Me and Fish are Moving.. Help!

How far is your move? That influences your strategy a little. All the advice here is spot on, execpt I would use 18 gallon bins with lids to move the water instead of large trash cans. 12-15 gallons of water is a B**** to carry, 30-40 gallons would be almost impossible or dangerous, even with wheels.

You'll be fine, just remember to have extra of the following on hand:

extra containers (more than you think you need)
extra RODI (and premixed salt) water
extra power heads
extra heaters

Leave the last few inches of water and your sandbed behind, I wouldnt take them with. By then that water will be full of crud, and the sand as well. Your water and LR should be fine to prevent a cycle.

Good luck!

 

Ok, first don't stress. Moving a 75g tank is actually pretty easy.

I'm assuming you will be local.

To prepare for your move get the following:

-In the new location buy a Rubbermaid or similarly strong trashcan and get a new batch of saltwater brewing in it.

-Buy another couple trash cans for moving the existing water - or - borrow a bunch of 5 gallon buckets from your lfs (with lids)

- Find a container(s) to transport the fish and another for corals. I typically use a cooler with a heavy duty trash bag as a liner. You can also ask a lfs if they have styrofoam coolers you can borrow.

- Find containers for the live rock.

When ready to go:

- Pull the live rock, snails, hermits, etc.

- Siphon water into fish transport containers.

- Catch fish and put in containers.

- Siphon as much water as you can into water transport containers. If you use a couple big Rubbermaid cans then line them with trash bags and fill about half way. Tie them shut to stop sloshing.

- Get sand out of bottom of tank and put into buckets. Discard the remaining stuff in the tank.

- Load everything into the back of your friend's pickup

- At new location set up tank and stand.

- Put sand in tank.

- Add old water to tank then add from the new water you had set up in the new location.

- Add live rock. Watch sump because you will be displacing water.

- Add corals then fish. Depending on how much of the original water you saved you may not need to acclimate.

- Top off with new water and turn on the pump!

 

Its about a 20 minute move, and by leave the sand bed behind do you mean throw it out?

 

Thanks! Should I wait for the sand to settle before adding the coral and fish back in? I only have limited time with the fish right, or acouple hours anyways

 

If you use a plate or small bowl to pour the water in you wont have a problem displacing too much sand. If you think about it when fish are shipped they are in a bag overnight so you will have plenty of time to get everything set up. As long as you go at a semi-fast pace they fish should be fine if you're only moving 20 minutes away.

 

iv seen a few good ideas already,be careful take your time and check water more then once, i moved my 65 gallon tank from one side of the room to the other side and i woke up with 6 deaths. i still beat myself for that

 

Make sure to check the weather as well. You don't want to be doing this during a monsoon or extremely cold conditions.