Moving, help please

CaptainsReef · Mar 16, 2019

I'm moving house (about 20 minutes away). Help please.

Is my tank going to cycle? We're going to take this opportunity to do a 100% water change (150g). Currently only 2 fish (clown and Lion), a baby long spine and about 40 snails, we'll keep them in a 30g starting today (Saturday) at least until Monday it Tuesday when the big tank gets to the new house.

We're thinking of keeping about 15 gallons of the old water for the 30g.

Any suggestions, tips or help would be greatly appreciated. I'd love to hear your stories about moving short distances.

Edited to add:
The tank has been up since June 2018
Clown added in November
Lion added in February

ndrwater · Mar 16, 2019

How long was the tank set up before?
As long as as the filtration isn't scrubbed clean, yiu are using live rock for bio filtration, and the tank is well established, it shouldn't be that big of a deal.
Moving tanks in clean Brut trashcans to save water and animals is how I have always done it to lessen stress and losess
A mini cycle may happen, but the longer the tank was up, the less if a big deal this is

CaptainsReef · Mar 16, 2019

ndrwater said:
How long was the tank set up before?
As long as as the filtration isn't scrubbed clean, yiu are using live rock for bio filtration, and the tank is well established, it shouldn't be that big of a deal.
Moving tanks in clean Brut trashcans to save water and animals is how I have always done it to lessen stress and losess
A mini cycle may happen, but the longer the tank was up, the less if a big deal this is

The tank has been up since last June but only with the clown since November and the Lion since Feb 16 (1 month today).

ndrwater · Mar 16, 2019

You might see a mini cycle, but shouldn't be anything major. Good luck!!!
Definitely post up some pix when you get the move all done!!

CaptainsReef · Mar 16, 2019

ndrwater said:
You might see a mini cycle, but should be anything major. Good luck!!!
Definitely post up some pix when you get the move all done!!

Thanks for the help! And will post pics for sure

Mical · Mar 16, 2019

Do not reuse your sand. Get new wet sand Carib, etc...

CaptainsReef · Mar 16, 2019

Mical said:
Do not reuse your sand. Get new wet sand Carib, etc...

Curious why to not reuse sand?

ndrwater · Mar 16, 2019

It makes a godawful mess. It can be done, but best to rinse thoroughly.
New sand is just easier. Still needs to be rinsed, but definitely not as messy

Erica-Renee · Mar 16, 2019

You can Reuse the sand as long as you rinse it well. Buying new Sand is for sure much easier.. If you choose to reuse the sand pick up some Caribsea BIO MAGNET . This will help clear the tank Quickly .

Retro Reefer · Mar 16, 2019

I personally wouldn’t do a 100% water change, IMO it’s better to syphon as much clear water from your existing tank that you can comfortably transport to new location.

Mical · Mar 16, 2019

CaptainsReef said:
Curious why to not reuse sand?

You can as others mentioned but you have to rinse it REALLY good or you're going to have a major spike from all the detritus build up. New sand is much easier and is one less thing to worry about during your move.

jsker · Mar 16, 2019

CaptainsReef said:
Curious why to not reuse sand?

There is so much bio matter in the sand, life, that when left for short amount of time there will be a large die off.

Yes on the mini cycle, just have some carbon hand if you ammonia starts to come up or just run carbon for the first week or so.

CaptainsReef · Mar 17, 2019

Thanks for the advice everyone. Yesterday I got the temporary tank set up at the new house, today I'm going to bring the fish from the old house and put them in. I'll let you know how it goes.

CaptainsReef · Mar 23, 2019

Yesterday was moving day. We took the fish out a few days before, they're setup in a temporary 30g tank. More pics of the process coming.

CaptainsReef · Mar 23, 2019

Here are a few pics of the break down

CaptainsReef · Mar 23, 2019

Here it is broke down and loaded up

CaptainsReef · Mar 23, 2019

Setting up in the new home

CaptainsReef · Mar 23, 2019

We ended up getting new sand. The sand we had was coarse and had lots of shells in it which was no good for sand sifting gobies. Had no idea about those guys when we were getting started and we think we might like to have some (or 1, need to learn more, can we keep more than 1 in a 150g tank?)

We also kept 55g of water to keep our live rock in. It seems the rock is stained green from the algae outbreak. That sucks. I tried scrubbing it with a toothbrush to no avail.

CaptainsReef · Mar 24, 2019

Plugging along...

LBReefer · Mar 25, 2019

CaptainsReef said:
We ended up getting new sand. The sand we had was coarse and had lots of shells in it which was no good for sand sifting gobies. Had no idea about those guys when we were getting started and we think we might like to have some (or 1, need to learn more, can we keep more than 1 in a 150g tank?)

We also kept 55g of water to keep our live rock in. It seems the rock is stained green from the algae outbreak. That sucks. I tried scrubbing it with a toothbrush to no avail.

Did you say that you have a lion fish? I'm under the impression that even the dwarf variety will eat anything smaller than themselves. Your clown and future gong would become expensive snacks.