Moving help!

harofam · Oct 8, 2014

We are moving to a different house last time I moved my tank 10 feet it was a disaster. please help any suggestions or experience on what to do would be extremely helpful

SeahorseKeeper · Oct 9, 2014

How far is the move? I moved two tanks in June with only one teeny casualty, a peppermint shrimp.

harofam · Oct 9, 2014

Its about a 10 min drive maybe 20 with a fish tank in the truck

SeahorseKeeper · Oct 9, 2014

How big is the tank and sump?

harofam · Oct 9, 2014

29 gallon tank no sump

SeahorseKeeper · Oct 9, 2014

I would get 5-ten buckets with lids from Lowe's or just ask some local reef club members. Put live rock in buckets with existing water. Separate corals and put into tupperware containers or buckets. I would only use buckets if the corals are too big for containers. For the coral, you could also place in a cooler. I would do this to keep the temp stable. For the fish, I would place in bags, containers or last resort buckets. Do not fill the buckets up too much. I would swap out the sand bed for a new one.

Try to have 30 gallons of fresh saltwater ready at the new place. You can use the existing water but have fresh saltwater on hand to do water changes in case there is a cycle. Have test kits on hand to monitor to ensure there is no cycle.

Tankd · Oct 9, 2014

SHK gives you good advice. I just moved my 75g mixed reef with sump & 20g refugium over 3 hrs away. Zero casualties except for breaking my huge Hollywood Stunner into a few frags. I did exactly what was stated above and it all worked out...lots of work...but it worked out. I used airs tones because of my distance traveled. You should be fine if it's only 20mins though.

luxauterna · Oct 9, 2014

I absolutely agree with above. I just did a major move of my 75 along in June. BUT I made the mistake of keeping the same sand bed, and I fought with some cycling issues. The transport of everything went well with home depot buckets and rubbermaid containers. Just drive carefully

harofam · Oct 9, 2014

So if I keep my sand bed it will end up bad

harofam · Oct 9, 2014

I have a bunch of clean up crew in there how do I get them out of the sand with a sifter thing or something

Tankd · Oct 9, 2014

In the past, I moved my 90 without touching the sand. I removed all of the rock, except for the rock buried in the sand. I drained the water to just below the top of the rocks and then draped clean rags over the rocks to keep them wet. The tank was extremely heavy this way but when I set it back up that evening, I only had a little spike in my parameters. I did a 20gal water change the next day and had zero fatalities.
If you've been looking for an excuse to change out your sand bed, this is the perfect opportunity. If not, I left it without any issues so that is an option.

harofam · Oct 9, 2014

How do I know if a new cycle has started

harofam · Oct 9, 2014

Is it ok to mix live sand with non live sqnd

fishroomlady · Oct 9, 2014

yes, you can mix sand. You could use a net and scoop up the sand and then just sift through it with your fingers to find the critters. How old is your sand bed? if it's over 2 years or even a year and a half, I'd probably opt to replace it but keep a cup of the existing to seed the new sand. Sand is pretty inexpensive and the sand bed can hold alot of gunk so a move is a good opportunity to replace the bed imo

harofam · Oct 9, 2014

I have the fine sand and want to put live sand in but I like the look of the finer sand so I was planing on mixing the two now that I know its ok my tank is only about 5 months old but im going to replace it not going to risk it

fishroomlady · Oct 9, 2014

you can definitely mix them. I get that you just want to replace it but it's very young, I don't think keeping most of it would be a problem....maybe take out some in the move and then add in the live sand to mix the two.

finallysalty · Oct 11, 2014

SeahorseKeeper said:
I would get 5-ten buckets with lids from Lowe's or just ask some local reef club members. Put live rock in buckets with existing water. Separate corals and put into tupperware containers or buckets. I would only use buckets if the corals are too big for containers. For the coral, you could also place in a cooler. I would do this to keep the temp stable. For the fish, I would place in bags, containers or last resort buckets. Do not fill the buckets up too much. I would swap out the sand bed for a new one.

Try to have 30 gallons of fresh saltwater ready at the new place. You can use the existing water but have fresh saltwater on hand to do water changes in case there is a cycle. Have test kits on hand to monitor to ensure there is no cycle.

Only thing I would add is put you corals, in bags or containers, into a 5 gallon buck. Fill with water from the tank, then move. this helps keep the temp insulation from the outside. Take much longer to change the temp of 5 gallons than 1 quart in a container. With the short move you should be good. Also adds protection if you have a leak in the coral container(s).