Moving a 75 gal Reef Tank

Does any one have expereince moving a Reef tank? We plan to move from Charleston, SC to Ft Myers/Cape Coral (a 9-10 hour drive) in December. My LFS has offered to help us pack our fish by oxeginating individual bags and packing them in styrafoam coolers. My thought for corals would be to transpport them, seperated, in bucket or containers with tank water. However, I am concerned about space. I could transport the corals the same way as the fish. So, my next concern is the rock,which is all live rock. Any ideas? Regarding live sand, should I replace it? Also, I'm not sure how much old tank water I should transport. If I replace all of the water do I need to worry that the tank will cycle?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Jim

75 gallon Reef tank 70 lbs of live rock,54.5 pounds of base rock, 40 lbs live sand, 1 "Reef Safe" dwarf Flame Angelfish, 1 Yellow Tang, 1 Royal Gamma, 1 chalk basselet, 1 Clarks clown fish, 1 yellow watchman goby with pistol shrimp,2 Skunk Cleaner Shrimp, 2 Emerald crabs, 5 drawf hermit crabs, and 4 Nasser snails, 5 Bumble Bee snails, 4 Turbo snails, Sebae anemone, Kenya Tree forest, 1 Yellow Polyp, 1 Mushroom rock, 1 White Spot Star Polyp, 2 button polyp rocks, 1 Pineapple Coral, 1 Favio Brain Coral, 1 small Maxima clam, 1 Bubble Coral, 1 Xenia Coral, 1 open brain coral, and 1 finger leather, 1 Frogspawn coral, 1 plate coral, orange button polyps, purple button polyps

 

You are going to have some type of cycle. So having fresh Sw is going to be important. And testing parameters for the first week or so.

Get new sand IMO, just save a cup or two to seed the new sand with.

Coolers and zip ties are going to be your best friend and having the LFS package your fish is going to be a huge help.

I would move as much water as you have containers for.

I put all LR and corals in coolers with good outcome. It is all in the preparation and packing.

Good luck and congradulations on your move.

 

I would transport live rock in ether 5 gallon buckets or plastic coolers. 70 lb of rock can probably be fitted in 3-5 buckets with water. I never moved that far but I think the rocks would be ok with out water circulating. I would attempt to get around 30% of the water and then just use new water on location. You will get a little cycle but should be Ok. Some things may die but most should be Ok. Same with sand, 5gal bucket and make sure sand is somewhat wet in there. Just my advice, maybe some one with more experienced can help better.

 

That's what I would do.

 

Good luck with the move Jim

flat back van
large buckets or trash type cans with lids
take as much water as you can, keep the rock in the tubs in water
when emptyimg tank leave the last inch or so of water before you start removing the base layer of rock work (disturbing sand)
then once you are down to 1 inch of water left - throw that away
also throw away the sand (as thats where cycle issues are likely to come from IMO and add new dry sand at other end (save a couple of coffee mugs worth of existing sand to seed the new sand)

keep the fish and corals insulated in polystyrence cases if possible (they travel half way across the globe like that)

good luck with it

Steve

 

I would put all of the coral and fish in separate bags as your LFS instructed. As for your rock you can do two things. One is to get a large rubbermaid container and fill with rocks and water if you have the space to transport. I did in the back of my truck. Two, soak newspaper in tank water and wrap your rocks in that for the ride. This is how most places ship LR. For the sand, I wouldn't run the risk of something bad and just get new sand.

If I could give you the best advice I learned from moving, it would be to sell all of your fish and coral to your LFS and use their store credit to get some new sand and plenty of salt mix to set up your new tank. Keep the Live Rocks wrapped in wet newspaper for the ride and then put them into a large trashcan with saltwater so there is not massive die off so you can focus on moving and getting everything settled until you are ready to start up. I tried to move my 75 and lost all of my fish, about half of my coral, and my tank cracked on the trip.

 

Wow, Thanks everyone for all the great and quick feedback.
Jim

 

I always bring large clean trash cans with covers when moving tanks for the live rock and water. also used $7 walmart storage totes for the rest of the water and corals saving the 5 gallon buckets for the fish.

the sand really isn't as huge a problem as people let on about, I have moved 4 separate sand beds and 2 DSB fuges with no issues. just scoop the sand out with a small tupperware or a clean dust pan into a 5 gallon buckets and add in some tank water.

~Will.

 

Sounds like a good opporuntiy to sell up and then go bigger with a new system after your move. ;-)

 

Goodluck make sure u have a lot of help. I had 3 guys to move a 150 with all the sand in it. Throwing out most of the sand woulda made it so much easier, but it was less than a 5 min drive. Coulda used more help for sure