items I will have to figure out before I fill the tank but it should only be down for a couple of weeks.

Once the tank is moved to its final location I figure I should be able to add all the sand, LR and water I have stored in the garbage cans and top off the remaining water with new. At this point I will bring the water in the tank up to temperature and make sure water parameters normalize (ph and salinity). I assume the tank will probably go through a mini cycle at this point since there will be a small amount of die off from the LR and sand. Once the cycle is complete I will move the contents of the 30 gal to the 120.

I figure this arrangement will have the least effect on the inhabitants of the tank and should minimize any losses. If anyone has any pearls of wisdom to add I am all ears. As this is my first plunge into marine aquariums I’m sure the learning curve is going to be steep. I will also add pics of the tank as I go through the move, it should be interesting.