Moving tank....how much water should I move?

runzwithscissors · Jun 19, 2015

Bought a new house and will be moving next weekend. I have a 220 and I have 100 gals of new water ready. How much, if any of the present tank water should I move? It's a relatively short move and I have everything in place to store the fish/corals. I want to tear down and move the fish and corals the day before. I'll transfer those in tank water.

HiddenUser · Jun 19, 2015

When I moved I tried to keep as much water as I could. I wasn't able to keep it all so it ended up being a decent sized water change in the process.

runzwithscissors · Jun 19, 2015

Any damage to corals? It's gonna take a lot of 5 gal buckets to move, lol. How I love this hobby

Amphibious · Jun 19, 2015

Moving any tank any distance is a labor of love. Sounds to me like you have it under control with 100 gals of new water. Take as much old water as possible and be ready to make up the difference at the new house. I’ve had newly moved tanks do well with 3/4’s of the volume for an overnight stay as water was being made up to top off. Just make sure you are circulating the water in the tank. Good luck.

runzwithscissors · Jun 19, 2015

Thanks, got it heated, aerated and pump going. I've gotten larger tanks each time, but was able to keep the water as I was in the same house.

Stephanie11 · Jun 19, 2015

I usually take as much water as I can. Ditch the sand. When I put live rock in I shake it in a tote to get detritus off before putting it in the display. It's good to dip corals and ditch water fish have been in over night. I end up using 70-75% original water. Sometimes a nice jolt make corals grow faster. I noticed that when I moved from a 90 to a 125.

mr.reeferman · Jun 19, 2015

if you can leave your sandbed in tact you can move it just take and put something sterile in to stop waves from disturbing sand as much as possible i used upside down buckets put holes in the bottom so the would not float leave an inch of water over the sand bed but this depends on how deep the sand bed is if you have a deep sandbed then yeah keeping it is pretty much impossble i moved 3 times last year and kept my sand every time without a problem then the fourth time i deepened my sandbed and tried to keep it and my tank cracked so be careful glad i dont have to move anymore bought a house ... =)

runzwithscissors · Jun 19, 2015

Yea, deep sand bed (eels, pistol shrimp)....

dmort · Jun 23, 2015

If it helps I bought five gallon cubitainers from us plastics.com to move my water during my last move. Made it a breeze.

Daytonareefing · Jun 23, 2015

I have moved them with 50% of the water no problem and I leave the sand in the tank if possible. I use a few 5 gallon buckets but mostly sterilite 27 gallon tubs for rock and corals with battery operated bubblers but it not rocket science.

runzwithscissors · Jun 24, 2015

Thanks all, appreciate the input. Hired moving crew for all the heavy lifting. Mayhap I can get them to move extra buckets of tank water as well!

I'll move fish and coral day before.

dmort · Jun 24, 2015

I'd definitely suggest the cubitainers in that case. You can get a cardboard box to surround the cubitainer and it will stack just like any other 40 pound box.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jun 24, 2015

I personally wouldn't move any water that wasn't being used to move a creature, rock, etc.

You might as well start fresh and not waste effort moving water, which doesn't add any value, IMO.

d2mini · Jun 24, 2015

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
I personally wouldn't move any water that wasn't being used to move a creature, rock, etc.

You might as well start fresh and not waste effort moving water, which doesn't add any value, IMO.

Exactly. You are just moving dirty water.
There is nothing beneficial in it.
The only reason would be if you didn't have enough new water ready to go in the tank.

runzwithscissors · Jun 25, 2015

That makes things even easier....I have enough to actually fill the tank at this point. Makes sense that all the beneficial stuff is in the LR, might as well start fresh. No concerns on Ph, alk swings?

brandon429 · Jun 25, 2015

Minor changes do not ever hurt my whole system much less the lr, so I think you will be fine, keeping it submerged during the transition was the most helpful part imo. for my little reefs, ill drain them all the way to 0 and leave it there 15-20 mins working on it, at times, then refill 100% water change using makeup water the LFS made that day which can be 1 of 4-6 brands depending on what they bought that round. I subject my aged tanks mixed lps/sps to near complete param changes quite frequently.