Moving tanks: Please help and give advice

[Marko9]

The time is fast approaching the time to upgrade my tank. My wife and were going to do an inwall, but she like the side view too much to lose it.

The only place that makes sense it to put the new tank in the same spot as the 90; just a little bigger. We were thinking around 180-225.

So, the dilema is, how would you do it with out losing your collection of corals, especially my SPS collection.

I know it will take a complete tear down and set up with no sleep until I am finished. I was thinking of housing them in a 55 with a powerhead and heater. I would be using half new water and half old tank water. I also have a 29 for extra storage as well as plenty of plastic tubs and buckets.

Do you think this is possible and how successful do you think this rough plan will be?

I have never done anything like this, so for you that have please help. Thanks

[KEEPERZ]

Cool deal on the upgrade man- this might sound strange, but is there any way to drain the tank and move everything as is with floor jacks or something-enough to move your new tank in place? Then you can fill it back up and let it run till your ready to move the livestock-just a thought.

[Marko9]

That would be sweet Joe. I don't know thought because I have hardwood floors on a raised foundation. I would not trust the cheap stand that I got from all glass either. Something to ponder though. This is still aways off. If I can not do it right and safely, I will do the inwall...ah shucks

[chris4869]

It'll be exhausting, but I think your rough plan is a solid one. What are you using to keep the water airated for the corals? I supplemented my power head with a MaxiJet with the airline attached for bubbles.

I thought it was going to take me 4-5 hours for my 90 gallon, but it took me two days. Murphy's law was in full swing for me. Fortunately everything survived the upgrade.

Good luck on your upgrade, and please post some pictures.

[stevedola]

Im planning a 90 lateral move and I was thinking of doing it just like you were saying. I have 2 large rubbermaid bins that Ill have heaters, powerheads and airstones in. Im going to drain the tank down into those 2 bins and have all my rockwork/corals held hopefully stable while I transfer tanks. Ill make a brute full of new salt water and do a good sized waterchange too. I dont think its going to difficult just time consuming taking the old sand bed and transfering tot he new tank then setting everything back up. The good thing in my case is that I wont have to do anything with the sump, skimmer, ATO because Im using the same stand and equipment. Im figuring on starting at 9am and hopefully everything will be in by 7pm.

[Marko9]

Thanks for the ideas. I know that I will have planty of water made up just in case. I have a few heaters and extra power heads. I also have some airlifter pumps that I will add an airstone to as well as a few older powerfilters that are left over in the garage.

I was up thinking last night that I could always drain this tank down and move it to the back room for a week or so until all the wrinkles get ironed out. I know this will take a lot more work, but it is another option. I know I can get my hands on a couple tanks and add the corals to these and place them on eggcrate.

[Marko9]

I have talked to a couple advanced reefers and they think we can do it with minimal loss. I am still very interested and open to any feedback. Thanks.

[checkinhawk]

i did an upgrade from a 90 to a 150.during the upgrade i stored all of my sps in a large plastic container,pulled my sump out of the stand and connected the coral storage container to the sump.i placed a couple of modded mjs in the storage tank for flow and a 250mh for light.i did suffer some losses but it was my fault and not a system failure.i was able to store the corals for several weeks without problems.i think the key for the move is plan plan plan,think of every possible problem and be ready for it.

[Marko9]

What about a refugium? Did you have one or did you set on up on the new tank.I do not know what I should do with my sump/fuge as I will be upsizing that as well. Thanks

[StrategicReef]

get a big plastic tub and store all SPS, clams etc, drain the tank ater into it. They only need heater and some flow.... mark where the evaporation is.. note that the tub might budge and the waterline might not be accurate.
Remove old tank, clean floor..

Then, move new tank in place, level it etc. Put the rocks in new tank... my old tank water doesn't even cover them completely so I filled more than half with new salt water.. no losses and they were in the tubs for almost 2 days.

[Coderabit2]

How do you move a sandbed? If its a SSB does it matter?

[checkinhawk]

Originally posted by Marko9
What about a refugium? Did you have one or did you set on up on the new tank.I do not know what I should do with my sump/fuge as I will be upsizing that as well. Thanks

i had a fuge at the time,it was part of my sump so no big deal for me on the move.use your current sump/fuge as the sump for your coral storage,then get a larger one for the new tank.

