Moving a tank

[cjp847]

I want to move my 180 gallon tank. It's still filled with livestock. I guess my question is, if I drain it. Will it affect anything if it almost empty? (it's been up and running for 3 years) Should I keep the old water and put it back in? It's in the basement and it will stay in the basement. It also bare bottom.

 

[Timfish]

You'll probably need to completely empty it. I would remove all aquascaping to avoid any accidents that might risk breaking glass. Weight alone of the additional sand and a couple inhces of water in a tank that size is a lot.

 

[ZombieEngineer]

I would just grab a stock tank large enough to put all your rock and fish in. Drain all the water (save all of it if you can) move the tank to the new spot in the basement, then put everything back. Have enough fresh water on hand to do a big 20-25% water change if it mini cycles and ammonia becomes detectable.

 

[cjp847]

I have a 75 gallon running with 300 lbs of rock. It's been up for 1.5 years. I can put live stock and rock in there. That's one of my concerns, spikes. Thanks for the advice!

 

[calimako]

following.. are you planning to use bacteria in a bottle to help prevent a spike? if so which one?

 

[cjp847]

Thinking about it, trying to read up on them. There's a lot on the market. I'm just trying to do some homework on them.

 

[ZombieEngineer]

Thinking about it, trying to read up on them. There's a lot on the market. I'm just trying to do some homework on them.

If you add a bunch to help minimize the mini cycle, make sure you give at least 30 minutes between adding rock and bacteria and adding fish.

It will say on the bottle to turn off skimmer for 4 hours after adding. Don't turn the skimmer off. Just take the collection cup off. This will make sure you don't deplete oxygen when the fish get back in and the bacteria bloom happens.

I like Microbacter7 because it seems like the best value and stores the best if you don't use the whole bottle.

 

[vetteguy53081]

As ive done this a few times including moving stores, Leave about 2" of water over the sand to keep bacteria oxygenated and place rock in strudt tubs or coolers until water is set back up in tank. If you can salvage water- Do so especially if going to basement.
You can siphon water into brute like cans and then Pump it back to tank.
Once filled, add bacteria such as MicroBacter xlm and of course monitor the fiest few weeks. There should be no significant chages with rock, coral and livestock if done so quickly (like doing a major water change). In the process, you may find large bristleworms and similar you didnt know you had abnd have the ability to remove them if you desire.

 

[cjp847]

Thank you everyone for all the help. I appreciate it.

 

[socalfishy]

I would keep the same water with the media and rocks and just add it all as if i did a massive water change. really depends on your animals. eels and trigger fish sure, more fragile expensive fish i would want more of the established tank water.