Moving tank, what to do with corals

[kkiel02]

Should I keep some in a 58g sump tank I have or just sell them. I'm starting to think trying to keep all my fish and corals alive may be too stressfull especially with the new algae cycle.

[Europhyllia]

my plan was to temporarily remove the livestock, water, rocks, etc. and move the tank. Then put everything back in the original tank and wait for the arrival and cycle of the new one.
What happened of course was that the old tank burst, the livestock got evacuated into tubs and small QT tanks for a couple of days and I had to think about what to do now.
I chose to buy a temporary tank (75 gallon) and keep the livestock in there.
Here's the important part: I DID NOT move the sand. My temp tank is bare bottom since I did not think the little temp tank could handle the release of nutrients/waste from a disturbed sandbed.
The 75g is holding all of the original liverock (some of it is in the sump) and things have actually gone really well in there.
I did sell some livestock: an oyster because I can't commit to phyto dosing right now and I'd hate to starve it, fighting conchs because I have no sandbed, some clams and corals because my future tank is going into a different direction, etc.
But the fish I love are still here and are doing really well in the 75g.
I was in a rush to get them out of the tiny 10g QT and probably paid more for the set up than I will be able to ask for it in a couple of months but it was well worth it to safe my critters.
So if it was me, I'd look at what you want to keep, what you don't want to keep, what wouldn't do so well in the temp tank and go from there. If you move the liverock but not the sand you might be surprised how easy it is.
Good luck in whatever you decide to do.

[kkiel02]

Yeah I am leaning towards selling most of my coral because I am more worried about the diatom/algae bloom that will arise. I will in theory have both tanks up and running so Im not worried about the fish/inverts just about the senstive corals making the transfer and them liking the new lighting, flow, etc. I am remembering the last move and hated that, so without having to worry about coral it might be better. The bta anemones as I couldnt possibly sell two of them(one the clownfish love and the other I couldnt ever find again).

The sand after being throughly cleaned will end up in the fuge as my new dsb.

[Mr Cob]

I like Karin's current plan....setup a temp tank...bare bottom to hold your corals and fish.

I'm also in the process...well for the last month or so I have been selling and trading corals out. I have taken a ton to the LFS. Breaking up colonies will make the move so much easier. A few colonies I completely got rid of...especially SPS, to limit my losses. Of course some pieces you just can't part with. I definitely parted with every common coral I have....nothing left in the tank except rare or expensive corals, and one neon green star polyp mini island (neon GSP is one of my faves...lol)

My plan is to have the new keys to the next place one month in advance from the date we move. I will setup the temp tank and let it sit for a couple of weeks and then start moving my fish and coral over. By the time it's move day I will have an empty half circle. Then I will do some maintenance to the tank and take my time setting it back up before adding the fish and corals back in.

[Mr Cob]

So...in short I'm for the 50/50 plan. Cash out on half. Sell or take to a LFS for store credit.

[Pennies2Cents]

Well if this helps any.. :)

When we got rid of our previous 240.. We SOLD most of our colonies and only kept frags of what we wanted to go into the new tank when it was ready.. We kept those frags in a 75 gal holding tank w/ t-5's that had already been previously set up for a couple of months with FOWLR fish... Fish got sold then we just had our frags. :) and Bill Streeps Plate Coral.. :)

[kkiel02]

Ok time to start fragging I guess. :)