moving house with large aquarium

[marlinslair]

i just received an aquarium for my birthday (today!!!!) which i have wanted and dreamed about for may years, so far i have no water or life, but before i try to create the salt water coral and fish wonderland that i dream of i worry about the chance of having to move from my rental house !!!! can anyone tell me if i can move coral & fish in smaller containers (removing them from the 75g tank) in order to move !!??? the main reason for my early concern is that i want to set up the aquarium in my attic bedroom in which the 75g glass aquarium could only be brought up to by turning it on its side !!! (obviously empty !!!)...i just dont want to set up and create this great piece only to find out that it will die if i have to move !!!!! any advice or info would be greatly appreciated !!!!

[lando]

Welcome to AquariumAdvice.com!!!

can anyone tell me if i can move coral & fish in smaller containers (removing them from the 75g tank) in order to move !!???

Movng an aquarium is a PITA but certainly can be done. Proper planning and lots of time are required in order to do so. In fact, you should plan on devoting an entire day to the tear-down, moving and set-up of the tank. If you see yourself moving anytime n the foreseeable future, I would hold off on setting up the tank until you are settled again.

the main reason for my early concern is that i want to set up the aquarium in my attic bedroom in which the 75g glass aquarium could only be brought up to by turning it on its side !!!

I would very weary of setting up a 75gal tank in an attic. With the substrate, LR, water, stand, other equipemnt, etc. the tank will likely weigh 750-1000lbs. That is a big load for an attic floor. Best course would be to move it to a ground level floor or have an expert come in and evaluate the attic to make sure it will handle that much weight.

[melosu58]

My concern also was the attic floor. I would make sure first. Moving can be done but as Brian said it can be a day or two job. I would wait till I moved if we are talking about soon. BTW welcome to AA

[zao]

I just wanted to welcome you to AA!!!

Now I dont know much about saltwater, but I sure would love to have one one of these days. But anyway, the general rule I like to follow if I had to move an aquarium, is last thing to move and the first thing to setup. As said above it would be a good idea to make sure the floor can hold the weigh of the aquarium.

[two11devan]

I would also be concerned about how well the attic space is ventilated and how hot it gets in the summer months.

[MACATUA]

good call two11devan, SW tanks, especially with coral, can be very temperature sensitive. If the attic gets extremely hot or cold, you would have to account for that with extra heating or chilling. Can be done, but just one of the things you need to consider before set-up!

[Jarred Darque]

I have moved a fair share of tanks, I agree, dedicate an entire day. Even moving my freshwater 75 gallon takes 3 hours to teardown and load, and aobut 4 hours to get setup filled, running and everything.

Took me about 3 hours to move my 29 gallon saltwater tank a mile down the road.

For both moves I used a 55 gallon ice chest in the back of my truck. (the move of the 75, I moved it twice in the last 3 months almost 300 miles)

for a fully stocked 75 gallon, your going to need 2-3 55 gallon ice chests to move, plus moving the tank and stand, preferably all in one load to decrease time things are sitting in an ice chest.

How far are you planning to move? If your moving right down the street or across town, I would not be concerned, but a move where your on teh road for 2+ hours takes a decent amount of planning, and a move longer than a day takes massive planning (have to keep temps stable over a long time period, have to keep water arated, going to need to keep certain fish/corals/inverts in a seperate container that is also filtered)

[ozzyleeds]

i have that problem to, i have a 120l tank and im building a house that wont be ready for like 9 months but i already have a tank half setup with two fish some coral and about 10 to 15 kilos of rock, my main concern is i have a yellow boxfish.

[ozzyleeds]

but i also want to add more fish and coral now but not sure if i should..