Moving 100 g established tank without stirring things up?

I am getting my neighbors 100 gallon tank tomorrow and am wondering what the best method is to move it. He lives literally next door to me. In my house we will be going up stairs. He has a TON of green hair algae i dont know if that makes a difference. He also has a bunch of livestock that i hope to be able to put right back in (clams, etc). I hope to not create a mini cycle my stirring up the sand and just want to know the best way to go about this. BTW he has never had a protein skimmer. I just got my CPR Marine Tower rated for 250g today. thanks

 

get as much of the water out and when you refill it with the water you took out lay some plastic over the sand as not to stir it up to bad..

I did it to my 180 last month and had it up and running again in 45 min. a little cloudy but with 2800 Gal per hr. it cleaned up fast.

 

When I moved a tank I did not replace the sand. Big mistake. Nitrates shot up to over 160ppm. No matter how much you try when you move the tank you will end up "stirring" the sand. Plus with a tank that big it would be hard to move with sand in it. I replaced the sand a week later(had to take the tank down a second time) and had no probs with a cycle. I kept all the rock in a tub with a small pump to keep the water moving during the move and I think that helped a great deal. Just my .02 I moved the tank 45 miles though. Good luck with the move and keep us posted.

 

good luck, as the previous poster said it is possible, but im afraid going up the stairs you will slosh the sand bed and then your better off removing the sand and replacing it with new/dry sand.... the rest should be fine to add back to the tank once filled.

 

this tank has tons of algae and junk growing everywhere and i want to get the tank looking best as possible. i am thinking about removing all of the sand and completely washing it, while scrubbing (no chemicals) all of the algae growth off of the live rock and tank itself. I WOULD be using the same filter without cleaning that and the same water so most of the bacteria would stay. Would this be ok?

 

The 'biosphere' sounds like a total and complete failure. Why keep the sand in the tank? Take out the sand, the water, then sterilize the tank. Throw everything else away.

Keep the tank.

If anything -- find someone with a successful system. Take a few ounces of THEIR sand. Use THAT to seed your new tank. Or, not.

That's my vote.

 

the problem i have is that there is livestock in the tank right now and i have no place to qt them so i need to put them back in right after the move

 

Depending on how stocked the tank is you may be able to replace the sand and still have enough bacteria in the rock to keep you going until it develops. Odds are the tank isn't lightly stocked enough for this to be workable. another options is if you replace the sand test for ammonia and nitrites twice a day and be prepared to do numerous large water changes to combat a potential cycle.


If you move without replacing the sand bed you will have algea and high nitrates for just about forever.

 

I would siphon out as much water as you can leaving the sandbed in tact - putting all the LR and corals in 5+ gallon buckets and completely remove the sandbed after the livestock and water has been removed.

Throw out the sand bed and replace the lost volume with change water - this is what I did when I moved my 75

 

What livestock is in the tank? Is there someone who can take the livestock for a while? Sounds like you have alot of cleaning to do. Do it right the first time. The old saying "never time to do it right today but always time to do it again" is not a good idea. If you plan on scrubbing the rock and cleaning the tank and you replace the sand you can count on a cycle. Might as well clean the filter real good too. As stated above be prepared to do alot of large water changes to keep everything in check. During the move you will loose some water and need to replace anyway. Be prepared to buy/have some water handy. Good luck.