Tank move help & advice!!

So, I have my 45 g upstairs in my office. Now that I don't work from home as much, I want to move it downstairs...this will also solve the "honey, where have you gone...are you in your office again?" issue So, here is what I was thinking...you guys chime in with your advice and suggestions.....

I have a bunch of buckets/ bins for my LR. I know, ideally I don't want to disturb the sand bed too much to avoid a cycle...is this right (I was wanting to add some sand as well....thoughts?) Now what coral I have are mostly frags (just getting started, that is why I think now is a good time to do this, not once everything is grown up). I have a 10 gal QT for the fish - I only have 4 at the moment: 1-perc, 1-foxface, 1-bi-color blenny, and 1-blue damsel).

I really want to have everything planned out in my mind before doing this to avoid any disasters. So I thank you in advance for your input and experience in moving this tank....I know I am asking a lot here. Thanks!!

 

Your tanks gonna cycle no matter what you do. Nature of the beast. As far as the rest, I have never liked moving tanks, but the best thing I have found is to empty everything from the tank into buckets. Leave in the sand and a small amount of water if you can carry it that way. Make sure you have a place to set the mostly empty tank on while you move the stand/fuge. You rreally don't want to set it on the floor, as it's hard to get back up. Make sure you provide your livestock with plenty of air, I use lotsof pumps and stones, and depending on how many buckets you have, I try to put one piece of rock and one animal per bucket. Most important things IMO are time and your ability to keep existing water. I've had great success when keeping at least two thirds of the water, and even with some moves taking 10+ hours, I've rarely lost anything substantial to the moves. Maybe a few small corals, but so far (knock on wood) no fish!

 

How long has it been running for???(this will determine what to do with your sand)..your only going one floor so it should not be to bad....just get enough buckets/bins to store your rock(if its live rock keep it wet),fish(maybe heater).frags and water...if it has not been up long then you might get away with keeping your sand(but try not to disturb it to much while moving it)..I just moved my whole system over not to ong ago..its not to bad,just have a game plan...

 

Well, the tank is about 5 years old and the sand bed about 3. Since the sand is older, will that be a problem? I was wanting to add some to the sand bed....I have been told that I will probably be ok, and on the other hand I have been told that I could have a really harsh cycle....I would think that if I am using 2/3 or 3/4 of the same water, that my cycle, if there is one, won't be that bad. I stir my sand bed slightly during cleaning/ water changes anyway....it would just be like a cleaning/ re-scaping right? Haha!

 

With a 45g tank, just take the LR out, and critters but leave the sand without messing that up much. Drain the water down to the level of the sand.

Then move the tank, put the LR back in and add about 50% of the old water, and add 50% new fresh SW to it.


I moved my 35g (3 foot long tank) a couple times like this. You have an easy task at hand

 

I did exactly what horkn did when I moved to a new apartment across town and it worked great for me.

I didn't add a sand bed back because I was afraid of a storm, so I just added small reef rubble that was thoroughly cleaned.

 

So you removed your sand bed? What was the reason for that, because you didn't want to stir it up and cycle or because you didn't want to cloud your water?

 

I just found this on here...good write up and good conversation. I think I am destined for success!!!
http://www.3reef.com/forums/reef-aquarium-articles-how-tos/how-tos-moving-aquarium-54342.html