Advice: moving a 4YO tank with a DSB?

[piercho]

I need to move the tank the end of July. Its a short move, less than a mile. The tank has 4-year old DSB that was highly sedimented to start with, it was taken from a Puget Sound eelgrass bed, so I guess in effect its a billion-year old DSB. I keep seagrass, clams, and stony corals. The tank is a 65G 36X18X24 AGA, the sandbed is about 4", average.

One idea I've had is to push down 2 or 3 coffee cans to preserve "cores" that include grass root rhizomes. Then I'd discard the rest of the sand and move the tank with less than a gallon of damp sand in it. Once I get the tank leveled in its new location, I'd fill in between the cores with new sand. I'd be apprehensive to re-use disturbed sediments in a tank this established as I don't know if, how much, and how long I'd see excessive nutrient release afterward.

The prefered method is drain out what water I can and move the bed intact. But then I'd have the weight of the tank and about 12 gallons of water to deal with. Think two beefy guys could handle that?

[Shoestring Reefer]

The coffe cans will rust, don't use them. Just put some sand in a plastic bag or bucket if you want to keep some.

[bassman57]

i'm not sure what to do about moving it, but i would like to see pics of the tank. I haven't seen a tank with seagrass before.

[Randall_James]

I think I see what he is saying on the move. Sounds like a great idea.

The cans wont rust in a 24 hour period and even if they do should not be too big a deal.

I think he is keeping the strata in tact as well as a good seed bed for the new stuff to feed and grow off of.

As the bed was in his words (heavily sedimented" He also cleans a lot of the crap out. Sounds pretty good to me. If the can issue is in fact an issue, just use those disposable glad containers.

[tigerarmy40]

I would think just keeping the top 1" layer and seeding a new sand bed with it! that way you dont cause a huge bloom from the release of inpurities!!!??

[Rikko]

Two beefy guys could move it for sure... But could the tank withstand it? Too often I hear people moving their tanks with water in them and having the sloshing water split the silicone seam... Leaky tank now

I have a 65 with about a 4" bed as well and I added 30lbs crushed coral and 90lbs aragonite.. 12 gallons of water weights around 100 lbs.. The tank itself isn't so bad (I lifted mine into place when I set it up and I moved it to about 40" off the ground and I am NOT a big guy).. But figure you're probably moving over 200 lbs and that's also a fair bit of force on the tank while you're mobile.

If you're confident you can move it without jarring it too much, gofer. If you have any stairs or tight squeezes, you might be best off just saving a cup or two of sand and throw the rest away.

[Randall_James]

He is talking about a "seed" setup with the "cookie cutter" can idea.

I have not seen a sea grass tank myself but would guess that the strata of the material is pretty defined (roots and all).
He is talking about simply laying his cookie cutter (cans) to preserver a few spots and replacing the rest. Removing the top inch (normal procedure) could be a problem if the bottom of the tank is actually grass. After the move, he just refills all around the cans again and removes them. Going to look like grass plugs

[lacie143]

i'd say throw the dsb away and just put an d inch or two of live sand in there. I just moved my 75 and threw away the 120lbs i had in there and put 60lbs of fresh sand in. Makes moving the tank much easier. As for seeding the sand, i'd just take a few scoops from the top. I think once you disturb the anarobic enviroment, the creatures in the bottom layers will did.

[piercho]

Yes, there will be pictures before the move. I have shoal grass, manatee grass, and stargrass. Also Udotea, Penicillius, and one specie of Halimeda algae growing in the bed. Seagrass have rhizomes of various sizes dependant on the specie. For some of these, the roots live in association with N fixers and disturbing the roots basically cuts off their nutrient supply until the root community reestablishes itself. That is why I would try to preserve a total cross section of the sand community, and not just the top part.

I've kept star grass alive a couple of months in a shallow container of sand, but I think its the exception. A 4" or deeper sediment layer is probably best. I keep a jawfish and a tube anemone and they also seem to need a deeper sand bed. Its a lagoonal tank, I keep things from sandy areas - including sand.

I've disturbed the sediments deep in the bed several times with no ill effects. The water gets cloudy for a while. Some coral, like Favia and Favites, will extend and feed. I had a maroon clownfish at one time that would constantly fan the bed, stirring up sediments. That was a problem as the coral had to constantly shed the sand/sediments, and the sediments settled out on the rock and fed undesirable algae.

I could use 6" ABS pipe sections in lieu of coffee cans, but I'm not sure I see the point. The coffee cans would only be in the bed for a couple of days. They get pushed straight down into the bed, and their purpose is to keep the sand inside them from falling apart, and to preserve a complete cross section of the bed. Once a new bed is filled in around them, they'd be removed.

