Moving a 13.5 gallon reef tank

[Nanoreefer1999]

I’m going to be moving soon. How should I got about moving my tank. I have two clowns, blenny, and a pistol shrimp/ watchmen goby pair. I’m worried about moving the shrimp and goby because they have made a home in the tank.

 

[blaxsun]

They'll adapt for a short move. How far/long is it?

 

[Nanoreefer1999]

They'll adapt for a short move. How far/long is it?

Not long 30 minutes tops I believe but tearing down the tank to move it to another apartment is a new thing to me never had to move tanks like that.

 

[Nanoreefer1999]

Any info on how to move the tank will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Andreas' Reef]

Any info on how to move the tank will be greatly appreciated.

Take your fish and inverts to a lfs and see if they'll properly bag them up with oxygen for you. once all the livestock is out, drain the water into buckets. Then remove the rocks and start scooping the sand out with a container. Put it all in buckets. Once you get to the new place, place sand and aquascape and water in and wait for it to settle. Heat it up, acclimate, and add the fish.

 

[907_Reefer]

You may want to consider rinsing the sand if you are re-using, to avoid all of the junk settled in it from mixing into your water. How long has the tank been running, how deep is the sand bed etc? Got any pics?

I just moved my tank 300 miles, 12 hour trip from tear down to arrival. Put the livestock and rock into buckets with your old water, battery bubblers are great to keep aerated if you can. Have extra saltwater mixed up for top-off when you set up. You can use new sand on arrival, or I would recommend rinsing the old sand per above before you re-install. I will note, others have had success with tank moves if they keep the water level just above the sand bed and have minimal disturbance (smooth ride/short trip, moving across the house, etc).

But your pistol shrimp/YWG will be fine in a bucket for the move. Mine survived said 12 hour trip in ~20 degrees F weather, then 6 days in 30 gallon totes with heaters and a power head, before my tank was setup at the new place and livestock re-introduced.

 

[brandon429]

@Nanoreefer1999

here is the exact steps, you seem serious about doing it right

DNR88's Blue Marine Reef 90 (24 gallon) - Sand bed rinsed

Soo, here we are with something new. Goodbye to the Blue Marine 60 and hello to the Blue Marine Reef 90 with 24 gallon . That's a 50 percent increase! Latest FTS (2023-03-20). After the sand bed rinsing (2023-02-26) Older Inhabitants: - NEW! Two Azure Damselfish - Six line wrasse - Halloween he...

www.nano-reef.com

that is an invasion correction thread, don't let it be confusing. we just closed it two days ago, what you're doing is disassembling your old tank exactly like he did there due to an invasion

you're disassembling it due to a move, same steps

notice what he did with his sand, how specific we were

take this time to clean your rocks of any bad attachments

he was at a period where his tank was fully taken down, see it posted as bare glass? he had his corals, rocks in a tote being held + his sand being rinsed and proven rinsed, then final rinse in saltwater, before use in the tank.

that's the exact point you'd move to a new place, carrying all clean gear

don't move the dirty gear and clean at the new home, move the clean gear then set it up at the new place skip cycle exactly as we did there. transport only cloudless, zero detritus materials to the new home then just set it all up and the bacteria on the rocks carry the new cycle

no bottle bac is used, nothing mini cycles, live rocks are always enough.

 

[brandon429]

I'm sharing an outbound link to nano-reef.com because it's a recent job we closed that applies here, and because nr.com always lets me post rtr rip clean examples, the two friendly sites share work examples.


**take pics of your entire move process please, I'd really like to document it in our move tank thread/ page 54

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

for such a small tank, for just a 30 minute drive, I would put the fish in one bucket, and put the rocks in another bucket. Drain the tank right down to the sand, then put the tank on a board or a plank (with help), then carry the board to the car. It shouldn't be harder than that.

Have buckets of new saltwater waiting at the new place. I've done it just like this with a 30 gallon tank, it worked perfect.

The hardest part will be catching the pistol shrimp

 

[blaxsun]

for such a small tank, for just a 30 minute drive, I would put the fish in one bucket, and put the rocks in another bucket. Drain the tank right down to the sand, then put the tank on a board or a plank (with help), then carry the board to the car. It shouldn't be harder than that.

Have buckets of new saltwater waiting at the new place. I've done it just like this with a 30 gallon tank, it worked perfect.

The hardest part will be catching the pistol shrimp

All great suggestions above, but I agree with this advice the most - for such a small tank you really don't need to overthink it.

 

[edd59]

drain most of the water into 5 gal buckets, leave 3-4" and carry it to your car. when you arrive put the water back in. your talking a 13 gallon tank

 

[Jamie814]

drain most of the water into 5 gal buckets, leave 3-4" and carry it to your car. when you arrive put the water back in. your talking a 13 gallon tank

This is what I would do I would even leave the shrimp in the tank with a few inches of water. 13 gallon tank is nothing to move....

Try a few hundred gallons that has been setup for several years, this is a extended weekend process.

 

[edd59]

This is what I would do I would even leave the shrimp in the tank with a few inches of water. 13 gallon tank is nothing to move....

Try a few hundred gallons that has been setup for several years, this is a extended weekend process.

leave all live stock

 

[brandon429]

nanos carry the same degree of waste in the bed any other tank keeps, you’d be missing a chance to de age your tank, prevent delayed invasions and ensure a skip cycle to use methods opposite of the links provided.

Official Sand Rinse and Tank Transfer thread

If you are reading this thread to cure a tank invasion from a link I sent you, we do not need to identify your type of invasion here we do not need you to test anything at anytime regarding nitrate, phosphate etc Above all, we do not need to see a microscope slide picture of your invasion at...

www.reef2reef.com

the cleaner you are in the final setup, the better it all goes. Rinse the sand