Tank Move...talk

[Mr Cob]

Alright....my wife and I are planning on moving in September, to avoid a thousand questions I'll just tell you why... we want to downsize and take a few steps back. We feel like we rushed into the stoneoak area a bit premature and lost track of what's really important to us.... a home in the country. So, we will be moving into a small home or apartment for exactly one year which will allow us to save millions before we move again...lol.

With that said, I need to start thinking about the tank move. My plan is to get the keys to the new place one month in advance of moving to prepare the tank.

BUT...I'm thinking of the following possibilities:

1) Purchase a 55g-100g used tank to be used as a holding tank and setting it up in the new place when I get the keys and slowly moving my corals into it over the month. Then, moving my half circle and setting it up over the following months before moving my corals back into it. This will also give me an extra tank that can be used again when the year is up and I'll just repeat the process.

2) Pay a LFS to hold my corals and fish for a month or two - anyone ever do this, have any experience with this? I have a ton of coral and not sure how much something like this would cost to do.

3) Selling it all off - nah....done this before and regreted it.

4) Tank move and setup all in the same day/weekend - I've done this before but not with this size tank and volume of livestock....not sure I could do this?

5) got a better idea?

Thanks for taking the time to read this and supply any input on the subject.

[txav8r]

#4

With the help of some friends, I don't see where this would be a big problem.

Oh, By the way, I'm busy that weekend:bigsmile:

[Jarob]

Id say just make a weekend out of it, it will be a lot of work but also it wouldnt require you to buy another tank or anything, just use some large rubbermaid containers to hold the coral or something while transporting the water and tank. Im not a good person to answer though, that a big ol tank

[Mr Cob]

lol Jack. Just you and I moved it last time...lol!

You guys are all champs....but #4 makes me nervous. I'm kind of anal when it comes to acclimating and moving livestock around.


Erik....you went 75g to 200g in one day right? Please share. Sure you will chime in soon.

[Mr Cob]

No matter what I do, I think we will all agree that this process can be much easier with an RO/DI unit at your fingertips....so I will put that on the list as a top priority to get before the move. I have put that purchase off far too long.

I also have a new sump that I want to have complete by then so this will be the perfect time to add it to the system.

[Europhyllia]

we want to downsize and take a few steps back. We feel like we rushed into the stoneoak area a bit premature and lost track of what's really important to us.... a home in the country.
Yay! I always felt a bit sorry for you stone oakers with the horrid traffic, the big houses and the itty bitty yards whenever I went up there for corals or algae or whatever.
It will be so worth it. Let me know when you're ready and I'll give you some nice house warming chickens! :bigsmile:

Tank move should be easy. I like your idea of a gradual move. Less stress!

[kkiel02]

Rob I am in the same boat coming here in June. When we moved in to this place I moved in one day with my 65 gallon but now that I have a 180 I am thinking of either a 240-300ish tank upgrade or doing the month ahead think you talked about. I know the 65 gallon took a good day to get it all setup so not sure if I could pull off the 180.

[Jordan N.]

I would go with number 4 myself. Just put a post up on MAAST, buy a six pack, and make a weekend out of it. I know I'll be there to help. :bigsmile:

-Jordan N.

[Big_Pun]

Ive done my own move where i just tear and set right back up, take all fish and coral and put into containers and then leave sand in tank, get some strong friends(count jack out lol) and move tank to house refill and put back in the coral and fish. you know ill help

[Mr Cob]

Rob I am in the same boat coming here in June. When we moved in to this place I moved in one day with my 65 gallon but now that I have a 180 I am thinking of either a 240-300ish tank upgrade or doing the month ahead think you talked about. I know the 65 gallon took a good day to get it all setup so not sure if I could pull off the 180.


For my last move. I had a 120g mixed reef....we knew we would be moving so 6 months in advance I began breaking it down and sold most everything off and kept small frags of my favorite corals in a 29g...that quickly became a 75g. I then purchased a new "used" tank for the new home which was the half circle and got the keys to the new house a month in advance.

I set the half circle up and about 3 weeks later I spent the week moving my corals and fish over. It was a very smooth process...little pressure on the livestock but it did require repeated efforts.

But for this go around...I plan to keep the half circle as my display tank but I do not have a temp tank to move into so I was thinking MAYBE I could attempt the one weekend thing....just not sure about the effort that will require and what my risks are with so much livestock.

Karin....thx ....lol!

[BIGBIRD123]

With the one day move...time is of the essence. If anything goes wrong or doesn't go together just right, the livestock suffers. I would use another tank and the first 10 days, do a few water changes to get as much of the original water into the "move tank". This would be less stress on the livestock. This gives you ample time to get the DT up and running and stable. JMO...

[RayAllen]

I would also go with option 4.

Keep as much of the water as possible at least 50-60%. Id used the food grade plastic barrels. It would be like doing a huge water change and rearranging.

[BIGBIRD123]

I helped when Bernie moved his 240g on to another stand....there was problems and he lost over 50% of his corals...I have also done 3 overnight moves and would not attempt again. Too many things can happen and did....

[Mr Cob]

I would go with number 4 myself. Just put a post up on MAAST, buy a six pack, and make a weekend out of it. I know I'll be there to help. :bigsmile:

-Jordan N.

THX Jordan.


