i am new here to forum and been doing a lot of reading about saltwater tanks for a while and now i have the interest of owning one. i have freshwater fish and i had them for a while but now i am thinking about saltwater and planning to buy a tank thats established already and a decent size one but every time i find one that i want and wanna buy it? I remember that i don't know how to move it and never done it before and i might kill the livestock that are already in the tank then it would feel like its just wast of effort and time and money. So i thought i should somebody in this great community who can help me with their knowledge or even may be help in person if i find the right tank for me. thank you
new to saltwater? Moving a saltwater tank? never done it before
- Thread starter ialtalal
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It's actually MUCH easier to get one not already established, because when you move, you break a lot of cycles and so it's a bit of a dicey procedure (in my opinion). When you start from the beginning, then you can set up the water and wait for it to establish, then set up a few organisms and wait for them to establish, and then slowly start stocking. Unless you have a tank in mind that you really want, looking for a dry used one is much easier IMO. If you do go with a established tank, then definitely make a detailed plan and let people know when you are going to do it and some of the more experienced people in the group can help you avoid any disasters. Two big things come to mind: 1) never move a tank with almost anything in it. Even leaving the sand and 1" of water can slosh and crack the tank (from other people's experience), and 2) a lot of detritus and even hydrogen sulfide gas can build up in people's sand if they don't move it enough and have a lot of it. Disturbing it can actually release a lot of toxins into the water and nuke the tank. A lot of people actually just buy new sand every time they move, but if you keep the sand, rinse the hell out of it.
Also think about the weight of a tank. 2 people can move up to about 180 gallon tank if it's acrylic. Glass is MUCH heavier and you just about need a forklift to move a 300 gallon glass tank.
Source: recently did my first move from 2 50g tanks to a new 150 that was 40 miles away.
Also think about the weight of a tank. 2 people can move up to about 180 gallon tank if it's acrylic. Glass is MUCH heavier and you just about need a forklift to move a 300 gallon glass tank.
Source: recently did my first move from 2 50g tanks to a new 150 that was 40 miles away.
Dont do it, thats my suggestion. Its to hard and carries way to much risk over just buying a dry tank. Unless it is a screamin deal i would avoid it. Its much easier and better for your livestock and tank health in general to just start freash and slow, in saltwater aquariums the best thing u can ever have is patients!
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Welcome!
I just moved my 60g, it's quite an adventure. I agree with everyone on not buying a fully setup reef, I've never done a FO or FOWLR, but I imagine it's a lot of the same process.
I bought a rubbermaid stock tank to use as a temporary holding tank. I wanted to start mixing the water prior to moving, but plumbing difficulties prevented that. I would suggest you put Flex Seal on the inside and outside of the plug, let that dry a few days, put 2+ mil plastic lining (like the painters liner), then start filling with water, getting to temp and start mixing your salt. Ideally, you'd want to match your new water to the existing tank water. Next, I setup the equipment and live rock. I'd then move the livestock into the holding tank. This way, you can drain the old water (the existing tank water holds very little bacteria anyways) and move the tank/stand/canopy without worrying about hurrying. Once you move everything to your place, you can decide if you want to work on the stand/canopy before you fully set everything up. You might want to throw a new paint on, sand/re-stain, whatever color scheme will please you. When you have your tank sitting on your stand (and sump, if you're doing one, under your tank), you can work on plumbing it all together. Once that's done, you can leak check your work to make sure you don't have any last minute emergencies, regular tap water will do. Be sure to do a power outage test, this will ensure you don't overfill your sump if the power ever goes out. Drain the tank. Next, I'd rinse the new sand you're going to use (or rinse their old sand if you go that route). Some sands don't need to be rinsed, like the instant cycle ones. At this point you need to decide if you're going to use the water in your holding tank or mix more. I'd then start on aquascaping with your live rock. Remember, rock before sand. Otherwise you'll run the risk of your structures falling (remember you still have livestock in the holding tank, so you might want to add half the rock now and half later if you're going to let the tank cycle again. Setup the equipment on the tank. Fill the tank. Technically you could put in fish while it's still cloudy, but it might put undue stress on the fish. A safer method would be to let the tank cycle before you add any livestock. Put in the livestock, acclimating to the new tank water of course. You should have a successfully moved tank at this point.
Personally, I wouldn't use their sand, I'd use new sand. Assuming of course that you want a sand bed, you could do bare bottom.
There's always different ways to do this, but this is just my way. You could just have the fish in holding buckets and move everything as quickly as possible (I'd still use new sand). Your call I guess.
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I just moved my 60g, it's quite an adventure. I agree with everyone on not buying a fully setup reef, I've never done a FO or FOWLR, but I imagine it's a lot of the same process.
