# advice needed on moving a tank......



## tom g (Jul 8, 2009)

the time has come to where i want and need to move my 40 gal breeder tank , just not getting the pleasure out of the tank in the basement .
i have a 40 gal breeder with prob 50 lbs of live rock .2 in of sand 
i know ,i know the best way is to take all the rocks and sand out .i think and know this is the best and only way .the only other way i was thinking was to empty the tank and slide it on a flat plank .and move it to its location , my question is how long can the coral be out of water or am i best off to just set up a temp tank and move the rocks into it and empty it completly .
i plan on trying to do this in one day transfer water into temp tank move sand into pail.
move tank level .
add sand and rocks as close to poss as how it is set up in tank now ....
i know it will never be the same ........sad
i have it sitting so good right now .i am not not looking forward to this at allll.
my other question is will this set this tank in another cylce , what can i expect .
has anyone done this before 
help!!!!!


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## J_T (Mar 25, 2011)

Easier than you think!

Buy a brute garbage can. Half fill with new salt water. Drain tank into said brute. Drop all rocks, and coral in the brute. Fish in a seperate bucket. 

Take tank upstairs. 

Bring rock up (use a couple smaller pails) put them back in the tank how you would like. Then bring up water. Add it slowly. Don't want to disturb more debris than needed! 

Let that settle for a few. Running extra filters with floss, and carbon really helps here! 

Use the rest of the clean water for a water change to reduce any nitrates that have crept up. Change floss, and carbon.

Add corals, add fish. Drink beer and panic for a few hours till you realize that everything is doing okay!


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## tom g (Jul 8, 2009)

*tank move*

ok sounds awesome .....
would i do the same with the sand move it into a pail .
ok i will go out and get a brute from home depot ...and work on it tommorow nite ,i am stressing lol... i am worried that everythign will come crashing and die on me 
thank u for the quick reply J.T


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## JayPetro (Feb 8, 2012)

Yeah its not as difficult as you think. I just did this a couple weeks ago. Just like jt said. I did have a second tank setup where I put all corals and fish, but another bin would have worked fine. I did keep a heater and pump in the bin cause yhe whole process took a few hours. I emptied all the water into a large bin, moved the tank, slid the stand where I wanted it, put tank back, put corals and fish back, ran extra filtration for a week and its good as new....oh and had a beer....most important step
Jay


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## kamal (Apr 21, 2009)

I royaly f'd this up last week and killed 2 fish and melted my xenia. But now everything is looking fine minus the two fish  Lesson learnt for sure I will follow the steps above next time.


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## tom g (Jul 8, 2009)

*moving day*

ok guys i have started what i did not want to start moving my tank ...
im a little behind making the water up. corals and fish are in spare tanks and tubs heaters flow ,im not sure my fish adn corals are ready for the new tank tonite , will they be ok in the spare tank and tub with koralia and heatear in them , kinda worried that i am gonna screw things up .
any input would be grateful 
thanks 
tom


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## Taipan (Feb 12, 2012)

J_T said:


> Easier than you think!.....
> 
> .....Add corals, add fish. Drink beer and panic for a few hours till you realize that everything is doing okay!.....


The secret is in the beer. Beer is key. The type of beer makes a difference too.  ......


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## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

beer makes everything better


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## darryl_v (Aug 26, 2011)

The sand is gonna be a mess. I would only keep half the sand. 2" is too high for a SSB anyway and not enough for a true DSB. So keep half the sand and rinse it well with tap water than RO water.

For the rocks i would have a seperate bucket for swishing and dunking and possible scrubbing if there is algae. You might as well clean the rock up while you move it....you wont believe the crud build up.

Remember to syphon as much water as possible before you touch the sand and most rocks. When you start on the sand and rocks the the water gets real dirty.

Oh and ya beer is good.