[Randall_James]

I still say go for it, figured that it was important to make sure you preserve the strata. Sure would like to see the photos.

[Frick-n-Frags]

If you want to take the DSB, leave it intact.

If you even take cores, the lower portions of the cores were existing in anaerobic zones. Now the anaerobic parts of cores will be exposed and disrupted which will result in a foul mess of stuff that shouldn't have ever been stirred up.

Personally, I would at most take some sand off the top and pitch the rest.

[fishman805]

My vote.... Move it all together and keep it intact.... It took you four years to get it there.....

[phergus_25]

well when moving it it will release pockets of soem nasty stuff that could kill alot of things. Then if you stuir it up at all then the diffrences in oxygen levels will cause some more stuff to die and then your really screwed. I would do the cookie cutter idea but leave them on the bottom of the ntak and remove the rest of the sand. Then fill the tank up to the prior level and then remove the cans and let it sit for a while. But I'm far from a DSB expert.
-greg

[herefishyfishy2]

I WOULD NOT move the entire DSB. I have seen 2 local tanks (one was a TOTM) that were moved and were almost completely wiped out due to all the nasty compounds and anearobic zones that an older DSB has. If you want to seed the new DSB with some of the old go for it, but please do not move the entire thing. Even being careful your tank will look like chocolate milk and problems will ensue. Trust me.....new sand is not that expensive in comparison to loosing 90% of your stock.

[piercho]

Just curious, which TOTM was wiped out? Is there a thread? Usually, when a very nice tank goes sour, people notice. I'd be interested to read about it.

I have not seen a sea grass tank myself but would guess that the strata of the material is pretty defined (roots and all).

Yes!!!! I assumed people would know this. I guess I haven't been clear. I collect seagrass and algae that will die without a sandbed, and will suffer if the sandbed is replaced or the strata disturbed. I would prefer not to discuss the merits of sandbeds in tanks with coral. Coral are of seconday importance to me, anyway.

My main worry is splitting the tank if it could be man-carried short distances. Theres no big stairs to deal with, but several steps. A secondary worry is low O2 and pH fluctuation. H2S release is not a personal worry and I've disturbed the sediments to the bottom glass on a couple of occasions with no ill effects, but maybe I'm naive.

Rikko's had the most useful input so far. I didn't consider twisting the tank. I'm thinking maybe I could cut a piece of 3/4" plywood as a flat base to move it on, so the sides won't be differentially loaded. 150 pounds, or so, for two bigger guys is not too bad.

[fishman805]

FWIW, I have moved a 150 gal tank with over 150lbs of gravel "IN IT" across town before with no ill effects when it was a FW tank ... This tank is "over" 20 yrs old is an AllGlass tank and the last time it was moved was 10yrs ago ... I have since set it up as a SW Reef tank and it still is doing fine .... Now that being said .... I must insist that moving your tank with the sandbed intact would be no big deal.....! With minimal water in the tank for a relativally short period of time, you should have no ill effects.... Now if you just want to start over and loose the 4yrs... well that's entirely up to you.... But from the sound of things, you know what you're doing.... I'D MOVE IT INTACT......

[MiddletonMark]

Hi Howard ... I too would love to see pics - always a good idea IMO before you move

The one question I'd have is worry about the `cores' sliding around ... seems like it might be tricky to pack it without them sliding all over - and likely losing sand out the bottom slowly. The cores are a very interesting + novel idea - sadly being innovative, you also get a lack of experience from the community on this.

I'd wonder about the anaerobic areas becoming aerobic [wouldn't that mess up the various fixers/etc down in the roots ... meaning re-establishment is needed anyway?].

Personally, I'd set up a `livestock tub' at the final destination and keep the livestock there for the first week or so ... PITA, but I assume you love your fish/corals as much as the rest of us, and IMO that's worth the hassle to protect your wet friends. Plus, it allows you to focus on re-establishment of your seagrass beds - something IMO very cool and unusual about your setup and worth giving the best chance you can in re-establishing.

Good luck on it, keep us posted on how it goes.

[fishman805]

I'm sorry to keep harping on this.... You're original idea can work... Less than a mile to move? You've really answered your own questions a few times in this thread already... You've not had issues with disturbing the SB in the past and you abviously know what you're doing ... Unless I'm just waaay off base here, just move the durn thing and have your water ready to go at it's new location.... The shame in all of this is that you have to move it at all.... It would be nice if we had teleporters to deal with all of this...( LOL )