Moving 10 gal FOWLR

[newfound77951]

So I need to move my 10 gallon FOWLR to my new apartment (plus the 55g FW but that's for another forum!). I'm only moving about a mile. the tank has 4 pieces of LR, one has a lot of Caulerpa on it, another has a large feather duster firmly attached. The 1 fish is a 6 line wrasse. Any suggestions on moving? Since the tank is so small can I leave the sand and a little bit of water in for the fish? I was thinking of draining the water into some buckets and putting the LR in the buckets, esp the pieces with the caulerpa and duster.

[Sadielynn]

Moving is easy.
Here is how we did it .... this depends on the length of the move from cross town to cross the street ... but none the less pretty much the same ...
You will need:
fresh mixed salt water about 2 times the volume of your tank 10 gallons have 20 ready ...
tote bins ....coolers if you live in a cooler /cold climate
baggies.....
battery operated pumps ....
1-2 extra power heads ...
extra filter ..
Ok
start draining out your water into a bucket once this is done have a power filter ready to keep the water in the bucket moving and to absorb the fish waste... an opaque (sp) bucket helps to keep the stress of the fish down ...
once the water is drained take out the live rock place in a bin and cover with water ... set to the side... next take the next tote bin place all corals in baggies will help you keep them from sting other corals and extra water around the bags will help should the bags leak as well as insulating the corals (temps dont drop as quick with larger ammounts of water .) ....cover with water set off to the side remove fish place into bin with water and filter set off to the side take some news paper wet down and place over the live sand .....
When you are ready to leave place a battery operated pump into the fish bin to keep it airated ... load up and move ...
Once you are at the new place remove your live rock and aquascape take the extra power head with tubing that fits the nozzle (found at most home improvement stores lowes , homedepot ect) pump the water over the live rock this helps prevent a sand storm... now place the corals in and pump more water in ... once you are almost full in the tank with water throw on an extra filter with carbon this will help clear the tank and will also help remove any nitrAtes , nitrItes, ammonias . Next open up the fish empty part of the water out and start to drip acclimate them to the tank again... take the extra water that was mixed and prime that with another power head to get it to the same PH , temp , spg once your water is ready and the reacclimated fish place them into the tank , keep the lights out the rest of the day to help with the stress level.... now place in some fresh mixed saltwater you have done a PWC in the process....Before you move them be sure to bulk them up so they can handle the stress , feed good foods such as mysis soaked in garlic and selcon ....
This is how we did it with no losses . others may have diffrent methods ect ...
Also support the bottom of the tank as wet sand is heavy

[newfound77951]

OK most of that makes sense but it was a little confusing.....so do you keep any of the old water or replace it all with new water? Or is the extra water just to have enough to cover the LR etc in the buckets? This is a FOWLR so no corals to worry about.

I was going to use coolers anyway as I have a ton of them. I am only moving 1 mile so shouldn't be too much trauma.

[roka64]

Really, I think you could put the LR in a cooler and your wrasse in another cooler, drain most of the water and move, since it is only only a mile, you probably won't have to worry about losing too much heat or phs for water movement. I think sadielynn meant the 20G for PWCs if they are needed. Please correct me if I am wrong.

[Sadielynn]

Roka yes that is what I meant

[newfound77951]

Ok cool I think I have a plan now, just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing some key thing! I'll let you know how the move goes.

[Sadielynn]

Yes you use most all of the old water and change out about 20% of it with fresh ....
You will reuse most of your old salt water ... be sure to have a tests on hand to check levels . You should not have any cycle but this will allow for you to spot it if you are having one and the stuff on hand to fix it HTH

[roka64]

That's excellent advice Sadielynn! I think about the only way you will get even a mini-cycle would be the sand getting stirred up, but I think your tank is still relatively new, less that 3 months, right?