Moving advise

wrpeach33 · Aug 2, 2013

So we have decided to sell our home and purchase a home more suitable for our family. I thought it would be a long process but a week after listing our home it sold. I have to be out no later than sept. 20. We are putting a offer on a home in murfreesboro today so hopefully we will have a place to move to. I have never moved a tank full of coral before. I just need some advise. Most of my corals are encrusted on large rocks. I was thinking of Rubbermaid containers for the corals to transport. The new home is only about ten min away. I am sure there are plenty of forums for me to read about moving reef tanks but with house hunting and work I do not have time to search. Any advise would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Wesley

thereeferdude · Aug 2, 2013

I have moved my reef six times and I have always used Rubbermaid tubs. Be sure to have towels handy at all times and have power heads and heaters ready. You won't need them during transport for such a short distance, but you will need them during tear down and setup. Have plenty of new saltwater or RO/DI ready to mix at your new house to expedite setup. Setting the tank back up always takes longer than you think it will, so account for this. Stacking rock at 3am is never ideal...

Dowtish · Aug 2, 2013

thereeferdude said:
I have moved my reef six times and I have always used Rubbermaid tubs. Be sure to have towels handy at all times and have power heads and heaters ready. You won't need them during transport for such a short distance, but you will need them during tear down and setup. Have plenty of new saltwater or RO/DI ready to mix at your new house to expedite setup. Setting the tank back up always takes longer than you think it will, so account for this. Stacking rock at 3am is never ideal...

+1 to all of this

If it is possible, once you have access to the new house, go ahead and have a 2 brute containers ready, one filled with fresh RODI and one with salt. What is also a HUGE help is to have a large Rubbermaid that is full of saltwater with a powerhead and a heater that will serve as a temporary tank that you can put all your rock, corals, and fish in while you are setting the tank up. No need to have to be rushed to get everything in the tank. They will be just fine in the rubbermaid as long as there is good flow and it is the right temp.

Tennsquire · Aug 2, 2013

wrpeach33 said:
So we have decided to sell our home and purchase a home more suitable for our family. I thought it would be a long process but a week after listing our home it sold. I have to be out no later than sept. 20. We are putting a offer on a home in murfreesboro today so hopefully we will have a place to move to. I have never moved a tank full of coral before. I just need some advise. Most of my corals are encrusted on large rocks. I was thinking of Rubbermaid containers for the corals to transport. The new home is only about ten min away. I am sure there are plenty of forums for me to read about moving reef tanks but with house hunting and work I do not have time to search. Any advise would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Wesley

I've moved a reef a couple of times over the years. Once to my brother's place in Huntsville in the dead of winter (temporarily), and then to Nashville when I was somewhere where I had the room again. We used those big orange insulated coolers with the screw on tops that you see on the sidelines of football games (he's a sports medicine guy and has tons of them).

I'm actually going to be moving the end of this month, but it's only 4 miles down the road. Dowtish is right about having extra H20 on hand, and I would encourage you to take as much of your current water as possible. You also may be better breaking some corals off of the rocks they're on so that you can control how they're broken, as that can certainly happen in transit on its own, particularly when they're stuck on rocks. My plan is to do a good sized water change prior to the move, and save that water. I'll set up 2-3 smaller tanks at the old house to keep the rock and the corals while we move the main tank (might even keep the rock in a garbage can), and then move them over once the main tank is set up. We do have the luxury of not having to be out of our current house because it's not on the market yet, so the reef can be in a couple of places at once while it's being moved over.

wrpeach33 · Aug 3, 2013

Thanks for all the advise. I will have 48 hours from the time I sell my house to get out. I am going to try to keep as much water as I can, it's only 65 g. Do I need to let it run for a while and change the filter sock a couple of times before returning the coral to the tank. I know when removing the rock it's going to disturb the sand bed, that's why I ask.