How would you move your aquarium with a 2 week overlap?

Etoimos

Clown Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#1
We put and offer in on a house this weekend and it was excepted today. As long as everything goes according to plan, we will be closing on Sept 27th. To reduce our stress level during the move, we have decided to not rent our current place out until around the 15th of Oct. That gives me about 2 weeks to transfer my 60g system from the current house to the new one (about 20-30 mins apart when driving fish and corals).

From what I have read online, my biggest concern is going to be the sand bed. My tank started cycling on May 1st, so it will only be about 5.5 months old when we make the move.

If you were in this situation, how would you make the move.
 

NickP

Clown Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
Platinum Sponsor
#2
I moved my 2-3 year old 100 gallon over 3 days with no problems at all, also using the old sand.
1st I set up holding tanks at the new place to receive everything using the water they were in and made replacement water for the tank
2nd Moved all my rocks and corals
3rd Moved my fish.
4th I stirred the shit out of my sand bed and used a strainer to remove it from the tank and put fresh salt water on it when I got it to new place.
5th Moved the tank. Took the opportunity to spray paint the back black.
6th Put the sand, rocks with no corals, new water and waited 24 hours.
7th Put everything else in.

Zero losses and no cycle of any kind.

Steps 2-4 were in day 1, 5 and 6 day 2 and 7 day 3. I only had a 10 minute drive but its not that hard just a pain in the ass. Plan every step out before hand and be ready for problems in case. I admit I was really freaking out about it till it was done and a week or 2 had passed. I have never thrown out sand and probably never will, everyone else will probably tell you different and that's Ok. If you don't feel comfortable using it replace it. Plan the move! Plan every step! Boom done!
 

Cherub

Hey you
M.A.S.C Club Member
#3
I would set up another tank at the new place and use 50% water fro your current build and some of the live rock. I don't mean a permanent tank but something you can get stuff into right away and let it chill while you move the DT
 

Etoimos

Clown Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#4
NickP;n676250 said:
I moved my 2-3 year old 100 gallon over 3 days with no problems at all, also using the old sand.
1st I set up holding tanks at the new place to receive everything using the water they were in and made replacement water for the tank
2nd Moved all my rocks and corals
3rd Moved my fish.
4th I stirred the **** out of my sand bed and used a strainer to remove it from the tank and put fresh salt water on it when I got it to new place.
5th Moved the tank. Took the opportunity to spray paint the back black.
6th Put the sand, rocks with no corals, new water and waited 24 hours.
7th Put everything else in.

Zero losses and no cycle of any kind.

Steps 2-4 were in day 1, 5 and 6 day 2 and 7 day 3. I only had a 10 minute drive but its not that hard just a pain in the ***. Plan every step out before hand and be ready for problems in case. I admit I was really freaking out about it till it was done and a week or 2 had passed. I have never thrown out sand and probably never will, everyone else will probably tell you different and that's Ok. If you don't feel comfortable using it replace it. Plan the move! Plan every step! Boom done!
Thanks for the detailed response. Did you do enough water changes from your DT to save up water for the holding tanks? What all did you need for each of the holding tanks? I'm assuming a heater and air stone at the least.
 

Etoimos

Clown Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#5
Cherub;n676251 said:
I would set up another tank at the new place and use 50% water fro your current build and some of the live rock. I don't mean a permanent tank but something you can get stuff into right away and let it chill while you move the DT
This was my initial line of thinking as well. Would some of my dry rock and a HOB filter (or two) be enough filtration for a day or two?
 

Cherub

Hey you
M.A.S.C Club Member
#6
Etoimos;n676253 said:
This was my initial line of thinking as well. Would some of my dry rock and a HOB filter (or two) be enough filtration for a day or two?
I meant live rock out of your DT since it is established
 

SynDen

Administrator
Staff member
M.A.S.C Club Member
M.A.S.C. B.O.D.
M.A.S.C President
M.A.S.C Webmaster
#7
Etoimos;n676253 said:
This was my initial line of thinking as well. Would some of my dry rock and a HOB filter (or two) be enough filtration for a day or two?
Dont use dry rock, as that would need to cycle. Use some from your DT or sump. The HOB would work fine though

Alternatively, if you dont want to deal with the headache of moving the tank, Aquatic Art does a great job with tank moves ;)
 

Chris_W

Blenny
M.A.S.C Club Member
#8
Maybe one of your new neighbors is a reefer and could help you out? Drive through the new neighborhood at night and see if any actinics are on.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk
 

Etoimos

Clown Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#9
Cherub;n676257 said:
I meant live rock out of your DT since it is established
SynDen;n676262 said:
Dont use dry rock, as that would need to cycle. Use some from your DT or sump. The HOB would work fine though

Alternatively, if you dont want to deal with the headache of moving the tank, Aquatic Art does a great job with tank moves ;)

Sorry, I meant to say live rock... I started my tank with dry rock, so even though it is now live, I still think of it as dry rock sometimes. Having AA move my tank would be sweet, but with the other expenses of moving I think I'll need to do it my self. Besides, it might be a little far for them since I'll be moving from Colorado Springs to out north east of Falcon.
 

Etoimos

Clown Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#10
Chris_W;n676264 said:
Maybe one of your new neighbors is a reefer and could help you out? Drive through the new neighborhood at night and see if any actinics are on.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk
Not a bad idea, but with only about 20 houses out there and only 2 semi close (all 5 acre lots), I think the odds are against me.
 