Ive done my own move where i just tear and set right back up, take all fish and coral and put into containers and then leave sand in tank, get some strong friends(count jack out lol) and move tank to house refill and put back in the coral and fish. you know ill help

See...I have done this too....but never over a 75g stocked tank....now I'm talking about 144g twice the effort.

Did you lose anything Chris? What did you do about sand? In the past I have just kept the sand and left a couple of inches of water in the tank.....BUT with this size tank and that much sand that could be a huge problem in regards to weight.

[Big_Pun]

as long as you have new water ready to go and extras for plumbing incase stuff breaks should be like a big water change

[roscozman]

We have done both: The weekend move and the slow set-up with our current system. I prefer the slow set-up. When we moved Jose's tank in one day is was stressful. We had lots of help and it was still difficult. We planned on using everything Jose had, but still encountered problems.

When we had our center brace failure and had to tear down, we actually had the chance to do things right and were not in a rush because livestock was going to suffer. This gave me a chance to change a couple of things and with you plumbing a new sump, plan for the unexpected.

If you choose option #4, we have a 300gal storage container you can put on the back of a trailer and hall all your water if you want to borrow it. Hope your on the first floor of that apartment...

[Mr Cob]

Any comments on storing livestock with LFS? Not sure I could do that though....I trust the LFS...I just don't trust all the customers.

[BIGBIRD123]

Most LFS don't have that much extra space. Jeremy kept all our fish for 6 months in his quarantine but we still lost 5 fish.

[RayAllen]

Any comments on storing livestock with LFS? Not sure I could do that though....I trust the LFS...I just don't trust all the customers.

Personally I would never do this. Before that id try storing in a friends tank or 2.

[Mr Cob]

Ross...GREAT info, thanks. If we do decide to do an apartment it will definitely be first floor. We plan to go check some out this weekend both smaller homes and apartments and get an idea of what we are looking at. I'm big on planning so if we find something...I'll put a down payment down to hold it for us until we are ready to move.

Thx for chiming in everyone.

I'm most curious in those that have done big tank moves. I'm leaning more and more towards the "slow" temp tank setup.

Also, I know I could encounter some problems but plumbing shouldn't be one of them because I'm HUGE on tubes. Nothing gets hard plumbed in my system. Done that before and it just wasn't for me. My systems stay pretty simple.

[Europhyllia]

Any comments on storing livestock with LFS? Not sure I could do that though....I trust the LFS...I just don't trust all the customers.
one the same system as all the incoming fish? Sounds like it might expose them to a lot of potential disease carriers -no?
Maybe set up a temp tank for the fish with stuff from the MAAST library?

[Mr Cob]

Most LFS don't have that much extra space. Jeremy kept all our fish for 6 months in his quarantine but we still lost 5 fish.

Thx, I knew you had done this before, but I never talked to you about it. This makes me really nervous....but I still wanted to hear some feedback about it.

[Mr Cob]

one the same system as all the incoming fish? Sounds like it might expose them to a lot of potential disease carriers -no?
Maybe set up a temp tank for the fish with stuff from the MAAST library?

Good point and good idea as well. Minh did this at GCReef.

[Europhyllia]

I think GCReef treats all of their fish with meds though so that might be safer. I don't know if all LFS do that. It seems like we SA buyers like to buy stuff in the bag and the day it arrives so local LFS may have less of an opportunity/incentive to to the whole in-store treatment and quarantine thing

[BIGBIRD123]

When we moved Cheri's stuff from her 54g Corner to the 215g, we set-up the 215first and moved everything over....nice , smooth and no losses...I have a 40g tub with a center pole to mount temp lights on you are welcome to use...

[Big_Pun]

THX Jordan.



See...I have done this too....but never over a 75g stocked tank....now I'm talking about 144g twice the effort.

Did you lose anything Chris? What did you do about sand? In the past I have just kept the sand and left a couple of inches of water in the tank.....BUT with this size tank and that much sand that could be a huge problem in regards to weight.
didnt loose a single fish or coral and i did it on my own and temps dropped 7-8 degrees cuz it took so long to rearrange rock and also i didnt have enough salt water mixed, i just left sand in tank and moved it like that, you can put a bowl upside down and a plate on top to keep from disturbing the sand bed when refilling, i use a 64g 4ft long rubbermaid tub

[Gseclipse02]

when i moved from my 100g to my new tank 8 foot 90g it was suppose to be a one day thing but it took longer than i thought 6 days later and no lights on the corals freezing water every one made it i just filled up the 90g with new water and took out half of the water to my containers and did a drip acclimation on them and threw them in as it filled up ....

if you need any pumps or anything just let me know

[justahobby]

I would do it the weekend before the house move. Give me advanced notice to keep the day open to help. We have heaters, powerheads, etc in the library to help w/ the move.

[cowboy572]

Rob, With the help of Pete (Ping) I went from a 55 gallon to a 110 gallon tall with no fatalities in one weekend. Sat we did all the rough cuts, general placement of equipment and took down the 55. Then on Sun we fitted and glued everything in place. Livestock and rock from the 55 where added later that evening.

[ErikH]

Do not reuse your sand. Use new DRY sand. Your lr will seed it. I used about 50g of tap out of the hose and didn't even get cyano.

[ErikH]

It's kinda easy actually.