Moving Tank - tips and advice appreciated

BillyW · Mar 28, 2015

Ok, So I am in the army and have never had to move but as the title states I am going to be moving my tank. Not a huge deal I don't think, but many people told me I am crazy. I have a 60cube with like 40lbs of live rock and tons of coral and like 6 fish.
So here's the plan: Get 2 of those Rubbermaid containers that people store their Christmas decorations in or whatever else. In one put all of my live rock that has coral on it and the rest of my coral, and in the other put the rest of my live rock and fish in it. I am going to put one of my mp10s on each of those and hook it up to my back up battery to keep flow and aeration. I'm going to put a small heater in each ran off of my cigarette lighter and an adapter. The rest of my water I am going to put in 20 gallon containers. I am going to dump all of my sand out and start with new sand when we get where we are going, as well as throwing away my old stand because its MDF. We are only moving a few hours away, I am going to say 8 hours just because of unforeseen army ********. So after everything is packed up and good to go drive to our new house, put the sand in and whatever water I am able to and heat it. Once it is to the temp of my two Rubbermaid containers I will start putting in my live rock and coral and fish into the tank. Here is where I need your help, what do you think I should do in addition to that? Or do you all think I am crazy as well?
Thanks you for your time!

certain_code · Mar 28, 2015

Get new 'dead' sand. Save a little form your current setup to feed the new sand with. Make sure you rock stays wet with the tank water. Both will help avoid any cycle that may occur.

chefjpaul · Mar 28, 2015

Maybe have a bottle of prime & some kind of bacteria (like mb7), just in case, as well, add a bit of bacteria to help with any die off.

I would maybe bring a couple buckets of clean salt water as well. Never know

Windy · Mar 28, 2015

I recently moved a 135 about 45 miles. I used large "coleman" coolers for the rock and corals. Smaller ones for the fish and inverts. Why coolers? Because they keep the water warm, and everybody has one you can borrow. My water only dropped 5 degrees over 4 hours. I heated the fish invert cooler with a cigerette lighter-inverter-50 watt heater. I used battery powered air pumps in each and no water pumps.
When you get there you can keep the rock and coral in the coolers until the tank is ready by just adding a heater.

SeahorseKeeper · Mar 28, 2015

I would also plan on having a good amount of fresh saltwater accessible when you get to the destination. I would also consider packaging any prized corals like you would get in a coral shipment. If the corals are bouncing around, they may get damaged in transit.

duncangweller · Mar 28, 2015

Get plenty of heaters and power heads and make sure the water keeps moving in containers

BillyW · Mar 29, 2015

what did you do with your sand? I am going to keep like two mason jars, and add all new sand and some Dr. Tims, so I don't have to worry about a cycle I hope.