The big move

[Cleveland Clowns]

This is my plan on moving my 37g to a new house that i will be getting. Let me know if its good or changes are needed..I will first fill my extra 20g with a new batch of water and let mix for 24hrs in the new house. I will fill 5 5g buckets with water from 37g and leave a couple of inches in the tank to keep my sand in water. I have 2 clowns 2 damsels 1 watch goby 1 cleaner shrimp and a pistol shrimp. Also have 3 small soft corals. How should i split up the fish and corals. Thanks

 

[AquaRick]

How far are you from the new house? I'd try to get individual bags for them if you can and if it's not too long a distance. Also, don't save your old water. Use 100% new water.

 

[Cleveland Clowns]

Its about s 15 min drive. All new water. Didnt think about that. Will all my LV,fish and corals be ok?

 

[AquaRick]

There is nearly no BB in the water column. It all resides on the surfaces of rock. Your old water will be pretty full of detritus. Keep your rocks in water if you can in tubs. If not, wrapping them with wet towels will help but isn't necessary since you're just 15 mins away.

 

[AquaRick]

When you redo your tank, I'd also recommend to clean out all the gunk that's been accumulating. Nothing like a fresh start.

 

[Cleveland Clowns]

Thanks for the help. What about the sand. I was planning on moving the tank with enough water to cover it.

 

[AquaRick]

Yeah you can do that. Just try to get out all the gunk out from the top of the sand at the old place.

 

[Cleveland Clowns]

Sounds good. Everything will get a good scrubbing. Thanks

 

[Mpfaff77]

Just make sure you re acclimate all your livestock. Don't just dump in. If you bag everything I would get the fish in few temp buckets asap when you get to new house while you setup new tank. Just put heater in and pump and maybe few pieces of rock for security for fish.

 

[Reefer Madness]

Moved a 55gl soft coral reef in a day

Very stressful, but not too bad.

My friend and I moved my 55gl reef to his house 10 miles away in a day with a bunch of buckets and plastic bins for the rocks and livestock. Yeah, we were in hurry-up mode all day.

After filling buckets with rocks that fit, bigger ones in the bins, old water in both, the remaining livestock was easy to collect (some ride in the rocks, so don't drywrap unless you are sure all critters are accounted for). Then we moved the tank keeping enough water to cover the 3" sand bed. Bucketed the remaining old water and reused it in an effort to reduce stress by keeping things as close to "before move" as possible.

All went fine, but I do like the idea of using new water mentioned by "Aqua-guy" (sorry), but this was a "must do today" event. Getting the rocks to "lock" without chipping off the coraline was stressful upon rebuild though. A week later he does a major gravel clean, big water change ...and it's done.

Can't wait to see how things go for you.

RM

 

[FlopNewsom]

I think it was a good idea to use some old water. Even when folks are having water problems you'll see the advice on this site is to do PARTIAL water changes.

 

[FlopNewsom]

Watch for a nitrate spike from sloshing that sand around. I'm still fighting a bad one for that reason. Been doing 40gal changes every day since Friday and it's just now down to 80.

 

[austinsdad]

Keep extra pre-mixed water after the move in case emergency water changes are needed.

 

[Cleveland Clowns]

Thanks for all the help everybody. I will take all the info and use it. My clowns finaly paired up i hope this doesnt ruin their friendship.