Need tips on Moving a fairly large reef tank (1 Viewer)

[cobraden]

Hi everyone,

I may be moving in the near future and wanted to get some tips on how to deal with my 350gal reef tank.

It looks like I may need to sell the old house before I close on the new house. How would you guys handle the move. I don't want to break it down and set it up twice if I don't have to.

Thanks

 

[RR-MAN]

That's a tough decision but if I were you I would sell everything and start over in the new crib. If you really like the tank get a storage unit for a few months.

Few years ago that's what I did sold everything including tank and started over again with a new set up.


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[sneezebeetle]

Do you have any buddies close by that can house what you want to keep for that short period of time while you move from one set up to another? Agree with RR-Man, this would also be a great time to sell off the old stuff and integrate some upgrades

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[cobraden]

It would only be at most a month. I guess I could set up a couple smaller tanks at a friend's house for the livestock until after the move. Since it will be a local move, taking the tank to a local storage place will be a pain but it can work.

 

[sneezebeetle]

Let me know if you need some extra hands moving things around, I'm happy to help!

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[reeftopia]

sell all livestock and use the money to buy new stock once acclimated, You might sock away of your favorites, chances are if you try to save all you loose all.

 

[Clownfish Chris]

Another vote for sell it and start again. To me, it wouldn’t be worth the risk.

 

[reeftopia]

Myself and others have lost it all, lessoned learned

 

[RR-MAN]

I lost it all to AEFW before the move [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]


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[Keepin-On]

I lost fish and corals that I had for 5+ years during my move from Beaumont to League City a few years ago. Even just a short, well planned move cost me everything. Broken heater in a 55gal barrel turned everything to soup. Took 2 years before I had the heart to jump back into the hobby. It can be done right if planned for in advance, but be prepared for mishaps. You can't plan for everything. Good luck!

 

[Luman01]

I’ll second reeftopia. I would sell the stock drain the tank and basicly start off from scratch new scape and all. Keep the equipment but give it a good cleaning. And buy new stock with what you earned from selling off.

 

[cobraden]

Thanks for the advise!

 

[FarmerTy]

Moved my 215 gallon SPS dominant tank early this year.

Here's my takeaways:

-borrow a closeable tub and take as much old water as you can with you
-drain water down 2/3rds and put in closeable tub and then start removing corals and fish
-dump the rest of the water and sand

At the new house, setup the tank, fill back up with old water and new sand. Use new makeup saltwater to fill the rest. Dump some bacteria in a bottle in the new tank.

Its nice to have already seeded the new sand if possible as well as already make your new saltwater.

Regarding the house sell/purchase, do a sellers leaseback for 2 weeks from the person buying your house. Use that 2 week span to move the tank. With this option, you'll have funding to purchase the new house from the proceeds of the old house and then be able to get the new house ready for the tank.

 

[Ostentum]

Get the new owner to lease you back the house for a few weeks to a month

 

[reeftopia]

might be cheaper to buy new livestock.

 

[cobraden]

Talked to my agent about the lease and that is one of my options. Much cheaper than trying to replace everything in the tank.

 

[sneezebeetle]

We did a lease back when we bought our house...the sellers new home wasnt ready yet so we leased back to them for a few months. Worked out very well for both parties.

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[ReeferBud]

I did exactly this a year ago when I moved. I did a leaseback and had a 300 gal at the time and was able to execute the move without any losses. I did hire a local aquarium maintenance company, though. My tank was fully stocked with mature sps colonies that I had grown from frags and some really nice fish. It would have been a lot more expensive to firesale everything and then try to replace all the coral and fish.

it takes a lot of planning and work but it can be done.

 

[reeftopia]

In your case with a lot of large corals and nice fish its definitely worth the expense and work.

 

[cobraden]

I'm kind of in the same position. Mine is a mixed reef. My leather coral is about 20" tall and about as big in diameter. Also a number of good sized (6-9") colonies that I grew from frags.

I think the plan will go something like this if the move does happen. I will move my 125 which is currently home to 2 clown fish, a yellow tang and a Mel. Wrasse, over to a family members house. I will start moving corals and attached rock and a few fish into that tank over the course of a couple weeks. Once the top rock is moved out, I will move the rest of the live rock into a couple 50 gal rubbermaid water troughs. I will set up skimmers on those. I will also set up a 55 gal there and slowly move my fish over as I catch them as well as some rock.

Once the tank is empty I can clean it up and have it ready to move. Everything is assembled with unions so taking the plumbing apart and reassembling it shouldn't be too difficult. I will hire a crew to actually move the tank.

Once it's in place the process will go in reverse. It will be a pain but I have had some of this stuff a lot of years. I got one of my pieces of coral from ADG when they were over on Alabama so you know that's been a while.

Tried to upload a pic of the tank but for some reason it wouldn't work. Miss that photo bucket pic hosting. That made it easy.