Etoimos

Clown Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#11
If I setup a temp tank at the new place, should I put all of my corals and fish into it, or would I be better off with a temp tank for each? Also, how long could I store water from my DT before it goes bad? I'm thinking that I would need at least a 30-40 gallon temp tank to put everything into. That would mean I would need about 15-20 gallons of water from my DT. Would I want to do that large of a water change on the DT right before moving everything? Seems like it might put extra stress on the live stock. Would it be better to do 5 gallon changes over 3-4 days and just store the old water in buckets (with lids) until I have enough to fill the temp tank?
 

Etoimos

Clown Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#12
And more on the sand. If I decided to just go with new sand, would I want to use live sand (like I did setting up the tank) or would that cause a cycle?

And while stirring up my old sand can cause a cycle as well, is it not better to keep as much as the bio filter from using the old sand better?
 

SynDen

Administrator
Staff member
M.A.S.C Club Member
M.A.S.C. B.O.D.
M.A.S.C President
M.A.S.C Webmaster
#13
How old is the sand bed? The age of the sand bed can change the approach a bit.
For me, if its 2 years or less, I'd just scoop it out and put a bucket(s) with a heater and a small pump or airstone. bucket is about 1/3rd full of sand and then filled with water from the dt, move to house, add the heater and airstone. Leave until you need it.

If its old like 5+ years, I would either rinse it thoroughly or replace it all together. If you rinse, just put a bit in a bucket, shove a hose in it and let the water flow up through the sand. Allow water to overflow the bucket while keeping the hose under the sand. When water runs clears its cleaned. I'd save about of cup, or two, of the original sand un-washed, but wash the rest of it. After washing, mix the unwashed sand back into the washed sand, add in fresh saltwater, an airstone and a heater and let it sit till you need it

Alternatively you could keep a few cups of the original sand, and mix that into a temp tank/bucket with brand new sand, add saltwater and let it cycle separately.

I dont think I would do a water change prior, but I would setup fresh ro and salt water at the the new place first. Setup as much as you can ahead of time, and do your water change as you setup the new tank. Only carry as much DT water as you need to
 

zombie

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#14
You could do what I did. I first moved the RODI system over to make a fresh batch of salt at the new place. Then I moved fish and coral into quarantine tanks (I used a horse trough) with heat and an airstone (coral also got my Jebao running in else mode at the lowest possible setting) with a couple pieces of live rock for filtration. I then put base rock into buckets with saltwater from the tank, and sieved sand through a fish net into another bucket filled with saltwater. All the remaining nasty water was tossed along with the fines from the leftover sand. I set up the tank at the new place and tested that everything operated right. Then I moved my base rock and sand into the tank and filled enough to cover all rock but no more. Then I moved the coral and fish, over. I added all rocks with coral on them, topped off the tank then added loose coral. Then I added the fish.

You might be an engineer if...You have no life and can prove it mathematically.
 

Etoimos

Clown Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#15
SynDen;n676270 said:
How old is the sand bed? The age of the sand bed can change the approach a bit.
For me, if its 2 years or less, I'd just scoop it out and put a bucket(s) with a heater and a small pump or airstone. bucket is about 1/3rd full of sand and then filled with water from the dt, move to house, add the heater and airstone. Leave until you need it.

If its old like 5+ years, I would either rinse it thoroughly or replace it all together. If you rinse, just put a bit in a bucket, shove a hose in it and let the water flow up through the sand. Allow water to overflow the bucket while keeping the hose under the sand. When water runs clears its cleaned. I'd save about of cup, or two, of the original sand un-washed, but wash the rest of it. After washing, mix the unwashed sand back into the washed sand, add in fresh saltwater, an airstone and a heater and let it sit till you need it

Alternatively you could keep a few cups of the original sand, and mix that into a temp tank/bucket with brand new sand, add saltwater and let it cycle separately.

I dont think I would do a water change prior, but I would setup fresh ro and salt water at the the new place first. Setup as much as you can ahead of time, and do your water change as you setup the new tank. Only carry as much DT water as you need to
Thanks. My sand is less than 6 months old.

zombie;n676285 said:
You could do what I did. I first moved the RODI system over to make a fresh batch of salt at the new place. Then I moved fish and coral into quarantine tanks (I used a horse trough) with heat and an airstone (coral also got my Jebao running in else mode at the lowest possible setting) with a couple pieces of live rock for filtration. I then put base rock into buckets with saltwater from the tank, and sieved sand through a fish net into another bucket filled with saltwater. All the remaining nasty water was tossed along with the fines from the leftover sand. I set up the tank at the new place and tested that everything operated right. Then I moved my base rock and sand into the tank and filled enough to cover all rock but no more. Then I moved the coral and fish, over. I added all rocks with coral on them, topped off the tank then added loose coral. Then I added the fish.

You might be an engineer if...You have no life and can prove it mathematically.

Thanks Zombie.
 

NickP

Clown Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
Platinum Sponsor
#16
Etoimos;n676252 said:
Thanks for the detailed response. Did you do enough water changes from your DT to save up water for the holding tanks? What all did you need for each of the holding tanks? I'm assuming a heater and air stone at the least.
I used the water i brought them over with and some fresh mixed water. I used like 2 spare tanks ( a 30 and 20) I had at the time and a rubbermade tote. I move all the corals and rocks over then put the fish in the same tanks so the rocks were my filter for the holding tanks as it was just 2 days anyway. I just put power heads and heaters in the holding tanks. Didn't worry about lights as again it was just a couple days.
 
Top