Best way to move an established reef tank

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eric the red
Discus Member
Posts: 165
Joined: Wed Sep 12, 2012 3:55 pm
My SetUp: Equipment: 225 gallon (72x30x24), 3 radion pros, 2 48" t5s (ato blue plus), 2 mp40s, full apex with ph probe, wxm module, brs gfo reactor, reef octopus nwb200, DIY ATO with Kalk in reservoir water, two micom dosers (dosing 2 part) Livestock is mostly zoas/palys and sps. I also have quite a selection of high end Lps on the sand bed.
Location: Ocean Springs

Best way to move an established reef tank

Post by eric the red » Thu Oct 25, 2012 10:22 pm

I have been wondering how difficult it would be to move my reef tank. Im not moving anytime soon but there is a move in my future. What is the best way to do this to minimize deaths?

Redfish
Discus Member
Posts: 983
Joined: Sun Oct 25, 2009 6:49 am
My SetUp: AGA 150g 48x30x25, Reef Octopus Skimmer, Bio Pellet, Phosphate, Carbon reactor. Mostly a SPS coral tank with a few zoas a Green Polyp Toadstool, a Chalice or two and a couple of Scollys thrown in there. Top Off System and dosing pump system for Calcium and Alk.
Location: D'Iberville Mississippi

Re: Best way to move an established reef tank

Post by Redfish » Fri Oct 26, 2012 1:41 am

A lot depends on the type of move, is it across town or several hours away. The ideal move is to have a tank already set up where you are going, like Shadow 1 did when he got all the corals out of Scott's tank, bag the corals, get on the road and put the corals in the new tank in the shortest amount of time. If it were me and I was going to be moving tank and all, and its just across town or a short distance away, I would save the water from say, the last two water changes I did before the move, put it in a container with a power head and a heater. The day of the move, I would move all the corals and live stock from the display tank into the holding tank. I would then take the tank, water, heater, power heads, filter system, live rock and lights to the new location and set it up. Then when the tank is up and running at the new location, and the water is coming back up to temp, I would go back( you could most likely take the holding tank with you the first trip, I would take it on the second trip though) to the old house and transport everything in the holding tank to the new location. I would transport the fish in a enclosed container, old salt bucket, with some kind of aeration device in it, like what people use to keep their fish bait alive, those fish can use up the oxygen in a small container pretty quick. The one thing I can't give you advice on, I will leave this to the pro's in the forum: Moving a sand bed and the best way to do it, this can be dangerous. On the plus side for you, you have a fairly new tank, so I am sure that will come into play when they give you advice on this. Still curious as to what advice they give you on this, start with a whole new sand bed or save the old one :D

eric the red
Discus Member
Posts: 165
Joined: Wed Sep 12, 2012 3:55 pm
My SetUp: Equipment: 225 gallon (72x30x24), 3 radion pros, 2 48" t5s (ato blue plus), 2 mp40s, full apex with ph probe, wxm module, brs gfo reactor, reef octopus nwb200, DIY ATO with Kalk in reservoir water, two micom dosers (dosing 2 part) Livestock is mostly zoas/palys and sps. I also have quite a selection of high end Lps on the sand bed.
Location: Ocean Springs

Re: Best way to move an established reef tank

Post by eric the red » Fri Oct 26, 2012 3:39 pm

Thanks Redfish for the advice. I am buying a 75 gallon mixed reef tank tomorrow. I only have to move it across town. It has quite a few fish in it including a 5 inch yellow tang. It has a 20 gal sump and the tank is drilled in two places. There is a sand substrate and 65 lb of live rock. Feel free to let me know if there is a better way to go about doing this or if I am missing any steps. Im going to take plenty of pictures of everything. Bag up the coral. Put the live rock in a 30 gal trash can with tank water. I am going to put the fish in a bucket with a heater and a battery powered air pump. Drain the tank and sump keeping 30 gal in 10 gal buckets. Cut the pipe going to the sump. Dissemble the canopy, tank, and stand. I want to try to keep as much stuff as I can hooked up. Like the gfo reactor and uv sterilizer and all that stuff. Im going to move everything in one trip. When I get home I will put all the coral in my 30 gal for now. Then reassemble the tank stand and canopy. Connect the pipe to the sump. Check for leaks. Then fill the tank with the 30 gal I saved. I was thinking I can use 10 Gal from my 30 gal tank. That way I only have to use 35 gal of new saltwater. Put a heater in the tank and wait for it to clear. Set up the live rock. Check all the parameters. Finally add the fish and coral hopefully with no deaths.

