Moving

[The cats wrasse]

Any tips on moving an aquarium (small 20 gal) but omg does this look daunting

 

[Copingwithpods]

The big question is how far? Minutes wise.

 

[The cats wrasse]

The big question is how far? Minutes wise.

only like 20 min

 

[Copingwithpods]

Can you list the inhabitants

 

[The cats wrasse]

Not sure why that's relevant but clowns pistol watchman cleaner ...and coral

 

[lilgrounchuck]

I’ll be moving here in a few weeks as well about 15 min away. Do you have access to the place you’re moving to with an overlap in your current place? Here’s what I’m planning: I’m able to space the move over about a month, so I’m going to make up RoDi at the new place so I can mix new water and get it heated in advance. I also picked up new sand for the move as I don’t plan on keeping the sand bed currently in there. I got it all washed down and ready to go over the weekend. I’ve got 8 5 gal buckets that I’ll be putting everything in. The rocks with corals on them will go in a bucket with a fish or two, the rocks with nothing on them will get tossed in buckets together and topped off with tank water. Frags and corals not attached to rocks will go in baggies. Once it’s all broken down I’ll drive everything over at once, fill the tank about 1/2 with new water, new sand, and dump in a bottle of Biospira. Then I’ll add the rocks back along with the he tank water from the bucket. I don’t really think I’ll need to worry about acclimating anything since this will really just wind up being like a 50% water change, just need to make sure to work quickly and deliberately. Plan to make a list of tasks and knock them out in order to make sure you do it right.

 

[Copingwithpods]

Not sure why that's relevant but clowns pistol watchman cleaner ...and coral

Because fowlr is one thing complete reef is a completely different animal, when I changed tanks I had inverts and sponges that cannot be exposed to air so it adds to the difficulty.

Since you're dealing with 20g tank I'd say have 10g of premix ready to go just in case (could probably get away with 5). If you don't have alot of corals it's best to just snap them off the rocks (if possible) and glue them in later. Fish and corals can go in baggies. If this is not possible place rocks with corals in 5g buckets and pad them heavily with crumpled up bags, you don't want the rocks shifting and hurting corals, fish and inverts can be bagged up or placed in another 5g bucket with no rocks(they might get crushed). This takes care of rocks, fish and coral and knocks out 10 gallons of water ready to transport. At this point there's probably around 5 gallons left which can go in a 3 rd bucket leaving you with just the tank+sand which you can just load up.

Order I'd do it in

Unplug everything

Pack rocks with no corals in 1st bucket

Pack rocks with corals in 1st bucket +add bags for padding, top off bucket (bucket 1 done)

With no rocks inverts and fish should be a cake to catch add them to bucket 2 and top it off (bucket 2 done)

Remove rest of water (bucket 3 done)

Tie cords to make it easier to carry

Load and drive

When you arrive set up tank

Add water from bucket 3

Add rocks and corals+water from bucket 1(if taking too long to set up use the 10gs of premixed to keep corals submerged)

Add fish and inverts and top off tank from bucket 2

Plug and pray

Have extra water on hand in case something spikes. Also if the move is a ways away I'd start vacumming the sand asap with every water change. Cleaner sand less chance of a spike. When tank is set up the water in the buckets will have cooled down a bit unless you have a portable heater for each bucket, don't raise the temperature too fast, do it slowly and everything should be OK.

Goodluck

 

[The cats wrasse]

Because fowlr is one thing complete reef is a completely different animal, when I changed tanks I had inverts and sponges that cannot be exposed to air so it adds to the difficulty.

Since you're dealing with 20g tank I'd say have 10g of premix ready to go just in case (could probably get away with 5). If you don't have alot of corals it's best to just snap them off the rocks (if possible) and glue them in later. Fish and corals can go in baggies. If this is not possible place rocks with corals in 5g buckets and pad them heavily with crumpled up bags, you don't want the rocks shifting and hurting corals, fish and inverts can be bagged up or placed in another 5g bucket with no rocks(they might get crushed). This takes care of rocks, fish and coral and knocks out 10 gallons of water ready to transport. At this point there's probably around 5 gallons left which can go in a 3 rd bucket leaving you with just the tank+sand which you can just load up.

Order I'd do it in

Unplug everything

Pack rocks with no corals in 1st bucket

Pack rocks with corals in 1st bucket +add bags for padding, top off bucket (bucket 1 done)

With no rocks inverts and fish should be a cake to catch add them to bucket 2 and top it off (bucket 2 done)

Remove rest of water (bucket 3 done)

Tie cords to make it easier to carry

Load and drive

When you arrive set up tank

Add water from bucket 3

Add rocks and corals+water from bucket 1(if taking too long to set up use the 10gs of premixed to keep corals submerged)

Add fish and inverts and top off tank from bucket 2

Plug and pray

Have extra water on hand in case something spikes. Also if the move is a ways away I'd start vacumming the sand asap with every water change. Cleaner sand less chance of a spike. When tank is set up the water in the buckets will have cooled down a bit unless you have a portable heater for each bucket, don't raise the temperature too fast, do it slowly and everything should be OK.

Goodluck

Appreciate that

 

[Cwentz758]

Or instead of buckets use one brute trash can (even the smaller one) for almost all your water you could even add your rocks in there depending on your coral situation. I Moved my tank 2 hours away a few times over the past year with no loses by doing that and separating fish into groups in two buckets and a battery air stone. From Starr of the take down for my 65g to back to setup was about 6 hours. You can always toss a heater in the bucket with the fish if you will be longer but with 20g you should be able to use almost all your older water.

If you have sand be sure to rinse it until the water runs clear or you funk the risk of a nutrient spike. (I rinsed poorly/very little tank responded to no issues.)

currently my tank is running flawless, just working on some slight diatoms on my sand.