I bought a rubbermaid stock tank to use as a temporary holding tank. I wanted to start mixing the water prior to moving, but plumbing difficulties prevented that. I would suggest you put Flex Seal on the inside and outside of the plug, let that dry a few days, put 2+ mil plastic lining (like the painters liner), then start filling with water, getting to temp and start mixing your salt. Ideally, you'd want to match your new water to the existing tank water. Next, I setup the equipment and live rock. I'd then move the livestock into the holding tank. This way, you can drain the old water (the existing tank water holds very little bacteria anyways) and move the tank/stand/canopy without worrying about hurrying. Once you move everything to your place, you can decide if you want to work on the stand/canopy before you fully set everything up. You might want to throw a new paint on, sand/re-stain, whatever color scheme will please you. When you have your tank sitting on your stand (and sump, if you're doing one, under your tank), you can work on plumbing it all together. Once that's done, you can leak check your work to make sure you don't have any last minute emergencies, regular tap water will do. Be sure to do a power outage test, this will ensure you don't overfill your sump if the power ever goes out. Drain the tank. Next, I'd rinse the new sand you're going to use (or rinse their old sand if you go that route). Some sands don't need to be rinsed, like the instant cycle ones. At this point you need to decide if you're going to use the water in your holding tank or mix more. I'd then start on aquascaping with your live rock. Remember, rock before sand. Otherwise you'll run the risk of your structures falling (remember you still have livestock in the holding tank, so you might want to add half the rock now and half later if you're going to let the tank cycle again. Setup the equipment on the tank. Fill the tank. Technically you could put in fish while it's still cloudy, but it might put undue stress on the fish. A safer method would be to let the tank cycle before you add any livestock. Put in the livestock, acclimating to the new tank water of course. You should have a successfully moved tank at this point.
Personally, I wouldn't use their sand, I'd use new sand. Assuming of course that you want a sand bed, you could do bare bottom.
There's always different ways to do this, but this is just my way. You could just have the fish in holding buckets and move everything as quickly as possible (I'd still use new sand). Your call I guess.
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I've purchased/moved nano's up to my latest 225g, with livestock and all, with no issues. However, on the larger 225g, I didn't reuse the sand and added all the livestock to my existing tank(s). No losses except for a couple shrimp. All other livestock made it just fine. Just my experience, other speak from bad experiences as well. Just depends on risk vs. reward.
I've been been through some 100+ gallon tank moves in the last year, getting back into the hobby after a long break... Anyway I would add to the above that you should try to schedule one of the sponsors who is a fish store or does aquarium maintenance to help you do this - and possibly even look at the tank (pics if not in person) before you buy and start moving. Money very well spent, if your background is all in theory but not practice to date. They will give you a crash course on aquarium keeping as you go through the move. They will also help you make sure the equipment is OK (glass/acrylic? bowing/cracks? stand holding up ok? etc etc etc).
Otherwise, I wasted tons of money/effort/livestock in not doing what the above guys suggest - old sand to the trash, stock tank ready to go so you can hold the life while you mess around with the tank/plumbing and then getting rock/sand in place, don't reuse the water unless it has good water parms.
Otherwise, I wasted tons of money/effort/livestock in not doing what the above guys suggest - old sand to the trash, stock tank ready to go so you can hold the life while you mess around with the tank/plumbing and then getting rock/sand in place, don't reuse the water unless it has good water parms.
I sold and helped move a 135g tank a few years back. Everything survived the move, but it was a real PITA. it took 10 hours and we were only moving it about a mile. As was stated above you do not want to move the tank with anything in it. We had to use about 30 - 5g buckets to move the fish, corals, and live rock. We did not expect it take soooooooo long, but once you start you realize just how much there is to do. Between the plumbing, packing up all of the fish and corals, moving it and the setting everything back up, it is EXHAUSTING!!!!!
Start from a fresh setup, you will be glad you did.
Start from a fresh setup, you will be glad you did.
thanks everybody for the great feedback i really appreciate it. this a link of the link i of the tank i was planning to buy http://denver.craigslist.org/for/3182766687.html what do you guys think about it? i talked the owner and he told me he would be flexible on the price. he sold me to change the sand bed when moving. the tank comes with a lot of things. the reason i don't want to buy a new tank or start is because it may cost me a lot more money starting as far as buying equipments and livestock. i really can't afford having somebody like a fishstore people or something moving it because they charge a lot of money as i already asked.
That tank looks nice. Change the sand for sure. How far will you be moving the tank, and how many vehicles and helpers will you have? If you don't have an RO/DI unit you may want to move all the water. That's a lot of buckets. Also, if you don't have a temp space and need to set everything back up the same day, you need to transfer it all in one shot. Probably rent a Uhaul or something.
yes i was planning on moving it all at once one shot save at least 75% of the water it just seems a lot of money for me right now i just paid my school tuition and it was :faint:cuz i am international student but i still wanna buy the tank i just have to think about a way to make the cost as low as it can. i can provide few people to help from my friends but they know nothing about fish thou hahaha i might be also able to provide a truck. they owner lives up in conifer and i live here by parker rd and havana its about 50 mins drive he said he called me the other day wanting to come up and take a look
It's not a problem that the tank doesn't have overflows. What I would recommend would be to go to Menards or similar and get a 150g stock tank. Transport everything home and then put everything into the stock tank. this would give you some time to get the tank setup the way you want. You could even sell some of the corals and/or fish if they aren't what you want to have long term.