MOVING a 125 G Reef Tank

[Gratefyl]

Soooooo. Potentially moving a reef tank as we are planning to move into a new house. We have a 125...6ft long. Who has done it and how did you handle it? Tips? Where the tank is now is only about 10 min from where we are moving to.... Thanks!

 

[Phil D.]

I had to move my tank 200 miles!! So, go to your LFS and see if they can give you a bunch of bags. Drain the tank, put your corals into some buckets, having drained the tank makes it easy to catch the fish. You can put your rock into buckets also leave the sand alone.

 

[Ashish Patel]

I just did it and all alone too. i swear it was the hardest thing i've ever done.

 

[Ashish Patel]

My tank as full of SPS and my primary goal was to make sure I have a frag of at least every coral and wanted to keep ALK stable. currently my system sits in a empty house with no Wifi and I go see the tank every 2 days to check the ALK. besides two anthias during the move and a few acros that where already not in best health so far everything seems to be doing well. I was able to keep my ALK stable from the move at 7.7DKh onward.

 

[Ashish Patel]

I made sure to transfer 30 gallons about 4 times leading up to the move. I did purchase a 110 gallon fiberglass tank and plan to use this long term as a frag tank so made a stand and prayed it would work out. I eventually will hook my tank up to this frag tank in the basement which will serve as a grow out while I setup a 400 gallon upstairs with plumbing running to the basement fish room. I made sure to buy a bunch of containers, 2 large coolers, bags, jebao pumps, heaters, etc. I reduced my doser by 30% and it has been spot on with my 2 part demands. I did not add the light for 2 days after the move, I still have to hook up refugium and UV but my temperature dropped to 69degree inthe basement forcing me to open a heater vent and now I am at 72-73degrees. Since my tank was running at 75degrees I did not experience any loss to fish or corals. Sorry for bad grammer but hopefully my pictures help

 

[Gratefyl]

WOW. That is alot and thanks so much for all the detail and pics. I don't look forward to it at all...but luckily we will have a little more time to move from one place to the other and it's only a few miles in between so hoping to set up a new tank there and get it ready and then drive things in between...but all of that is easier said than done. I hope everything of yours survives!

 

[Ashish Patel]

I moved on Nov 15th. Everything lost some color but that is fine with me..

here was the tank before the move.

 

[Gratefyl]

That is awesome. I wish I had all that growth/fullness in ours, but I am just starting to experiment with better lighting...and our levels stay pretty consistent, but we don't do any dosing etc. so I'm sure they aren't getting all the extra nutrients they would like to stimulate growth like that. Here's ours.

 

[Mical]

I just did it and all alone too. i swear it was the hardest thing i've ever done.

I did it last May, 2 tanks and in 5 gal buckets (I didn't have help either)

I saved as much as possible old water, transferred fish, corals, nems into buckets, had RODI water at new place and new salt water pre-made. I bought new live sand and took maybe a cup of old sand from each of tanks.

The biggest tip I can provide - Take Your Time, make a plan in an order, write it out on paper beforehand & reread it. Stick to the plan.

 

[Gratefyl]

Sound advice. We are testing the water there now so we'll know what we are dealing with if everything goes through. We have an RO system installed at the current house that we use for fish. We were planning to make the salt water ready at the new place and to get new live sand as well. Hadn't thought about a cup of the old but that makes sense. Thanks and glad your move was a success!!

 

[Mical]

Sound advice. We are testing the water there now so we'll know what we are dealing with if everything goes through. We have an RO system installed at the current house that we use for fish. We were planning to make the salt water ready at the new place and to get new live sand as well. Hadn't thought about a cup of the old but that makes sense. Thanks and glad your move was a success!!

Moving the tanks was more stressful than the actual move...lol. After everything was said and done, the only loss was a tuxedo urchin. 9 nems, 15 fish, a bunch of coral, and 4 urchins. Amazingly a ton of snails made the trip as they were on/in rockwork. Just had to keep repeating to myself to stay Zen. It's amazing how attached we get to these creatures.

 

[Gratefyl]

Completely.

 

[Ashish Patel]

Being close is a great benefit.. I had first batch of corals out of the tank for 3 hours and another batch for 12 hrs and they all survived. It took moving company of 3 ppl 4 hours to clean our my apartment and I had to wait for them otherwise I could have probably had this in less than 1-2 hours. I found that the corals that where kept on their rock structures look way better than the coral yanked off the rockwork. So if possible buy bunch of 5 gallon buckets from homedepot. Some of the heavier LR covered corals fit perfectly in a 5 gallon and it was easier to hold. Do no use your old sand and don't use new sand for a few weeks. I think the biggest factor is making sure your tank when setup is stable so your corals can adjust to the new normal.