Moving an Established System

[DawgDiggity]

I have been out of the hobby for about 5 years and now have REEF on the brain. (Made the mistake of stopping by the LFS before christmas to buy my buddy's daughter a giftcard)
I have found a good deal on an established 80 gallon system with a 40g Breeder Sump and lots of extras. If things work out will need to move the system from a location that is over an hour away. I figure it will be close to a 4 hour ordeal from start of draining the tank, packing the truck to arriving back at my home. Looking for suggestions on moving the system - approximately 6 fish and 25 coral?

Also looking for suggestions/experience on preventing coral loss and fish loss due to stress and the expected ammonia & nitrate rise of the system after the move. About the only suggestion I have received so far is don't use the old sand. Should I QT all livestock while the established system re-acclimates? Thanks!

 

[brandon429]

we have needed to get into lots of sandbeds lately.

yes it can be done that's a wonderful biochallenge. your situation is like this one, only with 4+ hour moving delays as you heat and airstone the moving containers creatively

sorry this is so much type to sift, but your exact ends can be done certainly:


http://reef2reef.com/threads/ammonia-and-nitrate-problem-persisting.231126/

that one. your issues are isolating the living creatures from detritus, moving none, and resetting back up at home with either highly rinsed or all new caribsea wet pack sand, with no cycle.

use no API ammonia testing here, that's for sure. many have alt opinions on the move, I say pick one of them and don't deviate, mixing offers is cycling.

 

[brandon429]

Your big challenge beyond the physical xport part and sustenance will be how to deal with the current system, as its hard to envision the tank as anything other than a sinked up sanbed, 99% are. as soon as the current tank is identified with detritus anywhere in the system, certain steps need to be done upon parting out that in my opinion make the difference of cycle vs no cycle upon setup.

 

[dewboy1127]

Use new sand

 

[rayn]

Having moved tanks across the house and across town, my preference is to replace the sand bed. Toss the old sand and have new rinsed sand on hand. Keep the rock wet in buckets for the ride home. Talk to the lfs and see if you can borrow some styrofoam shipping boxes for the fish and corals, also see if you can get some bags.

You can do it, just be prepared for a long day...more then 4 hours.

 

[SantaMonicaHelp]

I have been out of the hobby for about 5 years

Hey DawgDiggity!
That's already good experience! ))

If things work out will need to move the system from a location that is over an hour away.

Be careful about time it's always much more than you've planned! Are you going to move it yourself or you are going to hire someone? If yourself then try to choose good time without traffic. But you already know this )) So keep in touch I'm exciting about your experience