moving a reef aquarium

[cfmx]

Hi all!
We have just purchased 120 gallon reef aquarium stocked with a lot of acros. We are moving the tank this weekend and looking for some suggestions on the best way to move the corals with minimal loss. The distance for the move is about a hour away.
Our current plans is to keep as much as the water as possible. Buy several 38g rubbermaid containers to move live rock & water in. Also buckets to place the sand in. Should we add water to the sand when we move it? have read people moving it both ways with & without water. For the corals I thought about buying a couple of shallower rubbermaid containers adding water in it and then placing the corals in plastic bags that don't close (that way they don't sting each other). Do you suggest placing powerheads in the container to provide curriculation until the actual moving process?
Fish will be in a cooler (there are 4 fish not very large)
Any suggestions would be great. We want to do everything we can to keep everything alive!
Once we get it move and setup I will have to take pictures to identify some of the acros.
Thanks

[Reeses]

Congrats on your 120g!

It has been written/documented that all the life in the sand bed is isolated to the top 1-2 inches. If you attempt to bring all of the sand, all the bad voodoo (pockets of detritus, trapped gasses) from stirring/scooping the sand will impact your water quality when you get the tank all put back together. It is better to scoop off the top layer first, before you take out the rock (that step keeps extra detritus from coming for the ride) and then using the sand you kept to reseed a new sandbed. As you break down the tank and scoop the sandbed you will notice that the sandbed has turned dark in color and smells really rank....that's exactly why you don't want to bring it along. I would put the sand in water, I think that it helps keep all the critters alive. I have moved twice with fishtanks, once right next door and the other move was 1050 miles.

I don't have any experience with acros, but I've read a shipping technique that is supposed greatly reduces the stress. When you bag them, float them upside down attached to a Styrofoam block. This keeps them from hitting the sides of the bag (as long as the Styrofoam is cut large enough) and helps prevent the corals from sliming themselves to death. Hopefully, someone else here will chime in that has some experience transporting these corals.

I know that some have just wrapped their rock in wet newspaper, and others have moved it in water. I have only moved my rock in water. I think it's why a big cycle was never triggered when the system was finally put back together. I also made a point to really shake the rock off before removing it from the water to remove excess detritus. I did use powerheads/battery operated air pumps to keep the water moving and oxygenated.

You are going to need to make lots of water, even if you save as much as you can from the old tank, for a large change (top off) in it's new location. If you have never moved a tank before, you will be unpleasantly surprised with how much detritus gets stirred up while breaking down the tank, fouling the water that's left. So the water that you want to save should be siphoned off first. I also only siphoned water from the middle of the water column since the organics that we want to skim float to the top . I don't know if this really helped anything or not, but it just seemed to make sense to me.

Moving an aquarium always seems to take a lot longer than planned, so I would focus on the techniques to keep the animals in the best health you can until it is all back up and running. If your creatures are in their bags/coolers for an extended period of time, I wouldn't even think of adding that water back to the aquarium. I would re-acclimate them like I had just purchased them from the pet store. Perhaps that's my paranoia, but my focus when moving my tanks was to keep the water in the newly moved aquarium as "clean" as possible, and it worked really well . My relocation right next door was a process that started at 7:00 in the morning and the critters didn't get back into the tank until late that evening. It's things like spraying down the tank, cleaning the equipment, and mixing all the water ( I underestimated by a ton!) that really slowed me down. Well, that and the fact that I was really tired by lunch from lugging everything.

I apologize for being long-winded. I hope others post suggestions for you. Good luck on moving this tank, and I hope it goes really smooth!

[balmiesgirl]

I moved a 55 gal tank about 5 hours away. I just emptied out about 3/4 of the water into 5 gal buckets w/ lids and set most of the live rock on the bottom of the tank so it was stable. (The rest I put in the buckets of water.) I left most of the fish in the tank. I only had 2 corals so I bagged them.
.....Then I got 4 very strong guys to haul it (on a backboard, like you use to transport an injured person). They loaded it into the back of the van. I already had a converter ready and plugged in a heater (it was January) and a powerhead for circulation. .....Our trip went well and all occupants survived!!! My only hitch was when I got to the destination I had to find some more guys to unload it....which I did...but it took a couple of hours....
Like Reeses said... it took alot longer than I thought! And his ideas are way better than mine....I just thought you'd want to hear another experience.

[csb]

I moved my 30g tank about an hour last May ... even for a small tank and equipment, the move took the majority of a day. Just from experience, I'd say that you'd be wise to plan 1 moving day dedicated to just the tank.

