Moving....where to even start

[ahiggins]

Well, I bought a house and I’m closing in a week!
thankfully I was able to stave off the tank bug and I only have a nuvo 10 and a 49 gallon to move.
those of you who have moved across town (or short distances) how did you do it? Things you did that were good/bad? What would you have changed?

 

[150 Gallon Reef]

I moved a 150 a few years ago. Removed the water and rock at the same time since they had corals all over them. Also reduced the amount of crap I stirred up. A ton of 5 gallon buckets and a few grey brute trash cans . I ended up taking out all the old sand and trashing it. Isn't worth the risk to me. I ended up setting it back up bare bottom. If you want sand, I would put the new sand (pre rinsed with SW) first then add water and rock. Whole ordeal took about 12 hours. 45 min from location to location

 

[150 Gallon Reef]

Should be pretty easy to move those tanks tho. Home Depot buckets, a couple of battery air stones, and keep the water temp from fluctuating

 

[OrionN]

Well, I bought a house and I’m closing in a week!
thankfully I was able to stave off the tank bug and I only have a nuvo 10 and a 49 gallon to move.
those of you who have moved across town (or short distances) how did you do it? Things you did that were good/bad? What would you have changed?

Just moving a 49 and 10 gal is soo easy. Get one of the larger trash can. Mixed water a ahead of time and move. I also avoid moving the sand. Save some seed sand, a few cups should do it and set up a new bed if you are using a sand bed.

 

[brandon429]

150 above demonstrates a very new tenet to reefing, the fact that live rock does -not- need to and does not take on extra bacteria to replace what we do with sandbed bacteria. Live rock manages its own filter bacteria for the life of the tank independent from sand. Bacteria on the tank glass grow and use their vital space independently from rock and sand.
sandbed bac coat all sand surfaces regardless of rock being there or not, the new science knows the folding surface area of live rock + inherent bac can run the whole biosystem alone, instantly, even if you added more fish after removing sand.

the application for a tank mover is your live rocks need be kept wet during the move and the whole thing will work great. Move no waste, cloudy detritus is the sole cause of move tank cycles it’s never ever a lack of bac or a killing of bacteria issue.

skipping the first tank cycle altogether by moving live rock from a pet store home, or moving an established system down the road and skipping the cycle all uses the same rule allowance

 

[bsr2430]

Well, I bought a house and I’m closing in a week!
thankfully I was able to stave off the tank bug and I only have a nuvo 10 and a 49 gallon to move.
those of you who have moved across town (or short distances) how did you do it? Things you did that were good/bad? What would you have changed?

Where do you live at? Maybe free labor can come help!

hope you locked in your interest rate at the new low standards!!!!

 

[Mattman1977]

After the move test for ammonia every couple of hours. I had a ammonia spike after a day or so.L

matt

 

[ahiggins]

Where do you live at? Maybe free labor can come help!

hope you locked in your interest rate at the new low standards!!!!

Lol I’m in Cleveland and did end up with 3.8% but it was before the crazy virus thing so who knows.

 

[ahiggins]

I’m debating (since the 10 is so small) keeping half the rock/livestock in there and just carrying the tank lol

 

[Mical]

I’m debating (since the 10 is so small) keeping half the rock/livestock in there and just carrying the tank lol

That would not be a good idea unless you have something to support the bottom.

 

[ahiggins]

Omg I didn’t think about that

 

[bsr2430]

Lol I’m in Cleveland and did end up with 3.8% but it was before the crazy virus thing so who knows.

dang, VA over here. I have a lady in my office that refinanced this past Monday and was able to lock in at 3%.

Mines at 4%. I looked into it yesterday and could only find 3.5%

 

[ahiggins]

Oh wow that’s great

 

[Nburg's Reef]

I moved mine across the country 3 times. I put everything in a big storage tote (make sure to buy an extra tall one!!!! I made that mistake and had to stop at a Lowe’s to buy a bigger one and transfer everything in the parking lot.

I used a power inverter to run a tank heater in the car. Driving alone was enough to keep the water moving so no power head needed.
This last move I had a tote with love stock and a Brute trash can with live rock. Both had a heater and everything went well. Stuff will move so don’t put corals next to each other that could sting. My meteor shower rolled next to my torch and had a small part of it killed.

 

[Super Fly]

Just moving a 49 and 10 gal is soo easy. Get one of the larger trash can. Mixed water a ahead of time and move. I also avoid moving the sand. Save some seed sand, a few cups should do it and set up a new bed if you are using a sand bed.

+1 on this.
As long as livestock are in container w heater and powerhead, they'll be fine, mine survived in a brute for a week while I upgraded to a new tank during a cross town move.

 

[ahiggins]

Thanks all!

 

[JonoB]

I just moved about 2 hours north with a 60 gallon cube. Because of the renovations in the home we moved into, I couldn't set up the cube and moved everything into a 20gallon tank. Not idea, but everything survived and now everything is in the main tank again. I had to "cure" / cycle some other rock that couldn't fit in the 20 while we were finishing the flooring in the house.

Just get some buckets, and Walmart sells some battery bubblers. I honestly didn't have any heaters in the buckets, maybe an awful idea but I kept the heat on in the truck and everything was fine.

I will say, I wasn't able to pre-make water at the house we were moving to so I made 4 5-gallon buckets worth of salt water and 1 of RO at the house we were moving out of and just heated them when we got there.

 

[MichaelReefer]

Well, I bought a house and I’m closing in a week!
thankfully I was able to stave off the tank bug and I only have a nuvo 10 and a 49 gallon to move.
those of you who have moved across town (or short distances) how did you do it? Things you did that were good/bad? What would you have changed?

I've moved twice in the last few years, and will be moving again hopefully in a year or two also as my lady and I are getting married. I will tell you it's never fun. I have three tanks currently.

I would move your bigger and most difficult tank FIRST. Do not try and move multiple tanks at once, at least from my experience it's easier to do one at a time, especially if you're closer. . Have lots of buckets, replace your sand, and try and stay as organized as possible.

I had no losses, including anemone and coral. Everyone was a bit scared and skiddish for a few days but it turned out good.

 

[SDK]

For cross town moves I hope to get some overlap in being able to be in both places.

If I do, I will move the tanks the weekend before the actual move.

This gives me a full day to dedicate to getting the aquariums squared away, and takes dealing with them off of my plate on moving day...

 

[MichaelReefer]

For cross town moves I hope to get some overlap in being able to be in both places.

If I do, I will move the tanks the weekend before the actual move.

This gives me a full day to dedicate to getting the aquariums squared away, and takes dealing with them off of my plate on moving day...

That's what I did. I moved my tanks before we moved anything else, and my lady understood my point. They are time consuming and it was easier to be able to focus for an entire day and get all three set up, then move everything else.