Set up again after a move

[DarkReefer]

Hi All,

Moving interstate in approx 1 month and taking my Waterbox 70.2 tank with me.
As the move of my belongings will take approximately 7-10 days, There's no way for me to keep my rock wet/healthy I don't believe. (Open to ideas if anyone has suggestions).

Looking to retain my livestock and have it sent to me once the tank is back up and running.

I'm expecting I'll have to go through the whole cycle process once more due to having the rock dry out on me during the trip.

My question is whether I'll be able to add everything I already have, back into the tank in one hit, and just attempt to play a balancing game with the swings in parameters or whether I'll be forced to add slowly? Is there a way I can add all my livestock at once and do this relatively safely?

I've seen TV shows where they seem to fill new tanks with great amounts of livestock but just wonder whether its all bs, or if there's a way of achieving this if preparing correctly.


Couple of side notes;
- I may consider changing up my rockwork completely. I've started noticing some pests that I'd rather not deal with once it's set up again, or may need to bleach the rock and hope it kills everything of.
- I do have a 190L drum available I could potentially fill with some water in order to keep the rock in it and wet, however is this just asking for trouble as there'll be no flow as such and it'll just fester and die?


Cheers

 

[T-J]

You can overnight the rock wrapped in a bunch of wet newspapers. You'll have some die-off, and a mini cycle, but it's way better than starting over. This is how I would get live rock shipped to me from Fiji back in the day.

 

[DarkReefer]

You can overnight the rock wrapped in a bunch of wet newspapers. You'll have some die-off, and a mini cycle, but it's way better than starting over. This is how I would get live rock shipped to me from Fiji back in the day.

Thanks but wouldn't this be somewhat expensive? Granted I probably only have about 10-15kg of rock I think so it's not huge amounts.
And what about the pests I'm preferring not to have in the new tank if I can avoid it ? (vermetid snails)

How long would it take to culture a new piece of rock. Ie. if I got that new rock sent over but it was part of another system that'd been up and running a while ?

 

[captain_jimmy]

Hi

Bumping this thread as I am about to move as well and looking for advice. Basically answers to your original questions.
Can you provide any tips or info?

 

[DarkReefer]

Hi

Bumping this thread as I am about to move as well and looking for advice. Basically answers to your original questions.
Can you provide any tips or info?

Hey mate,

So my tank is finally going again with livestock in it after just last week.

I had a LFS assist with making sure it was packed well for transport via a shipping container with the rest of my contents.
This was possibly slightly overkill however the tank did arrive mostly unscathed (despite most of the feet being damaged by the movers). I was actually under the impression they would break it down a bit more than they did, however you can quite easily do this yourself if you have foam/thick cardboard for corners & glass perhaps and packing wrap and tape. I basically did all the prep work draining the tank, taking out rockwork, livestock and sand and even took the opportunity to clean it up a bit. In the end could've saved myself a little money if I didn't get them to help, but it did arrive without damage so all in all I'm happy. Better to be safe than sorry I guess.
Don't be afraid to use tape on the glass to hold foam/cardboard. Whilst it's annoying to get off it's better than having it cracked or damaged.

Keep all your cables for your equipment together so it's easier to identify which cable goes to what and package things well for transport so they're not damaged. Depending how much stuff you have, may want to label your boxes as well so you can find things easier when you're looking to get set back up. I generally keep things fairly vague in that regard and so I can identify but Joe Blow isn't going to know what good equipment etc is where (this applies to anything in the house).

Any chemicals/liquids you may have you should pack in upright position if you intend to keep and make sure the boxes are clearly marked to be stored upright only.
The movers that did mine put mine on the side so I had a little damage to a few test kits and some calcium everywhere that leaked through the top of my lid. I taped it up (has a hole for dosing tube), however this wasn't good enough. So if you have a spare lid use that instead.

If you have any good/trustworthy friends or family with reef tanks willing to hold your stock until you get settled. I'd probably recommend that over using the LFS. Or alternatively sell everything off and start fresh.
LFS can certainly be an option though if you don't have anyone else you could use to help you out. Expect a fee for this, but you might get lucky if you have a good rapport with them.
It took me about 2 months to get everything back up and going without trying to rush things, maybe a little longer.

Any other questions just ask.
Hope it was a little helpful!

 

[captain_jimmy]

Hey mate,

So my tank is finally going again with livestock in it after just last week.