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## tom g (Jul 8, 2009)

*oh ohhhh*

ok not sure what is going on , but all my brisstle worms are dead its like a grave yard adn also all my micro star fish are all dead . i cant see this as good , any ideas , please feel free to comment


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## Flexin5 (Nov 12, 2011)

in my opinion something always dies in a move. 

i recently moved my 10 gallon. everything was doing great, i just drained it a bit, took off the hang on back filter, saran wrapped it up and cut some holes for air, also i put the heater in and plugged that into the car. 

everything was good but i lost my starfish and pretty much all my sps bleached. that could have been because of me forgetting the intensities but who knows. 

things will get back on track, i'm about 3 water changes in, (1 right after the move to fill the tank back up, the 2 more changes) and everything seems happy except the sps, even tho they are bleached i still see polyp extention so hopefully things will level out.


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## darryl_v (Aug 26, 2011)

I upgraded from a 55g to a 90g in house and not one thing died. I also moved houses and tanks twice with very minimal casualties.


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## J_T (Mar 25, 2011)

Inverts dying, I would suspect nitrates. You need to remember that when you disrupt the ecosystem, you will be fighting a cycle afterwards.

Posted with my Xperia, using Tapatalk 2


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## tom g (Jul 8, 2009)

*tank move ...........*

i will chk my numbers tommorow , so far fish and corals are ok in the swap tank . water and all components are moved to new location ..
tommorow will be rock set up then i think i will let the tank cycle before i make the move with the corals and fish.i dont want to ruin my corals and kill my fish.
salinity is a little low compared to previous set up what is the best way to get it back up with out a huge curve , should i do a partial water change with new salt water .i dont think adding salt to the main tank is the right idea .
thanks 
tom

water test results ...couldnt go to sleep .lol
A=1.0 ppm
NO3=10ppm
NO2=0
P.H=7.8

salinity is =1.015
temp= 72


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## thmh (Mar 17, 2011)

Make new salt water to balance out your main tank salanity and also increase your temperature to 77-79


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## tom g (Jul 8, 2009)

*update .readings*

a= .50 ppm
no3=5.0 ppm
no2 =0
p.h= 7.8

temp has been risen to 77
salinity still the same ,willwork on raising with water changes 
thanks 
tom


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## tom g (Jul 8, 2009)

*tank move*

ok so i fig my tank is now going thru a cycle amonia has not come down yet still at .50 ppm .
how long do u guys figure before i start to add the corals back in to it 
the salinity is still at 1.015 did to partial water changes and toped up with 1.025 water , but still has not come up .
any ideas..

cheers


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## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

I would make some water that is 1.030 and add that in a water change to bring up the salinity a bit. Once your salinity hits 1.020 it should be fine to add the coral back in and gradually move the salinity back up. Last time I had a problem with salinity I moved it over 2 days a few liters at a time and had no problems or loss of life.


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## tom g (Jul 8, 2009)

*salinity*

ok i will try that alt thanks man ..........
hey dave did u get my pm.........


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## tom g (Jul 8, 2009)

*tank update*

hey there hope everyone had a great newyears ...........
well last nite i was looking at my corals and they were not looking so good in the holding tank , so i chked the salinity it was up to 1.020 
so i decided to move what i had holding to the new set up .
imnot sure yet what will survice and what will die , the gsp has not opened up in days not sure if they die that easy .the frogspawn has retreated and not full .some of my polyps are opening up so time will tell unfortunatly my favorite piece the large gsp mat prob wont make it just have a feeling anyone have any exp with gsp to know if it will come back or not .
anyways i have to finish up some rockwork as i am not happy with how it looks one finish i will move in the anemenoe and the fish to there new home .
hope it works out and feel free to comment on anything u see i have done wrong or that may help out .


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## Kooka (Feb 8, 2011)

Tom, if the GSP doesn't come back I'll give you some for free next time you're in my neck of the woods.

Good luck on the rest of the move.


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## tom g (Jul 8, 2009)

*gsp*

thanks man i will keep that in mind ,hoping my piece comes back 
cheers


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## tom g (Jul 8, 2009)

*tank update with photos*

well today i moved everything over , still have to do some tidying up .the corals up frt i just dont know what to do with ,and not too sure on the rock work. feel free to comment .


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