looking for guide or check list for moving a tank

[WallysWorld]

I'm moving my Reefer 170 (37 gals) in a month. The tank is a mixed reef, and i ts a short move, less than a mile. I'm looking for a moving guide or check list that will help preve

 

[dbl]

Here is a pretty good article and discussionnon the topic.

Are you Moving???

Moving... Moving your reef aquarium can be a daunting task. Like that meeting or test you have tomorrow that you didn’t prepare for – but you know if you buckle down for the evening and work hard, you’ll be ready to go in the morning. Either...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Ike]

If you have any well developed SPS colonies I suggest you make frags and let them heal before the move. Give away or sell some with the stipulation that you want it back if the movie doesn't go well. Have extra water made up at the new place if possible. My mistake was trying to move multiple large SPS colonies. The frags survived, the colonies died, some of them slowly and over the course of a year.

 

[brandon429]

Moved tank without changing sand-- everything is dying!!

I’m so sorry this is happening. I guess it’s kinda late to tell you what I did when I moved tanks. Like others have said, I would take all the sand out and put new sand and new water. Is there is someone that can take your corals for a bit and rehabilitate them? Also, if you live near a Petco...

www.reef2reef.com

That shows effects from not rinsing the sand vs rinsing the sand before you set back up the new tank

 

[Sump Crab]

1. turn off tank

2. siphon most of water into buckets or containers (keep tank water clean as possible)

3. place corals into bucket/ container with small powerhead

4. remove the rest of liverock and cover with newspaper dipped in tank water (keep tank water clean as possible)

5. now that majority of rock is removed you can easily catch fish. Place fish/inverts into one or multiple buckets or containers with small powerhead ( I put one piece of liverock in for fish to hide)

6. empty rest of water and remove sand, discard

7. pack and generally clean equipment (skimmer, pumps, lights etc.)

8. pack truck

9. carefully drive to new location

10. have new saltwater mixed at new location (in extreme cases I have mixed saltwater upon arrival but this is
not ideal)

11. unpack truck, make sure fish and coral and tank water are in new location and that new location has ambient temp around 76 or have heater keeping these containers at temp.

12. move tank inside.

13. fill with NEW sand ( I place some liverock on bare glass b4 filling with sand)

14. use empty sand bag to pour water on thus not stirring up new sand and start filling tank with new water. I use an old rio return pump to pump water from containers into tank.

15. place liverock in tank (mostly without coral)

16. fill rest of tank with old tank water

17. place and turn on equipmnet

18. place the rest of liverock and release fish and inverts

This is the general way I move my tanks (just moved one a week ago). I have moved my tanks in a car close to a dozen times and have only ever lost fish once (lost 2 out of about 15). I don't ever remember losing a coral but I do not keep SPS or exceptionally difficult corals.

Good luck

Here is the tank I moved last week:

 

[JCOLE]

I moved my 55 gallon into a 150 about 5 months ago. I put all my livestock with existing tank water into a holding bin. Drained all water and removed sand. I rinsed the sand out until it was pearly white and the water was not cloudy anymore. Fish and corals were in the holding bin for at least a week.

Everything survived except for two SPS pieces. What I did wrong that I wont do again is that I used all new saltwater and I forgot to check the ALK levels. I got into a hurry and didnt test. The new water had much higher ALK and my two SPS pieces did not like that.

However, everything is doing great. You will be fine. Just plan, plan, plan your move so everything goes as planned. Also test so there is a stable move.