Successfully moved Reef Tank

Well after much stress I have successfully moved by whole reef without any major losses. I could not imagine doing this without having another tank set up to move into and only moving a few miles to make the cold a non factor!

I thought it was going to be easier but of coarse all but one rock was too large to fit in a 5gal bucket. Had to fill a 20gal tub which weighed a ton! All my corals made it but I accidently fragged by large purple stylophora colony into about 15 small frags! Not what I was hoping for but I used all the frags to line the top of the rock and eventually grow into a massive stylophora colony!

As for the fish nobody was acclimated since most of them inside the rocks making it impossible to drip acclimate. Same with a lot of corals attached to the rocks but after a few days everything seems to be ok. Fish are eating and corals are expanding with the light cycle normally.

I still have to set up the pumps how I want them and add more sand but all and all everything is done. I will say the skimmer is pulling a lot of junk from the water so hopefully that prevents any mini cycles! I also only had 3 or 4 hermits make the move so a new cleanup crew is needed. The old one was almost 2 years old and mostly depleted and in need of new recruits anyhow.

 

Well congrats on the successful move!

 

Congratulations! My tank transfer from 46 to 90 is this weekend, and I'm both excited and dreading it at the same time!

 

I hear you there. I was happy to be gaining 20 gallons but deading the move in the middle of winter!!

Are you moving houses or just tanks??

 

Just tanks for now. I've had a 46G bowfront for over 5 years and decided to upgrade. The bad part is we have to totally empty the 46 and put the empty 90 in its place and go from there! I'll be moving all the corals to tubs with heaters and powerheads. The fish will be transferred to my 20G QT. I'm using new sand in the new tank with a scoop from the old system. I have 4-5 people in place for the transfer and told them nobody leaves until we're done!

 

Well being that you are not moving houses it will be much easier!! If you have a spare large tank I would set it up next to the area to transfer everything to and then set up the 90 to transfer everythng back. If not than large totes will serve the same purpose. Make sure you have plenty of saltwater made up on hand!!! Use minimal from the old system, only has contaminants and watse products doesnt house much basteria at all. Moving tanks is a great chance to do a large water change as well as a very good cleaning of debris from old rockwork!

 

congratulations on the successful move! Of course, we'd love to see pics!