I’m considering buying a tank with fish and coral that is located about 4 hours from me. Could someone point me to or have any info on moving this with a little casualties as poss. It’s a 100 gallon tank.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I moved every year for 5 years, some years twice, during my first stint in this hobby during college and immediately following. Moved a 29g then a 55g then 75 and finally a 90g. The final move was a 90g from Marietta to Tampa. After that we went to Texas but I jumped out of the hobby until we got stable instead of that move.
1st just plan to buy new sand. Old sand can be cleaned and refused but it's not worth doing in the midst of this ordeal. You can always add a thin bed and then later clean the old stuff and ready.
2nd if you have a good friend in the hobby give them frags of everything. If things go real bad you can have them send you your frags. Things go good and they got free stuff.
3rd hook up your RO before you even breakdown the tank, or as soon as you arrive for the first time at the new place. Alternatively find a LFS ahead of the move and let them know you plan to purchase 2x your system volume the day you arrive.
4th clean off all of your rock. Have a bucket as you are breaking it down. Shake them, bast them, just clean off as much detritus as possible.
5th don't overthink the life support. Corals and fish are shipped in tiny bags of water overnight all the time. No reason to fuss with pumps or even heat unless you are a masochist and have the windows down in a snow storm.
6th do over think packing. Cars move, rocks move, things splash, fish jump. Plan accordingly.
7th monitor like you would a new tank. Be prepared for spikes. Dont be scared to do big water changes and a whole lot of them.
I only lost a Copperband on my Marietta to Tampa move using methods above. Good luck to you and not to be a dick but damn I'm glad I'm not having to move mine again. I waited 4 years in this same house before I felt "safe" to get back into the hobby.
