Moving tank - need some advice

[Tmyboy]

I'm moving my 75G on may 17th and I had my local saltwater place quote moving the tank for me ( breakdown, clean and re-assemble) to my new place.

Question is......what are my risks on the move and also if I change the substrate? Can I change it out when I do the move?

Someone suggested crushed coral back when I first set my tank up and as time went on, I realized that I prefer sand instead. That being said, I think this would be an ideal time to switch that. Is that ok? The guys at the lfs said it would be fine if I swapped with aragonite live sand because it's "live" and also bc of the 120lbs of live rock I have in the tank.

Any input is welcome and appreciated.

Btw.....I'll list some brief tank specs below....feel free to criticize/comment.

75g tank with build in overflow
30g eshopps refugium sump
Nwb-150 reef octopus skimmer
1 mp40 and 1 mp10 ecotech powerhead's for flow
Crushed coral substrate
110-120lbs of Fiji live rock.

Lastly...there some type of small creatures Ina few of the rocks that I'm not sure what they are....I'll take a pic tonight in hopes that someone can help me identify them! They withdraw of course when I touch them......I'd hate to kill but I will if I have to.

Thanks in advance.

Regard,

Tom

 

[jeffaquarius]

It's the perfect time to replace your substrate with aragonite sand. You can mix it with some live sand that you can buy at the pet store. You would have to keep some of the water in the the tank if parameter is good. It is to minimize the shock on live stock. Keep in mind to wash the new sand very well to flush all the unwanted stuff then mix with live sand.

 

[melosu58]

I agree that sand will be much better than crushed coral. The best time to do it will be while moving. It`s perfect timing.

 

[Tmyboy]

Thank you so much for the replies....

I feel a bit more at ease about the situation now. It's just that I've never moves the tank and was worried about stirring stuff up deep underneath that crushed coral.

Thx.

 

[Big Tex]

i can tell yuo from experience alone, i reuse my sand, i just wash the living hell out of it outside in a bucket with just faucet water, basically washing all bad nasty crap thats built up in it, and just using a brand new bag of live sand on top of the now clean sand when putting it back in the tank, keep and reuse as much of the tank water as you can.

when i say i wash the hell out of it i do, i take about 10-15lbs at a time in a 5gal bucket and just stir and dump out the water until nothing but clean water comes out, when you can jet the water into the bucket and suddenly stop and all the sand settles with no clouding, its clean. you can let it dry to avoiding adding faucet water into the tank which would be minimal but its at your discretion, ive never had a problem and ive done it about 6x with moves and upgrades. you will a have a little cloud with the new bag of live sand but its nothing compared to the cloud youll get from adding all new sand.

also this is something ive learned from upgrades and moves, remove all your live stock and coral, then do not move anything in the tank, so as to not stir up anything so the water your removing is as clear as possible, then when you get to the bottom of the tank right before the sand bed you can leave that water in, its easier to scoop sand out when theres about an inch of water still in the tank, good luck

 

[Tmyboy]

Thanks big tex!

Thx for all the Valuable advice.