Moving a tank, need advice

[SRT80]

I know there has been threads about this subject in the past. But here's the deal. Shouldn't be too hard. My brother is moving and he has a 80 gal. tank. He has to be out of his house around the middle of august but his new house won't be ready for a couple months. So he is gonna set up the tank at my house. So one advantage is we will be able to take our time with the move, not having to rush or move in one day. I was thinking of setting up a 29 gal. with some fresh saltwater then add some of his water and move the corals and some rock to it. I have a 130 watt pc light for the 29. So we should be good there. but then still have more rock and fish to move. I was wanting some advise on this move and if anyone has any spare tanks/rubbermaids I could borrow for this move.

Thanks,
Steve

[c_stowers]

Sounds to me like you've got the right idea. Try to have tanks/rubbermaids to move the livestock into with mostly old tank water. Unfortunately all of my rubbermaids have rock in them right now or I would lend them to you. I'm sure someone in the club has a few extra they could lend you.

I've got some extra powerheads and heaters if you need to borrow them. Just shoot me a PM if you do need them and we can work somehting out.

[crumbletop]

Yeah -- Chris did it right, I think. I'd transfer over water from water changes until you have enough water at your place to house the corals and fish. Match the temp of the water from your bro's system, and the move should minimize the negative impact on the corals.

When you do the move, it also worked well to bag everything up for transport. It was somewhat a pain to bag everything (well some of the larger stuff couldn't be bagged), but it made acclimation to the new place easier to do. Chris can chime in on this as he may have a different opinion, but for me (and I did most of the transferring) having things bagged was a big plus.

[SRT80]

chris, pm box is full. but yea, I could use the extra powerheads and heaters. Rubbermaids are no big deal, I'll just pick a few up from wal-mart. Will u be at the ebay meeting? if so and u can bring them then, that would be great. we are plannin the move that next weekend after.

thanks,
steve

[c_stowers]

Yep. Bagging things up are the way to go. It keeps corals from stinging one another. Zoas you can often just throw in a bucket, but I certainly wouldnt recommend this with SPS or LPS. I will be at the ebay meeting. I think I have 2 extra powerheads and 2 extra heaters. Just shoot me a another PM before the meeting so that I don't forget to bring them.

[NeveSSL]

Not sure how long everything is going to be in bags, but I recently bought a fish from someone who has a wholesale business and he had "breathable bags". He actually kept fish in them with no air for 5 days! Those may be handy for a move... at the same time they may be unnecessary for you guys, but I thought I would mention it.

I also have a 10g QT if you need it. I could bring it to eBay. And I have a 300w heater also. Kinda big, but it could help with a larger rubbermaid container. :) Just let me know.

Brandon

[SRT80]

he lives only about 15 minutes from my house, so not a long trip for the livestock. He is also only moving about 15 minutes away from my house....just the oposite direction. My house is pretty much in the middle from where he lives now and where he is moving. Chris, I'll pm you before the meeting. I think the 2 powerheads and heaters will do. I dont know though, this 80 bowfront might be stayin at my house permanent...we'll see. I might be gettin' that upgrade afterall!

[SRT80]

neve, appreciate it, i think I will be good. Only thing I might need to borrow will be the heater. But i doubt it. I have a 250w stealth, and then whatever chris has. I will let you know though.

Thanks,
Steve

[Siffy]

The recommendations I'd make are coolers over buckets and have about twice as much SW on hand as you think you'll need.

The coolers not only because they hold more and help prevent temp swings, but those durable stealth heaters (definitely the way to go for this) will lay in the bottom where as they won't work well in a half full 5g bucket.

More than once you'll say "I don't want to use that water." and want some more clear. And you'll probably be wanting to do a water change shortly after putting all the livestock in if you stir up much sand.

Jack's bag acclimation method we used when we helped Chris move his tank back in March worked out great. If for some reason you're not able to drip acclimate a bunch of a corals in the cooler, you can scoop a pitcher of water out and pour it gently into the acclimation container and slitting the bags (before pouring) helps diffuse everything slowly.

With a small tank move (or at least coral/fish contents wise) you might not even need any rubbermaids, since the 29g tank will already have water in it. If you can get all the corals in 2 large coolers about half full of water from the 80g, you should be able to acclimate directly into the coolers, and pump most of that water back into the 29g tank as you're placing corals into it.

[Siffy]

I meant to add this link earlier. Cheap bags, and you should have time to have them delivered before the move. Unless things have changed, you have to use paypal to order through their webfront and order by phone to use your CC directly.

http://www.angelsplus.com/ShippingSupplies.htm

Edit: and from the way a couple people were talking at the last meeting and with the swap coming up, there may be enough interested in a group order.

[SRT80]

yea, what we decided to do is set up the QTs at his house. First, we will start pumpin water out of his tank to fill the 29 gal and start adding some rock and all corals. Then we are gonna pull all the rock out and put in rubbermaids, will probably only need a couple. Once everything is out, we are gonna haul the tank to my house and get it set back up. Will probably let it run overnight maybe to let the sand settle i theres a big storm. Then the next day or maybe that evening, bring the rock over and start putting it in the tank, then add the corals and fish last. The tank is gonna bet setup at my place for at least 3 months. I think all should be fine since we will be able to take our time. Again, thanks for all the help and info.

Steve

[Mikeyjer]

Hey Steve,

I'm not sure if you read that I just did 3 tank move about 2 months ago. 46 bowfront, 55, and a 90 bowfront. It was hell and it took me ALL day and ALL night to finish setting them back up. I was lucky to lose just one fish through this whole incident and it wouldn't have died IF my idiotic friend didn't bug the heck out of me......long story....It was my Green Mandarin that died.....All my tangs survived just fine and I have Yellow Tang, Naso Tang, Hippo Tang, and Flame Fin Tomini Tang. Plus My Foxface, 5 Chromis, 4 Clowns, Wrasse, and a Humu Humu Trigger. Now I'm gonna be shoppin' for a BIG tank in the near future now since I have a house.....Those tangs WILL need a new home sometime soon.... :) Here's what I did, went to Walmart and bought some new rubbermaid containers and cleaned them real good, Robert let me borrow his RO water maker and I started making freshwater the day before the move and mixed all the salt to the correct level. I try to save as much water as I can from my existing tanks into bunch of jugs from friends. I got a bunch of those styrofoam containers from Critters and placed all my corals into plastic bags provided by Critters. Then place rocks into the other container. I did not toss my sandbed, instead I washed them real good and store some away and used some. I did have to buy some live sand though to place on top. I reset everything back up as soon as I got everything to my new house. I soon place all my fish back in and they all did just fine. The only reason why my mandarin died was because of the idiot friend who no longer is around......I wish I have extra buckets for you to borrow, but I only have two for my freshwater container. Good luck with the move!