Im moving

seaweeds · May 13, 2014

I am going to be moving about 3 hours away and I need some tips and advice on how to make this process as harmless as possible for my 75gal tank and its inhabitants. I have 7 fish, 2 anemones, 2 coco worms, 1 sand sifting star, 1 coral banded shrimp, and about 40 lbs of live rock with some soft corals. My current plan is to transport everything in some four to five 5 gallon buckets leaving some water and the sand in the tank, and bag the fish.

What are my do's and don'ts for this process.

Niger trigger, Sebae clown, 6 line Wrasse, Scopas tang, Hippo tang, Scooter blenny, Mandarin goby

revhtree · May 14, 2014

Bump!

Kworker · May 14, 2014

I've never traveled with a tank but have moved them to various rooms in the house.. Buckets should work fine. I would try one fish per bucket route.

Also, what kind of sand bed is it? A DSB would likely get stirred up and cause issues.
Than the other issue is if you use new sand the star will starve.

I will have to say though. That is an lot of fish that get large for a 75gal tank.

HiddenUser · May 14, 2014

Plan, plan, plan!

I'm moving at the end of summer and I have a evolving list of things I'm going to need...In addition to a 'to-do list'...

Remove aquascape > drain some water into containers > remove fish > remove remainder of water > remove sand > etc etc...

I'm hoping this just keeps me organized and less stressed as I've thought it out in advance...

- Know where you're going to setup your tank at your new home.
- Keep your rock wet to minimize bacterial die off.
- You might want a battery powered air stone(s)?
- Extra heaters to warm tank up faster as well as for keeping containers with
- If you've had your tank a while, maybe this is a good time to replace the sand with new sand?
- Have some extra salt water mixed and ready to go, just in case.

Esage · May 15, 2014

I would not reuse the sand. I just moved this past week, put everything in buckets and used new sand. Move went flawless. This was the fourth time I have moved a tank, used new sand every time.

revhtree · May 15, 2014

MOVING WITHOUT LOSING: Relocating you aquarium - REEFEDITION

seaweeds · May 15, 2014

Right now all my fish are small. The largest fish at this point is the trigger and Scopas at about 3". I will eventually upgrade.

seaweeds · May 15, 2014

I never considered replacing the sand. I think I will tho. That's should make the move a lot easier. I'll just sell the star back to the LFS.
Any more advice, my eyes are still open.

Kworker · May 15, 2014

seaweeds said:
I never considered replacing the sand. I think I will tho. That's should make the move a lot easier. I'll just sell the star back to the LFS.
Any more advice, my eyes are still open.

Yeah unfortunately the star may have to go to a new home.
Best thing you can do is plan, plan and plan. Run through some worse case scenario issues in your head of what may happen.

Than, make sure you put up a tank thread of the 75 or upgraded tank once it is all set up :whoo:

Mtnbikedan01 · May 15, 2014

I made this for a 13hrs drive and it worked great

cpayne015 · May 15, 2014

just helped a buddy move a 180 with four show size tangs and it has seamless. This is the fifth tank moved in last two years and the key like they said is plan. I buy 40-50 gal garbage cans at home depot and put all rock in one or two and keep the bigger fish in one then put all the small ones in one. As far as anemones I put them in 5 gal buckets. When you arrive at your new location get flow on all of the buckets with fish, clean the old sand out, and put new sand in and along with heat. I then add new sand back in re pipe all put live rock in and test temp salinity on both to make sure we are exact then re add fish back in. I would try to save all the water you can.