moving advice

[waya1974]

recently my husband was offered a job in milledgeville ga we currently live in dallas it's about a two hour drive what we have a 120 gallon tank to move I don't want to rehome my fish what is the best way to move them I would hate to have to sell them and start over.:i know nothing:

Edit: oh we just found out yesterday and have two-four weeks to find a place and move so time constriction are big

 

[wildernets]

What all is in the tank? Just fish? Any live rock or corals?

 

[saltbubbles]

<span style="color: Blue">Leveldrummer's advice is pretty much it</span> If I were to do it again, I would have some saltwater aging at the new place at least overnight.
We moved our tank from Cumming to Peachtree Corners. My husband and my brother did the heavy lifting. We moved pretty much all of the water but for some reason we needed more. We placed all corals in bags with water and placed them in 5gal buckets with tank water. We put the rocks in tank water in 5gal buckets and placed the sand in buckets with a bit of tank water. You can put a fish in each bucket with a coral or to to try and keep as much oxygen as possible for them because the temperature will rise in there. I am no expert by any means but this is how we moved our tank when we bought it and were very lucky to have everything survive. I knew nothing of saltwater fish except that they needed saltwater when we did this so the next day I was all over the Internet reading.

 

[tbryan]

Good luck with the move i live nearby in Irwinton always good to have more reefers nearby.

 

[rdnelson]

In my opinion, I would not mess with the sand. Too much nasty stuff in it. Get new dead sand. Wash it well at the new location and have it there ready to go.



If time allows, I wouldn't worry about moving the tank at the same time as the fish, coral and live rock. That can be done on your second trip. If you do it at the same time, it will add to the time everything will be in transport containers which means ammonia spike and temp issues.



Before moving livestock, I would set up a stock tank (lots of people have Brute stock tanks that you could use I bet) and have all the water I will need mixed and at proper temp with lots of circulation. Upon arrival, I would move all LR into the tub first, then corals and then acclimate fish with a drip method just like you would if you were adding them to a tank.



At that point, you have time to do the move of the tank without being in a hurry. The corals will be fine for a day or two without light so as long as you keep an eye on water parameters in the stock tank everything will do fine while you settle in and get the tank up and running.

 

[eagle9252]

depending on the sand and how long out of the tank and such. keep say a 32oz as is and rinse the rest with saltwater in the new location. if you use old dirty sand and if it has some die off it will spike your numbers.

rdnelson99;801619 wrote: In my opinion, I would not mess with the sand. Too much nasty stuff in it. Get new dead sand. Wash it well at the new location and have it there ready to go.



If time allows, I wouldn't worry about moving the tank at the same time as the fish, coral and live rock. That can be done on your second trip. If you do it at the same time, it will add to the time everything will be in transport containers which means ammonia spike and temp issues.



Before moving livestock, I would set up a stock tank (lots of people have Brute stock tanks that you could use I bet) and have all the water I will need mixed and at proper temp with lots of circulation. Upon arrival, I would move all LR into the tub first, then corals and then acclimate fish with a drip method just like you would if you were adding them to a tank.



At that point, you have time to do the move of the tank without being in a hurry. The corals will be fine for a day or two without light so as long as you keep an eye on water parameters in the stock tank everything will do fine while you settle in and get the tank up and running.