Moving aquairum

[mattmku]

I'm thinking about moving my aquarium at home about 5 hours away to where i attend college. I've read a few articles on the subject and am still wondering if you would have to cycle the tank before placing the inhabitants back in the tank.

I have a 20 gallon tank with 20 lbs live rock. I plan on replacing cc with live sand when i move and also replacing with new saltwater... anyone have experience with this?

 

[Edmonton Eskimo]

I don't think you would want to replace all of the saltwater. Then you would have to do a cycle.

 

[BillyZ]

you will likely have another cycle, not so much from replacing the water, but from replacing your substrate. Your Substrate and LR are your primary bio-filter sources. Your LR will be pretty healthy so it should be a short/soft cycle, but completely chaing out your substrate will probably give you a cycle.

 

[BillyZ]

I just had a thought... do you have a sump?

if you do, you can put the sand you plan on using at the new location in the sump for a couple weeks and let the bacteria build up in the sand some. that should minimize the chances of a cycle after the move.

 

[mattmku]

no sump, i'm running a canister filter. What i think I may do is let my buddy keep my fish and shrimp for a few weeks while i make sure the tank has cycled and then move them up.