[Sk8r]

Main thing I signed on to say is---lose the sandbed. Take this chance to start new, board your fish and corals either at the lfs and/or buckets, and figure on a mini-cycle after a week as the new sandbed comes live.

It is so chancy moving a sandbed: I changed from mixed aragonite cc to pure aragonite fine grade and am so much happier. Sandbeds can be major pitas, even if you decide to wash and use it---plan to give it a week to get going.

[racerw]

We upgraded from a 125 to a 210 & ended up putting the 210 in the exact same place as the 125. Nerve racking I know but very possible
We stored all the corals in a 200 gallon bin. pictured below
We put everything from the 125 in the bin except for the sand. We tossed the sand in the trash. The water, fish, corals, live rock & clean up crew went into the bin.
We used a heater, tunze, and skimmer in the bin, & the metal halides across the top (canopy). Everything stayed in the bin for about 2 weeks.
We experienced some base recession on a few stonies due to lack of flow, but added the second tunze and it fixed the problem. I did not have any lights on the tub/bin for about a week then added the canopy (MH's) because the colors were fading.
I was waiting on a sump and 2 electrial outlets (20amps) to be added in order to get the 210 up, otherwise it would have taken a day or two tops.

bin




A friend from Jax moved to NC and used my other 100 gallon bin. He had zero loss for the 2 day move of his tank.

Hope this helps. Good Luck

[Marko9]

That is some great news. I like the ideas and I have access tyo as many tanks, ph, and heaters that I need. I guess I need to get some quotes on some a tank and start looking into getting a sump made. Hmmm...I guess I will need to start planning my stand and canopy very soon.
My birthday is in January...Looks like a new build thread is right around the corner

[cwegescheide]

I moved my 90 across town (about 20 miles) in the back of a U-Haul about a year ago. My tank was packed with SPS. I got several very large plastic storage containers from Lowes and put a powerhead in each and transferred my corals and tank water in each container being careful of course for no corals to touch each other. I live in Tampa so its usually 70's - 80's during the day so the temperature wasn't that big of a deal. I had a perfect day for the move.

We got all the furniture moved and came back for the last small stuff and the corals sitting in the tubs. I had 4 large tubs filled with sps. I drove VERY carefully and only fragged my monti cap. I was really happy with that. I was soo exhausted from moving all day that I let the corals sit in the tubs overnight and started putting the rock etc in the next day. My corals looked like CRAP the next day bigtime. I was sick about it. The house got pretty cool in the evening and I didn't have any heaters. Thought I lost everything. I got all the corals in the tank as quickly as I could and crossed my fingers. Everything came back fine. I was very surprised.

So I guess my advice is get plenty of storage containers and a 55 would do too, a heater(s), powerheads and you should be good for a day or two. I will say though, it took me ALL day and then some to setup my tank and put the corals in. I think I started at 8am and went to sleep @ 2am the next day.

Good luck!

Chris

[ycnibrc]

I move my tank in one day and no loss in fish and corals. The key is I use as much as I can of the old water and I match the new mix water parameter to the old water so the coral don't have alk shock since it's a big water change. I mix the new water 7 days ahead and dose cal,alk and mag to match my old water. Make sure you get all the plumbing of the new tak ready and plan out so you don't waste time running to HD to get parts.

[HerbieK]

DO NOT MOVE THE SANDBED. I did a 90 gallon move to my basement when I was setting up my 180 and I lost 80% of my well established SPS and acro colonies. I believe disturbing the sand bad released some nasty toxins (sulfides or other nasty stuff).

Hope this helps.

Herb

[Marko9]

Has anyone lit a 72" tank with only two 250's. I might not get to upgrade my lights right away. I was planning on adding two 72" VHO's to my maristar until I get a better idea if how I want to do my lighting. I know my corals will not be the same, buy I figured they will brown a little anyways.

[Lagger]

You should be OK. I have one LA mini lighting my 3' tank. And like you said, the corals will take shock from the moving stress regardless. GL with the move