Moving Tank Tomorrow ... Any Advice?

[Tim A]

Hey everyone,

I will be taking on the task tomorrow to move my 75 gal to my new temporary home. The new location is only about 25kms from where I am now. Any advice to make it as smooth transition?

I have rented a uhaul truck for tomorrow.
I also got 2 wood pallets that i can rest the tank as as it cannot sit flat due to the bulkheads under the tank.

- I plan on draining some of the water into a temporary 20 gallon tank and moving the fish into that tank so they can chill while i move the rest of the tank and get it setup so they are not sitting in buckets all day.

- I have buckets that I plan on putting all my rock in and coving with water for the move

- I will then start to dismantle the tank by draining the rest of the water, and sump. There is only about 3/4 inch sand bed in there, so i do not plan on removing the sand at this point.

- Disconnect apex system and sort out cables and take apart skimmer and other sump reactors.

- Move all to truck and go to new place.

- I have approx 80-90 gallons of saltwater made at my new location ready. ( I did that earlier this week)
- I plan on setting everything back up by adding in new water to the aquarium and then adding corals back in.
- re-introduce the apex system and skimmer. Run carbon and filter socks to help clear the water.
- I will add fish back in on Sunday to allow the tank to settle down and not be cloudy and hopefully stable.

Anything you can add?

 

[Jason Bell]

Sounds like you have it all figured out, about the same I did moving a tank Toronto to Niagara, everything did just fine.

 

[dale]

i think you should remove the gravel and use new,, or rinse the hell out of the stuff you have.. stirring up old gravel can really mess a tank up , especially if its just set up..
i also think buckets are better for the fish,, you can put lids on the buckets, they dont break and a 20 gal tank is 200 lbs. and very sloshy. have a couple extra heaters ready because the fish will be in "buckets" for a very long time.. maybe set up the 20g when you get to the new place, then they can stay there over night if needed. if thats the case,, dont forget the air

 

[Tim A]

i think you should remove the gravel and use new,, or rinse the hell out of the stuff you have.. stirring up old gravel can really mess a tank up , especially if its just set up..
i also think buckets are better for the fish,, you can put lids on the buckets, they dont break and a 20 gal tank is 200 lbs. and very sloshy. have a couple extra heaters ready because the fish will be in "buckets" for a very long time.. maybe set up the 20g when you get to the new place, then they can stay there over night if needed. if thats the case,, dont forget the air

Sorry. I should clarify that. The 20 gal tank would be setup here at my current home and will not be travelling. So would have heat and water movement from Circulation pump. Only when tank is ready. I would come back home and then bag the fish up or move into buckets for transport to new place. Would using new sand cause a cycle?

 

[Josh]

shouldnt if your rock stays wet. Its all the toxins and stuff in the sand that you stir up that causes the problem not per say the sand itself. You may get a diatom wave using new sand because of the silicas.... Still worth changing the substrate unless you really really really clean the shit out of it.

 

[Tim A]

shouldnt if your rock stays wet. Its all the toxins and stuff in the sand that you stir up that causes the problem not per say the sand itself. You may get a diatom wave using new sand because of the silicas.... Still worth changing the substrate unless you really really really clean the shit out of it.

We just said hell with it, and decided to ditch the sand bed in it, and went and got some new stuff.