moving a reef tank

[The Gillman]

Greetings I am fishing for helpful hints and precautions regarding moving a 125 gal. reef tank.Will be moving it this coming Sat. morning.TIA

 

[RLG2182]

Biggest advice I can give is to get as many tubs and containers you can possibly get to save most of the water. Have PLENTY of pre-mixed water on hand and containers for your reef stuff.

I would keep your fish in a container separate with a PH and heater. How far are you moving it? Regardless of how far... make sure you keep your LR moist, and your corals/fish in a nice container w/o bumping them around too much. If you have a DSB, make sure to throw out any substrate that smells owful foul... better to just replace with some new stuff.

Good luck... HTH

 

[The Gillman]

Thanks RLG. Am planning on lining up as many 5 gal water cooler type bottles i can amass and several large tubs,1 for fish ,1 for inverts,lr,corals,etc.I was told when getting close to the sand bed,maybe 15-20 gal.or so ,really stir up the sand and vacuum ,disposing of the nasty water.It will only be about a five mile move and the lfs will be only 2 blocks from the new abode.He also sells r/o water.

 

[Brodie]

The Home Depot sells 25 gal containers for about $7.00 a piece. Buy a few of those, they work great.

 

[lando]

This is going to be an udertaking. If you are moving from one place to another, you should dedicate one full day to just tearing down, moving and setting up the tank. See if your LFS has a bunch of 5gal buckets (with lids) that you can borrow. Save a good portion of the water and have plenty of aged SW to use as well. Make sure the tank is empty befor eyou try to move it. Substrate can go in buckets as well. Good luck!

 

[klam]

Yep, it's going to take you a days work to move that tank. Try not to fill the buckets with too much water, you probably don't want salt water splashing around in your vehicle while driving. Not to mention it will be heavier.

 

[The Gillman]

Thanks for the advise,the move went well with no problems at all.Also got a chance to corral some bothersome fish and take them to lfs for credit.Tanks all scrubbed and looking sharp.