Moving Tank and need advice!

[SharkFin]

Hey all,

I will be relocating from Florida to South Carolina and need some tips on how I should transport the tank and its inhabitants. I have a mixed reef 20 gallon display with a 10 gallon DIY refugium. All of the corals are fixed to the live rock. The live rock has two main sections which can be separated. Im debating purchasing two containers perhaps 5 gallon buckets or coolers to place each of the main live rock segments with all attached coral. each structure in its own container. Thoughts? also what should i do to keep the corals alive and healthy during the transport? should I get any battery powered circulation or something?

Any and all assistance would be helpful as I dont want to lose any of my corals and inverts especially my acros. thanks!

[thegrun]

I would not reuse the sand, it will contain a lot of trapped detritus that if released could start a new cycle, killing off all your livestock. Start fresh with dry sand. Be sure to wash the sand well before using it. To wash the sand place 5 pounds or so at a time in a 5 gallon bucket. Use a garden hose at full flow to agitate the sand. The finer grains of sand will overflow the top of the bucket, leaving the larger grains behind. Continue to agitate the water until it runs clear. I would not use "live" sand as it can contain more dead than live organisms and has the potential to start a new cycle (and cost more to purchase since you are paying for water). Try to reuse as much clean water from the old system as possible to lessen the shock of new water chemistry on your livestock. Once the water from the old tank starts to get murky from stirred up detritus, don't reuse that water. Have plenty of new premade and preheated saltwater on hand at your new home to make up for the lost water. I would plan on pre-making 50% of your display tank's volume and have it ready for use. 5 gallon buckets with lids are your best friend for a tank move. Anything larger becomes very heavy to move, although for longer moves ice chests work well at maintaining water temperatures. A DC to AC car converter will alow you to keep the water heated and an airstone running during the move. Monitor your water temperatures, if it gets too hot float a zip lock bag full of ice in the buckets to lower the temperature. You can use bubble wrap to help keep your rock with corals attached from being smashed against the sides of the buckets during transport. Start by filling three buckets 1/3 with water from the tank and then add the rock from the system to one of the buckets. Continue filling buckets first with water, then rock until you have removed all the rock. Save a half full bucket of clean water from the tank for the fish. Once all the rock has been removed, the fish should be easy to catch. Some fish will burrow into the sand to hide so if you come up short on your fish count you may need to sift through the sand to find the missing fish. Once you have everything back at your home and the tank in place, first set up your rock. Try to minimize the amount of time the rock is out of the water. If aquascaping the rock takes you awhile, pour some of the saltwater from the old set-up on the rock to keep it wet. Once the rock is set fill the tank with all the old water and whatever new water is necessary. You can just dump the fish directly from the buckets into the new tank to prevent injuring the fish or adding stress to the fish by netting them. Then start circulating the water, get the heaters running and the rest of the equipment. Best of luck and keep us posted with your results!

[leetch]

My last move I broke things into sections. Live rock without any attached coral, live rock with attached coral, coral only, fish, everything else. I did a water change just before I moved everything to get a better water quality while things sit in buckets and bags without shocking them by placing in all brand new water.

The LR without coral went into buckets with water and a tight lid.

LR with coral was in multiple buckets. I made sure to place them so they wouldn't "roll over" and crush my coral. I had to use multiple buckets.

Coral only was placed in bags, with water of course and floated in buckets with water.

Fishies were placed in a bucket filled half way. Nothing else was in there...last thing I needed was some LR to roll over and crush a fishy.

Sand was left in my tank with enough water to keep it wet. Snails and crabs were left in with the sand although I'm sure there were some in the LR in the other buckets.

I kept the fishies near me as I wanted to make sure I aerated the water every now and then and monitored the temperature. Fishies are pretty hardy but you sure don't want to refrigerate them or boil them.

The corals should be okay as long as they don't get crushed. I'm assuming it's just a one day trip. They will probably shrivel up to protect themselves and need to reacclimate once you get the tank back up and running.

Corals are shipped all the time so they can be fairly hardy. Just be sure to reaclimate once you get to your destination. Circulation shouldn't be necessary as you will likely get it from the bumpy roads splashing the water around..

How long will the trip take?

[JMorris271]

What Part of SC are you moving to?