[Reeses]

I don't think cfmx is moving his/her whole house, just the tank from the person they bought it from to his/her home. But if they are moving their whole house, I totally agree...at least one whole day, and perhaps the morning of the next.

[Cove Beach]

Reeses, i'd like to hear how you managed the 1000 mile move, as i may have a 1200 mile move in my future. Thanks

[Reeses]

My 1050mi move was with a smaller tank. The mechanics of the move were basically the same, with much more planning of "life support" so to speak. Since my tank was smaller, I was able to bring that with me, and that was a huge help. However, my stand had to go in the truck so I made plans for supporting my inhabitants until I got the stand back. The stand, I might add, was transported by a moving company and we were supposed to receive our things a meer three days later. It didn't arrive until a week and a half later. The moral of that story was to expect the unexpected!

I put everything of it's own kind in separate buckets. For example, I piled the rock in water in buckets, and separated the snails from the hermits. We brought everything in our minivan. I was concerned about temperature, but it didn't prove to be a problem because we were going from North to South and had planned to drive as far as humanly possible. I wrapped the buckets with blankets to insulate them. I dosed Seachems's Prime halfway through the trip and I made room to bring all the tank water I had saved as well as fresh and nsw. Home depot sells those sealing watertight lids for their homer buckets. We drilled holes in the top to run lines for battery operated pumps. Then we drilled another hole in the tops a hair smaller in diameter than rigid airline tubing. We then stuffed the rigid tubing into the hole as a vent for the pumps. It kept the buckets watertight and the van dry. It did take up a ton of room because you can't stack the buckets, but it kept everything alive, unharmed, and oxygenated. We drove for as long a possible and stopped at a hotel for only a short sleep and a shower. When we got to the new house, I set up the tank on the floor and put everything "living" as well as some rock for bio filtration in the tank. I was running an HOB bakpak at the time, so that was really handy. Then it was just a matter of basic water testing, water changes, and very light feeding until I could get everything back up and running properly. I keep softies, so I knew that they are pretty darn hardy. Amazingly, I didn't lose a thing. Even the peppermint shrimp that I had at the time made it with no problem.

I think if I had to do it all over again, I would have prepared sponge filters and used those. I also think that I would have considered making small air lift tubes out of PVC and the battery operated pumps to circulate water as well as oxygenate it. This would allow me to use a media like purigen in bags. Maybe it sounds like overkill, but both of those items would have been really handy to use and have at the new destination until everything was set back up and running. If I couldn't bring my tank with me because of space constraints, I would bring my QT tank and perhaps purchase another one.

Here are some suggestions for moving a tank:

-Plan like crazy. Write down every item, every thought you've got, exactly how your going to break down your tank and what order of things should be done to get it set back up.

-Fast your fish for a couple of days before your move. This is an important step that keeps your fish from poisoning their water too quickly while they are in transport.

-Always transport fish in their own separate containers or bags, even mated pairs. Fish can get really cranky with each other if they are in close quarters.

-Use the knowledge that you have of your inhabitants to help you move them as safely as possible. For instance, if your moving aggressive fish like triggers that are known for chewing through bags, consider transporting them in separate buckets instead.

-Use your fish store! You can always ask them to bag your fish and inverts with oxygen for you (the worst they would say is no) and they can be a valuable resource as far as shipping techniques. For instance, one of my LFS bags the fish, puts it in another bag and then lines the space between the two to slide a piece of newspaper. This keeps the fish calm until it gets home. It's a great and easily implemented idea. They are also a great source of information because they are the ones who get stock with "standardized shipping methods". As them about shipping the kinds of coral you keep, how they arrive in their store, and what they think the best method they have ever come across is.

-There are items you can get to help you. You could purchase a power converter to run in your car for pumps or heaters. Coleman makes coolers that can keep ice frozen for up to 6 days in 90 degree weather, so using one of those would keep your temperature very stable. There is a product called "Bag Buddies" by Jungle that will add oxygen to the water and calm fish. http://www.allivet.com/Bag-Buddies-F...bs-p/25949.htm

-Know your corals, and their limits. If your trip is going to be long, involve several days, and you have a prized specimen, it might be better if you have a friend or local LFS take care of it for you until your tank is set back up and stable. Then you can have it overnighted to you.

-Chemical media/additives can be your best friend.

All in all, it's not too difficult, but can be very time consuming and is laborious. It just takes a lot of planning. I spent more time and energy moving the tank than the whole rest of the house.

