Moving a Reef Tips and Experiences

[Kbra]

So how about sharing some tips and/or experiences from moving reefs anywhere from a different spot in the house to across country. I personally will be moving a 60g and 29g to a new place just 15 min away for the first time but still expect it to be quite the learning experience. Im looking for some tips and a place for others to get some too. :aqua:

 

[BigDaddyStar]

I moved mine with complete success.

but I went from one tank to another so that made it easier. I was able to fill it half way with new water and then bring I mean LUG 60 more gallons to it.

acclimated all the corals with heaters

setup all the rock work

let the dust settle for a day then began to place my corals in the tank.

from breakdown to move it took 2 days.

no fatalities and 2 months later everything has grown like never before.

 

[rob1991]

i have done moves and upgrades twice, there not too difficult, maybe a bit stressful, and most definatly time consuming, but it takes like 3-4 days for everything to completely settle and for the corals to get back to the size they had previously been.

 

[jessesoto33]

What about upgrading in the same place? I want to replace my 50g with a 72g bow front, but I want it in the same place, how do I go about that?

 

[iReefer]

What about upgrading in the same place? I want to replace my 50g with a 72g bow front, but I want it in the same place, how do I go about that?

LoL of course you gotta take your 50g down first and move out of the way put all your livestock in a holding tank or bin with heater, etc... then set up the 72g

 

[s2k]

moving sucks. next time I would just sell all of my corals, put the rocks in a bin, and take my time moving the tank.

make sure you have plenty of make up water ready and holding bins for corals. Just use the same water for the bins and place a heater and powerhead in there.

 

[rob1991]

honestly a 55 to a 72 will be a brease that is not a difficult move, since it will just be like a larger water change to your live stock, and i could prob. do that in 2 or so hours.....but then again i have plently of experience with moving tanks....unfortunatly.!

 

[goth2o]

I've moved 7 times in the last 3 1/2 years 3 of those times i had a 35 and a 50. The other 4 times just a 100. Always a reef tank when i had 2 tanks it was a fowlr and a reef. I've had only 1 bad experiance and it was my fault. Every thing was in my uhaul over night and over heated some of my containers with fish and corals.but i must say i still have some of that live stock. lots of containers for live stock and water and spare power heads. watch water temps especially if you are traveling ive moved from Laguna Niguel to San Luis Obipo and back.

 

[HBreefer]

I;m getting ready to do an upgrade as well. Moving from a 55 to a 90 and need to setup tank in the same place. I was gonna use a large rubbermaid bin for my rock and 1 for corals and hoping to do it all in a day or sat&sun. Should i rinse the sand i pull out of the 55gallon before putting it in the 90? i have a feeling it will be pretty dirty after taking the rock out.

 

[MechaSamurai]

When I got/moved my tank I used 18 gallon rectangular containers form Home Depot, they were just a few dollars a piece and stacked nicely. With the shape of them I was able to fill a layer of LR and cover it with water to about 1/2 way up the container (maybe less), they worked great and I didn't have any spills on the drive home.

 

[djrice69]

For those who use sand, do you guys keep the sand or throw it away after the move and start fresh with new sand

 

[MechaSamurai]

I kept mine but only out of ignorance, luckily I had no fatalities. I drained as much water as possible and moved the aquarium with a few inches of sand and water in the bottom.

 

[rob1991]

i keep like 2-3 cups and the rest new. you can have a huge disaster if you dont

 

[goth2o]

i have the same sand for years and plenty of moves let it setttle and clean a few times thats what i have done. i usually take 2 days 1 tear down clean and 2 clean set up. i have had an average of 2"-3" sand bed. but thats just me

 

[HBreefer]

So completely wash out my old sand? Currently in two 5 gallon buckets. It's been 1 day and hope to get everything re-setup today. All rock, corals fish etc are currently in a hospital tank.

 

[Kbra]

I just moved my 29 gal biocube to a new place 10 min away and also took down my 50 and put up a new 80. The 80 took a while cause i had to re plum the sump and i started at like 1am cause of the move lol. I just had two 45gal tubs preheating water with power heads mixing. Then when i was ready pumped it to the tank after i dumped what i could save from the 50 (~20gal) went pretty smooth lost one adult tang but the two babies survived. Not sure what happened i think he got hurt, was breathing really hard and died in a couple hours.

 

[Kbra]

I also kept my sand but i cleaned it out while dumping the water and that tank was only set up for about 6 months. Nitrates were less than 10 the night it was all set up and running again. Plus there was over 60gal of new water...