Shadow1
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Posts: 257
Joined: Thu Sep 29, 2011 1:59 pm
My SetUp: 300DD Reef, 30 Nuvo Breeding Clowns, 30 QT/Grow out.
Location: Hattiesburg, MS

Re: Best way to move an established reef tank

Post by Shadow1 » Fri Oct 26, 2012 5:19 pm

From all the research I did the most dangerous part across town or any move is the sand bed, if you disturb it you can look to have major loss. We moved a 125 into the 300 with 50% old water saved from water changes like Redfish posted. The sand was new I just threw out the old sand the live rock and sump took care of levels with no spikes. The move from Scott's was the same thing just a massive livestock move. If you can put in a new sanded it is the safest way. Everyone I have talked to that moved a sandbed had losses. With 2 major moves we have lost 3 fish and 1 piece of coral. And threw out the sand. Like I said before everyone does things different I guess if you could do the lift with sand intact and not disturb it while moving you could make it work. It is your livestock how much do you want to risk?

eric the red
Discus Member
Posts: 165
Joined: Wed Sep 12, 2012 3:55 pm
My SetUp: Equipment: 225 gallon (72x30x24), 3 radion pros, 2 48" t5s (ato blue plus), 2 mp40s, full apex with ph probe, wxm module, brs gfo reactor, reef octopus nwb200, DIY ATO with Kalk in reservoir water, two micom dosers (dosing 2 part) Livestock is mostly zoas/palys and sps. I also have quite a selection of high end Lps on the sand bed.
Location: Ocean Springs

Re: Best way to move an established reef tank

Post by eric the red » Fri Oct 26, 2012 5:33 pm

Im really not able to get any new sand right now. So by not disturbing you mean I just drain the water and leave the sand with an inch of water? Why would disturbing the sand bed cause more problems?

eric the red
Discus Member
Posts: 165
Joined: Wed Sep 12, 2012 3:55 pm
My SetUp: Equipment: 225 gallon (72x30x24), 3 radion pros, 2 48" t5s (ato blue plus), 2 mp40s, full apex with ph probe, wxm module, brs gfo reactor, reef octopus nwb200, DIY ATO with Kalk in reservoir water, two micom dosers (dosing 2 part) Livestock is mostly zoas/palys and sps. I also have quite a selection of high end Lps on the sand bed.
Location: Ocean Springs

Re: Best way to move an established reef tank

Post by eric the red » Fri Oct 26, 2012 5:48 pm

I decided Im going to borrow a 25 gallon from a friend to use as a holding tank for all the fish and inverts. Im going to set it up tonight with 5 gallons of cycled water from the 75 and 10 gallons of cycled water from my 30. Then the remainder new saltwater. I will have it running all night with a powerhead and heater. That way I can move all the fish and inverts to the holding tank as quickly as possible without them having to sit in a bucket for too long. Then I wont feel rushed to set up the new tank. This is going to be my first tank with a sump. I must admit I am a little nervous.

brianjoy81
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My SetUp: Custom profile field not completed.

Re: Best way to move an established reef tank

Post by brianjoy81 » Fri Oct 26, 2012 5:53 pm

Why would disturbing the sand kill fish? Everytime I clean my tank I stir the sand all up with the siphon.