[cfmx]

Thank you for all your advise!
The sand stuff makes sense. This tank has about a 2 inche sand bed so we may just see about moving the tank w/out taking the sand out.
Tomorrow is the big day we have have 30% water volume made up and ready for the new tank arrival. I have some friends that are going to help us all day on the move.
We just moved our 72 gallon bow front from the leaving room (which is where the new tank is going) into the bedroom. That took about 4 hours which we moved it by putting all live rock in rubbermaid tubs w/ water, corals in shallow rubbermaid tub w/ sting or slimy corals in sandwich bags so they didn't affect the other corals, fish in a bucket w/ air stone. Unplumbed everything and rest the tank, rock, coral, fish and plumbing up. Fun work!!!!
Today all the fish are accounted for and all our corals are open. So at least we can consider this our test run.
Oh by the way if you know of anyone interested in a 72 gallon bow (black w/ custom wood canapy) and everything included for reef setup we will have one for sale. All live rock, some corals, fish. In the Tampa, Florida area. Although we can't sell the tank until everything is running fine w/ both tanks and we have all the major corals we want from the tank transferred over to the new tank.
I will keep everyone posted on how tomorrow goes!!
Thanks again. Lots of good advise!

[KH971]

I have personally moved 4 tanks, two 240's a 180 and a 150 gallon tank. Both were within 2 hours of travel time. The travel time was not the problem, having experienced help to place corals, package them, and to help reassemble as fast as you can/ Have more new makeup water when you get there, already heated and circulating is good thing, you will lose some along the way. A plastic dustpan helps in the removal of sand into 5 gal buckets. A strong pump and a big hose to drain the tank of water fast. Time equals stress on the corals and loss of heat. Be prepared is the best thing. Where the tank is going is there enough elec outlets, or is the breaker big enough to handle the load.

[Reeses]

I wouldn't suggest moving that large of a tank with sand in it. The safest way to move any tank over 55g is to put it on a board and carry it stretcher style. Any skewing of the tank could break the silicone seal and make it leak. Even if it's a 2in sand bed, that equals a lot of weight when your talking about a 150g tank!

I wish you good luck with your move, and if you've thought about a price for your 72 bowfront, please feel free to send me a PM with the info.

[cfmx]

Well the tank is moved. Let me tell you that was a big under taking. Our 72 gallon was a breeze compared to the 120.
We ended up leaving the sand bed in the tank alone and placing all corals and rocks in containers. The corals where all placed in plastic sandwich bags and then in containers w/ water (the bags was left open). The fish where placed in a bucket w/ air and rocks placed in different containers based on base rock or show rock. It took us a grand total of 12 hours to move the tank and set it up. We added 25 gallons of new saltwater. So far the fish are all alive w/ no signs of problems. The corals seem to be alive but I can't really confirm this since I don't know a lot about stoney corals. The only stoneys we have experiance with is bird nest, purple tip and another unidentified. So this will be a big task trying to keep everything alive. The guy we bought the tank from really didn't tell us anything as far as when and how much he added of supplements. It came w/ a doser that has kalkwasse so I'm trying to get the dosing right based on Calcium levels. If anyone knows anything about stoneys I'm willing to listen. Oh, we have the chiller set to 77 degrees F. Is this ok for them? We use for supplements NatuReef (Iron Plus, Iodine Plus, Calcium, 2 part Alkalinity and Hardness, Reef Former). Are there any other chemicals we should be adding. I'm adding the above according to the labels. Not adding stronium because the 2 part solution has it already in it and the tank came w/ 4 clams and we will be adding 2. I read a lot of stronium is not good for clams.
Today the water parameters all tested great w/ Calcium being 340 ppm (which I added some calcium and upped the doser) will test again tomorrow.

[reefmatenate]

heres how I moved my tank although its a tad bit smaller than yours first I went and bought one of those 100 gallon fiberglass horse tanks I then backed it up to my house (tank was on second floor) ran a hose from the tank down to the horse tank and started a siphon then I transfered corals rocks and fish to the horse tank which was located inside my ford econoline conversion van transported everything then drove the trip to the new location setup the tank added new sand and replaced everything took a total of about six hours IN THE RAIN to beat all nothing died

[cfmx]

Here are some pictures of our new tank. Thank you for all your help & suggestions. So far the tank parameters are great w/ no spikes, fish are all still alive and corals are finally starting to come out although not all are out yet.