I might have to move my tank. How do I?

[twistoflime]

Well my parents want me to move to the bedroom in the basement because my dad wants to turn the bedroom I have now into an office. My question is, what is the safest way to move a tank? My parents were just going to carry it down, but I think they might drop it 30 x 8 + 30 = 270 pounds. So I don't want them to carry. I don't want to transfer everything in one day I think thats to risky.
I think what I'm going to do is set up the 60g tank that has been in the grage in my new room. I'm going to go through this like I'm setting up the tank. I wont put anything in besides the cleanup crew for a month and then start to slowly add every thing in. Is there a faster way to do this?
We're also going to set up a lion fish tank in my dads office for his birthday. The plus about moving to the basment is that I would set up a cubby with fish tanks! I would have one on one side with all the stuff from my 30g with a cool chair to read in and then on the other side I would have the same tank with like frogfish or somthing weird like that. It's kinda like my sorry for messing up your room present. It's a good thing to move thing it's close to all the fish tanks, and there is a refrigerator and freezer in the storage room which is right down the hall so i'll beable to feed easier.

LMK your thoughts,
Thanks, Diane

 

[derek_s]

I would drain out a little water then carry it. For most adults, 250-300 lbs is not too heavy. Well, as a male, I dont think so. Maybe your dad and one of his friends should do it. THen you and your mom can grab the stand and put it in place as they move the tank down.

 

[thewarbrd]

If you don't have the opportunity to migrate everything to a new tank then move it empty, I'd take out most of the rock work and water before trying to move it. One wrong tilt or slosh and a piece of rock falling over might break the glass.

 

[bobz]

I moved the 70G in my upstairs office to the basement six months ago too. I setup a new tank with new sand, used 50% of the water from the exsiting tank. Then I emptied the 70G, kept all the rock submerged, put the fish in buckets, and moved the sump to the new tank. I put the live rock in to the new tank and then moved the fish/corals. It took a couple of hours on the day of the move and every one was fine. Just make sure that the new sand has time to cycle before you move the rock and the fish. It should be fine. If you go bare bottom you can do it the same day.

 

[ace1204]

put everything in buckets with water. 1 buclet for liverock, 1 for fish and 1 for corals, then move the tank and equipment down stairs then reload everything , i always do a little water change when i move a tank as well. I would try to move everything down stairs in the tank the bottom may come out of it with all that weight shifting lol.

 

[raisingtwo2006]

Do it all in one day! You can do it!

Lol- I flipped my 90 to the 150 in one day. Might be alot of stairs since you are moving to the basement, but it can work. Just take all of the rocks/some water and put them in a rubbermaid tub, I put my fish in the same one as my rocks/coral- if you need details, look at my build thread- the moving/switchout happened in a matter of hours. And there wasn't a single thing lost except for a snail that I dropped a rock on in the new tank and didn't know he was under there- he was trapped under the sand

I'd volunteer to come help, but I'm a little far..

 

[rostato]

ace1204;275340 wrote: put everything in buckets with water. 1 buclet for liverock, 1 for fish and 1 for corals, then move the tank and equipment down stairs then reload everything , i always do a little water change when i move a tank as well. I would try to move everything down stairs in the tank the bottom may come out of it with all that weight shifting lol.

Exactly...easy!

 

[twistoflime]

Thanks for all the replies. I think I'm actually going to move every thing into a 58g tank. And in that tank I would like to have black sand so I'll just let the sand cycle and then add every thing.
Thanks to every one who replied,
Diane

 

[seedless reefer]

I moved a fully loaded 125 and here is how I did it.

I took out all of the rock, put it in totes and covered it with damp paper.

Then I cought the livestock put them in a bucket with an air pump. I set them to the side so they could be moved last.

I drained the water and saved it.

I put the sand in 5 gallon buckets with a little water on top.

I loaded the stand, tank, water and sand and took it home.

Set up the stand, tank, added water, mixed new water to replace what was lost.

Added the sand to let it settle when I went to get the rest.

Added the rock, added the new water let the livestock sit until the water had gone clear.

Dumped the fish and prayed for no spike.

 

[jefft]

<span style="color: black">I move my 30 all the time. If you drain the water into buckets and leave just a small amount in the bottom of the tank, you can get a couple of people to pick up the tank and move it. The corals and rocks will be okay for a short period, it would be like a low tide condition. I've never had any problems with mine. I just leave enough water to cover the anemone and the clams. Just take it easy moving the tank don't run into anything.</span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman"><span style="font-size: 13px"> </span></span>

 

[rostato]

jefft;275433 wrote: <span style="color: black">I move my 30 all the time. If you drain the water into buckets and leave just a small amount in the bottom of the tank, you can get a couple of people to pick up the tank and move it. The corals and rocks will be okay for a short period, it would be like a low tide condition. I've never had any problems with mine. I just leave enough water to cover the anemone and the clams. Just take it easy moving the tank don't run into anything.</span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman"><span style="font-size: 13px"> </span></span>

I have moved my nano at least 4 times like this with no problems.