Shadow1
Discus Member
Posts: 257
Joined: Thu Sep 29, 2011 1:59 pm
My SetUp: 300DD Reef, 30 Nuvo Breeding Clowns, 30 QT/Grow out.
Location: Hattiesburg, MS

Re: Best way to move an established reef tank

Post by Shadow1 » Fri Oct 26, 2012 6:20 pm

You are siphoning out the detritus when you do. pull all the sand out of a tank and put it back and you have a s,,,, storm in the tank. Every surface will be coated in it. I do not know for sure like I said risk levels are for the one gambling my way worked for me but I have moved coral lots of time on the back of a motorcycle so who am I to say.

Redfish
Discus Member
Posts: 983
Joined: Sun Oct 25, 2009 6:49 am
My SetUp: AGA 150g 48x30x25, Reef Octopus Skimmer, Bio Pellet, Phosphate, Carbon reactor. Mostly a SPS coral tank with a few zoas a Green Polyp Toadstool, a Chalice or two and a couple of Scollys thrown in there. Top Off System and dosing pump system for Calcium and Alk.
Location: D'Iberville Mississippi

Re: Best way to move an established reef tank

Post by Redfish » Fri Oct 26, 2012 7:18 pm

eric the red wrote:Im really not able to get any new sand right now. So by not disturbing you mean I just drain the water and leave the sand with an inch of water? Why would disturbing the sand bed cause more problems?
If it were me, I would just have some RO water made in a bucket, put the old sand in it swish it around to clean it up, drain the water out of the bucket, put in some more water, do it again and then one more time for good measure and then put the sand in the new tank.

Redfish
Discus Member
Posts: 983
Joined: Sun Oct 25, 2009 6:49 am
My SetUp: AGA 150g 48x30x25, Reef Octopus Skimmer, Bio Pellet, Phosphate, Carbon reactor. Mostly a SPS coral tank with a few zoas a Green Polyp Toadstool, a Chalice or two and a couple of Scollys thrown in there. Top Off System and dosing pump system for Calcium and Alk.
Location: D'Iberville Mississippi

Re: Best way to move an established reef tank

Post by Redfish » Fri Oct 26, 2012 9:51 pm

The one thing I :roll: forgot, keep a few cups of sand out of the tank to seed the newly washed sand.

eric the red
Discus Member
Posts: 165
Joined: Wed Sep 12, 2012 3:55 pm
My SetUp: Equipment: 225 gallon (72x30x24), 3 radion pros, 2 48" t5s (ato blue plus), 2 mp40s, full apex with ph probe, wxm module, brs gfo reactor, reef octopus nwb200, DIY ATO with Kalk in reservoir water, two micom dosers (dosing 2 part) Livestock is mostly zoas/palys and sps. I also have quite a selection of high end Lps on the sand bed.
Location: Ocean Springs

Re: Best way to move an established reef tank

Post by eric the red » Sun Oct 28, 2012 2:26 am

The tank made it home with no problems. I put all the coral in my 30 gal and I have all of the fish in my holding tank while I fill tank. I have to wait until tomorrow until I put them in the 75 due to my slow rodi system. Fortunately I was able to keep about 60 gallons of the cycled water. I ended up added another 40 lb of sand. There was only about 20 lb in the tank. So far no casualties, knock on wood. I was especially worried about the sand sifting star.

eric the red
Discus Member
Posts: 165
Joined: Wed Sep 12, 2012 3:55 pm
My SetUp: Equipment: 225 gallon (72x30x24), 3 radion pros, 2 48" t5s (ato blue plus), 2 mp40s, full apex with ph probe, wxm module, brs gfo reactor, reef octopus nwb200, DIY ATO with Kalk in reservoir water, two micom dosers (dosing 2 part) Livestock is mostly zoas/palys and sps. I also have quite a selection of high end Lps on the sand bed.
Location: Ocean Springs

Re: Best way to move an established reef tank

Post by eric the red » Sun Oct 28, 2012 1:14 pm

I may have spoke too soon. I cant seem to find a 3 in clownfish. He may have been eaten by the bubble anemone. Sounds crazy I know. But, its the only explanation i can think of.

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