Question about moving and aquariums

So guys Mike in Orlando again. Tons of questions and this is kind of a big one that will determine if I pull the trigger or not on getting started in the hobby. I am a renter right now. We just recently resigned a lease for another 12 months. However, since living in Orlando for the past 8 years I have moved 5 times and not all by choice. I hate moving and would like to stay in one place but sometimes don't really have that option. All the places I've moved are all literally 20 mins tops driving distance from one another. My question is let's say I get started in the hobby here with in the next month or two and next July 2011 I need to move. How difficult is it to move and aquarium? I'm going either 40 gallon breeder, 55 gallon, or 65 gallon. Thanks guys for all your help thus far and I look forward to seeing what you have to say about this.

Mike

 

It can be a pita to be honest – you need Tupperware bins to transport the tank contents (including water) and then just break everything down and move it. If done properly you’re tank will survive well. A 55 gallon is small enough to be easily managed for a move – but if there is a chance you are moving in 2 months…..yeah, I really wouldn’t suggest this as a hobby for you currently.

 

No if I was to move it would be in another year. So you literally put pieces of your rock in Tupperware with fish and water from the tank etc etc and move em?

 

Yup. there would be heaters and airstones involved as well, with a short move -- maybe just a heater for the fish.

 

I agree with Crimson....it is a pita, but one that is well worth it. I just moved a 150 and contents and it literally took a full 12 hours. I also had help from my LFS otherwise I would never have had enough containers to transport all of the water.

This was the procedure.

Remove all coral - place in buckets with water (there were about 10 buckets)
Remove all LR - place in buckets (some were able to just have wet paper towels draped across them to avoid as much die off as possible)
Remove fish - place in buckets with water
Drain water - LFS had 2 100 gal vats that we were able to store the water in

Transport tank, equipment and all inhabitants to new place - about 15 minutes away.

Put everything back in reverse of above order.

We were very tired at the end of the day and only lost one fish (a flame hawkfish that hasnt made an appearance since he went back in)

I can honestly say this is not something I would want to do again, but it can be done!

 

+1

It is a PITA, but can be done. You just need to be patient when you are moving the tank to a new location.

 

I moved my tank from one corner of the room to another twice and upgraded sizes twice. When I upgraded I moved a 65 gallon about 35 miles away. It was pain in the... Guess what I will be moving in one month and upgrading from 65 to 90. I can already see its going to be a problem. But it all can be done, I would move the tank on a separate day you are actually moving and start in the morning if you need any emergency fish supplies you can go to a pet store...

 

I just went through this with my 110 gallon, plus 250 lbs of LR, 13 corals, and 6 fish. My solution? I paid a local aquarium service guy to do the move for me. He was well recommended by several LFS owners that I spoke to.

I was busy with work and moving the rest of my stuff, but I could have shaved some cash off of the cost if I had helped him. It cost me a little extra for him to hire a helper for the day.

Anyway, he had the whole tank moved and set up again in a little over 4 hours. I was only moving about 5 minutes away, but I was still impressed by the speed of the move. I had no livestock deaths other than a couple of snails and one or two hermits.

Long story short, if you don't mind spending a bit of cash, there are other options besides moving a tank on your own. In my case, I would have had to rent a truck and buy a ton of rubber containers anyway, so that offset the cost of paying someone to move it for me.

Canadian prices for anything reef related are inflated compared to Florida (I get sick looking at prices in LFS when I am in FL LOL), so I'm sure you could find an affordable option for service guys.

I'd say that if you knew you were moving in a couple of months, hold off on setting up a tank. But if it's a year or more off, go for it!