Moving established tank

[longhorn_20m]

In about a month, I'm going to be moving an established tank. It has around 50lbs LR, 100lbs of LS and quite a few corals.

I was wondering what is the best way to move something of this magnitude with least amount of die off. My real concern is with the live sand, how do you move something like that? Is it good to stir it all up and transfer to buckets, then dump back in when setting it up again?

[fx300]

I have moved several tanks and I tend to buy several different sizes of tubs from Wal-Mart(cause you can return them). I would strongly recommend keeping as much of the water as you can and leaving your fish/corals in baggies until they are ready to place in tank. I always tend to float the baggies on the water in order for them to always have the same temp. Don't forget that for the water there are those tubs with wheels that will help out when moving large quantities of water. Good luck with this project and hope this info. helps ya.

Fabian ;)

[matt]

A few questions:

1. How far are you moving?
2. How big is the tank?
3. How long has it been running?
4. How deep is your sand bed?

In general, the problem with moving sand beds is that in a well established deep sand bed, you have a gradient of aerobic/anerobic bacteria. When you disturb the bed, you destroy the gradient and have to reestablish it. This is only an issue if your tank is fairly large, and the sand bed is fairly deep, say 4" or greater. 100lbs of sand is not alot for a sizable tank, so you'll probably be fine putting it in buckets, filling with water, and if possible, aerating with a battery powered air pump and stone. You could also only use the top layer of sand from your existing system, and put down an initial layer of new SD or similar underneath your old sand.

If you're moving far, it's gonna get mighty hot this time of year.

Matt

[TexasState]

..

[longhorn_20m]

Its a 50 gallon tank, about 8 " high. I'm not sure how long the tank has been established. I have a pretty good idea of moving everything besides that, I didn't know if you can disturb it and such.

Yea going to be a pain moving, but definitely worth it. Hopefully can go smooth.

What happens if corals are attached to chunks of rock, do you still put it in a baggie, or just put it in buckets with teh other rock?

[Richard]

I have kept corals and fish in 5 gallon buckets for a couple of days with only an airstone, couple of pieces of liverock, and a piece of polyfilter without any losses.
Alot of the losses on inverts when moving are caused by them getting banged around in the container while moving. I would suggest loosely wrapping each coral or rock several times with cut up ziplock freezer bags or other thick plastic material and then packing them tightly in a bucket/tub/icechest of tank water so they don't roll around and adding a piece of polyfilter. Then when you get to your new location just throw in an airstone and take your time getting the tank setup.

[longhorn_20m]

Koo, Thanks.

So I can just scoop up the live sand and put in bucket, and when I get it setback up, just scoop it back into the tank?