Moving, ugh.

My boyfriend and I are looking to move into a new apartment, our current one has a massive mold infestation and so we need to get out soon.

The main thing we are worried about is moving our tank. We have a 125 gallon with a lionfish, a dogface puffer, a tang, a clown, four damsels, an assorted cleaning crew, and an anemone. There's about 90 pounds of live rock and 150 pounds of substrate. We know that there's a strong possibility that we will end up losing some of the fish, but I was just wondering if anybody has any tips to make the move as smooth as possible.

We do have some extra empty tanks, a 20 tall and two twenty longs. Not sure if we would be better off putting the fish in the smaller tanks in the meantime. The lionfish is still fairly small, about seven inches, so for the time being he would fit in a smaller tank.

What are your recommendations for the best way of doing this? We're only moving about 15 minutes away. Thanks!

 

There is a ton of info about moving. I bought and moved mine and didn't loose a thing and didn't have a cycle. Bottom line is this.....tubs tubs tubs....and then some more tubs. And no matter how much water you save, you loose a lot. You need to have at least 30% new water on hand. Even 50% would not be ridiculous. so you need to get down to the LFS as soon as it opens the day of the move and gets a lot of water on hand to do the move. Do not wait till the fish store is closing and out of salt water to figure out you are way short.

Live rock only needs to be damp, it does not need to be submerged. Put wet towels over it. Coral goes in a tub, fish in a tub or bucket and give them heat. A 125 is going to be quite difficult. I took all the water out and left an inch of water over my 3" sand bed. Even at that it is pretty heavy. Wasn't really bad, but a 125 will be worse. You will have to decide to ditch the sand or keep it. I kept mine. You break down the rock work. Take out half the water. Catch the fish in the empty tank. Suck out the rest of the water till it gets nasty. Throw away the rest. Move everything, put it all back in, use as much clean water as you have. Get some heat going and some water movement and get them some air. Eat pizza, finish putting together. Go to bed around Midnight. Screw with your rock for the next three days till you get it right. ;D Watch for a cycle.

 

One thing we've been considering is setting the fish up in the smaller tanks temporarily and getting a refugium going in the 125. When my boyfriend bought the tank it came with the refugium but he didn't set it up because he didn't know much about it at the time. So we have the full refugium (30 gallon) with dividers, just nothing in it. Not sure if we can keep the fish in the smaller tanks while we set up a refugium and cycle the tank.

 

I would move the tank as powerman suggested. I would set up the fuge with the some rocks the deep sand bed with another container of some sort and cycle it by itself. This would not disrupt your current livestock as much. When the refugium is done cycling I would then add it to your 125G display tank.

It seems less stressful on your current livestock if you can manage to just move the 125 first and then add a cycled fuge later.

 

Cycle the tank from the move? You should not have a cycle. The tank is mature. I din't have a cycle, my nitrates just went up a bit and came back down. Zero ammonia.

 

I had the same experience

 

me three

 

I was just wondering about the mold infestation in your apartment.Any chance it could be caused by the tank?Would hate to see you repeat the same mold problem and have to move again.

 

+1

I had to buy a dehumidifier. I had mold problems as well, and while I don't see it growing on the windows anymore, there may still be spores. I'm 100% certain it was caused by my tank.

 

i wish i had a problem with mold lol then i could move its so many gaps in this place i cant get a stable temperature at home for nothing .now i know why it was free gas & elec.