75 gal tank move.. help!!!

The time that I've been dreading is here.. I move in one week, in the middle of winter. Im really worried about losing livestock in the move, and I'm looking for any basic pointers from people who have moved fairly large reefs in the past. Its a 75 gal reef display, another 20 gal in the sump, will post pics later today. my main questions are

1) how much of the existing tank water do i need to take with me
2) how to transport the LR (wet?, wrapped in newspaper??, or just misted with tank water?)
3) what to do with the LS. should i take most of it out and start with mostly new sand, take it out and rinse it then put it back, or just leave it in the bottom of the tank during the move and simply refill?
4) do i need to go buy a QT tank for the fish? i'll be using alot of the old water but i'm worried that die off from LR/ the sand bed getting all sloshed around will cause a cycle.

there are a few plus' to the situation
a) the new house is only 10-15 min away.
b) i have a truck and a mini van which will allow me to move nearly everything in one trip if i need to

just wondering how you guys would do it if you were me, and looking for any pointers as far as common mistakes, ways to make it easier on myself, etc. this is my first move with a SW tank. any and all tips, pointers, and constructive criticism are greatly appreciated.

 

I recently broke down my 55g reef and transferred everything into my new 70g. I found the preparation really helped the move not be all that stressful.

Here's a few things that helped me:

- I would buy brand new sand and just seed with a few cups of yours

- get as many big rubbermaid tubs/buckets as you think you'll need for everything

- because water/rock can be super heavy what I did was I filled a large rubber maid tub with my tank water, and then put it in my moving van. Than I filled a 5g bucket with water. I then made a few trips taking the rock out in sections, then put it into the tub in the van. That way you're not breaking your back to get all the rock into one big container. After I filled the tub with most of my rock, I brought everything over to the new place and proceeded to make trips up with the bucket. In my case it was much easier as I had little help and I would never have been able to carry that much up the stairs one shot.

It's def a bit of work to do, but everything worked out on my end. I only ended up losing one small fish, could not find it anywhere. I was lucky enough to have the new tank running with water/new sand for about a week prior to the transfer. I don't know how possible that is, but if you're using the same tank, I guess it's not. It was just easier for me to have it there and ready for the transfer.

best of luck!

 

I moved my old 75 severall times. MoJoe has a great post. I used rubbermaid tubs and ice chests and submerged my rock in them with water. put the fish in 5 gallon buckets and transported them or in a cooler.

take enough water to cover the rock, coral and fishes. make new at the new house.

as for the sand, I took all of mine and re-used. it worked out really well for me. didnt have any issues with it and didnt lose any fish in 4 moves.

 

First off you need to have someone help you, a second set of hands go along way. Next gather all your old buckets because you are going to need them. Remove the LR them as much water as you can siphon out. This will help with catching the fish in 1 inch of water. After that is coral preservation. Be patience and allow yourself enough time, so you dont have to rush! You will spill and probably loose a coral or two so be prepared. Good luck...

 

-Also wondering if i could just get the cheap sand from the hardware store and seed that, or if its necessary to buy the pre-packaged, who knows how old, "live" sand. If i can go with some "playground sand" what are the types im looking to avoid, and what is a good amount of old sand to seed with for a 3" SB

ill log the moving process and let everyone know how it goes. thanks again for all advice.