I had a LFS assist with making sure it was packed well for transport via a shipping container with the rest of my contents.
This was possibly slightly overkill however the tank did arrive mostly unscathed (despite most of the feet being damaged by the movers). I was actually under the impression they would break it down a bit more than they did, however you can quite easily do this yourself if you have foam/thick cardboard for corners & glass perhaps and packing wrap and tape. I basically did all the prep work draining the tank, taking out rockwork, livestock and sand and even took the opportunity to clean it up a bit. In the end could've saved myself a little money if I didn't get them to help, but it did arrive without damage so all in all I'm happy. Better to be safe than sorry I guess.
Don't be afraid to use tape on the glass to hold foam/cardboard. Whilst it's annoying to get off it's better than having it cracked or damaged.

Keep all your cables for your equipment together so it's easier to identify which cable goes to what and package things well for transport so they're not damaged. Depending how much stuff you have, may want to label your boxes as well so you can find things easier when you're looking to get set back up. I generally keep things fairly vague in that regard and so I can identify but Joe Blow isn't going to know what good equipment etc is where (this applies to anything in the house).

Any chemicals/liquids you may have you should pack in upright position if you intend to keep and make sure the boxes are clearly marked to be stored upright only.
The movers that did mine put mine on the side so I had a little damage to a few test kits and some calcium everywhere that leaked through the top of my lid. I taped it up (has a hole for dosing tube), however this wasn't good enough. So if you have a spare lid use that instead.

If you have any good/trustworthy friends or family with reef tanks willing to hold your stock until you get settled. I'd probably recommend that over using the LFS. Or alternatively sell everything off and start fresh.
LFS can certainly be an option though if you don't have anyone else you could use to help you out. Expect a fee for this, but you might get lucky if you have a good rapport with them.
It took me about 2 months to get everything back up and going without trying to rush things, maybe a little longer.

Any other questions just ask.
Hope it was a little helpful!

Thanks for all the advice, super helpful.

I couldn't find any LFS willing to house and ship my fish for me unfortunately so I sold them all for practically nothing to a guy with an enormous tank, at least they'll get a good home.

So my move is this weekend, I have movers who will crate my tank and transport it for ne.

I'm trying to plan what to do with my live rock. I was considering moving it to brute trashcans filled with saltwater and taking it with me on the road to try to minimise die off and reduce the cycle time at the other end. It's live rock from the ocean that I've had for almost 2 years and it's full of stuff that it's be nice to keep living.

Thing is the drive is going to take me about 2.5-3 days/2nights.

Do you have any thoughts on whether this would be worth all the effort and would even be effective?

Thanks again.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Thanks for all the advice, super helpful.

I couldn't find any LFS willing to house and ship my fish for me unfortunately so I sold them all for practically nothing to a guy with an enormous tank, at least they'll get a good home.

So my move is this weekend, I have movers who will crate my tank and transport it for ne.

I'm trying to plan what to do with my live rock. I was considering moving it to brute trashcans filled with saltwater and taking it with me on the road to try to minimise die off and reduce the cycle time at the other end. It's live rock from the ocean that I've had for almost 2 years and it's full of stuff that it's be nice to keep living.

Thing is the drive is going to take me about 2.5-3 days/2nights.

Do you have any thoughts on whether this would be worth all the effort and would even be effective?

Thanks again.

Personally, I would find the largest cooler possible for your liverock. Lay it out in the bottom, cover it with a few towels then add water up to about 3/4 the height of the rock. The towels and water movement will keep it wet.

Rock and water in a brute will not be very secure/ thin walls, and no insulation.

 

[captain_jimmy]

Personally, I would find the largest cooler possible for your liverock. Lay it out in the bottom, cover it with a few towels then add water up to about 3/4 the height of the rock. The towels and water movement will keep it wet.

Rock and water in a brute will not be very secure/ thin walls, and no insulation.

Great idea thanks.

 

[DarkReefer]

I'm not sure what the die off period is for liverock sorry but Lost in the Sauce seems to have a great idea there, if I was going to do it I think that trick would probably be easiest and most compact method to do it in.
(Space is always important when moving)

 

[captain_jimmy]

Just putting all my rock into coolers, I see a bunch of snails and hermits still crawling around in my tank.

Any opinions on whether they will survive for three days in a cooler with no heating or aeration?

Btw op sorry for hijacking your old thread