How to move an aquarium?

[randalp]

I am looking for some advice on how to go about moving a 55 gallon saltwater aquarium.

I have about 75lbs of live rock, a few corals, and 5 fish.

I will be moving in next winter, and want to start planning how to go about this, so any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Bearfan]

I put my LR in buckets and sealed them, the water I moved in 39 gallon storage totes and more buckets. The fish would depend on what kind and what size they were. I've yet to have to move coral, but would suspect that you would be best to move them in large plastic bags much like you got them from your LFS.

 

[Ximat]

I have a 75g tank that i moved recently. I got a LOT of 5 gallon buckets, filled each with water then put fish in a few, coral in a few, and all my snails in one.

Then i took a 30g Rubbermade roughneck tub and put all my LR in it, filled it with the remaining water. Then put the sand in another 5g bucket.

This made everything easily moveable by 2 people.

Throughout this move nothing died

 

[johnd4g]

Start investing in 5 gallon buckets with tight fitting lids. You'll need enough buckets to accommodate the capacity of your tank plus a couple more just in case. Put rock and tank water or sand and tank water in each bucket. Fish and corals can go in seperate ziplock bags floating in the buckets. Seperate your sand into two buckets and top off each with water. A full bucket of sand and water gets heavy very fast. Most importantly move the tank completely empty.

I just got thru moving my tank to our new house about five miles from the old one. The tank move took about three hours start to finish. We had it well coordinated with the help of my son and a couple of friends. Nothing broke and all inhabitants are alive and well.

Good Luck!