Advice on moving an aquarium...?

[JeridJohnson]

I plan on moving a FOWLR tank from my buddies house to mine.. It is about 12 miles.. The tank is about 55 gal. I have never moved a tank of this size and could use any advice anyone wants to give..

I imagine I could bag up the fish..
Save some of the water for the destination.. (how much?)
Have replacement water on hand...
Transport the LR in a plastic bucket.. (Does it need to be submerged?)
How much time do I have to get things situated before it would cause probs?

I do have a 20 gal empty tank available.. Perhaps I could put the fish in that with a few pieces of LR while I set up the tank...

All advice will be appreciated.

Thanks,
Jerid

 

[noteworthy]

I'd save 1/3 to 1/2 the water.. but thats just me. I believe most of the beneficial bacteria is on the walls of the tank/sand/live rock.

You can put the fish in 5 gallon buckets for the transport. I was given my live rock from my LFS in a rather good method. They put it in a styrofoam box with a liner and set a soaking wet rag/paper over the rock to keep it wet/prevent die-off.

I wouldn't move the tank with any water because you could bust a seam. You should be able to move it with the sand still tho. Even with 50 lbs of live rock its all in the bottom and not really putting pressure on the sides like water can when it's tilted.

 

[Jonathan G.]

i just moved my tank across town... a 75gal reef set up. I filled a couple coolers with the water from the tank and left my substrate in the bottom of my tank. I put the live rock and my fish in two seperate coolers. I put the water back in the tank as soon as i got my tank setup and left a few rocks and some water for my fish with an air pump running in the water. i topped off my tank, which i only replaced about 10g , and let that run over nite; I had started at about 8pm and got it setup by 11-12pm and put my fish back in about as soon as the dust settled and i got my aquascaping done... about 4 the next afternoon. None of my fish died and i had no nitrate or ammonia spike. I did leave my lights off that whole day. Also I use a wet/dry filter and also penguin 350 on the back for added filtration and water flow.

 

[Jonathan G.]

Oh my livestock wasnt too plentyful; 2 small O. Clowns, a lawnmower blenny, 6 line wrasse, powder brown tang, green mandarin, pajama cardinal. so if you have a more aggressive eater or bigger fish you might want to add them seperately.

 

[JeridJohnson]

I got the tank moved on friday.. started at 9am and had the fish back in around 3pm.. The setup i got from my buddy was pretty dirty and had been neglected..

I bought some 5gal buckets and washed them out the night before the move.. I put the fish in one bucket with plenty of water.. I put the rock and water in 3 more buckets. I left the substrate in the tank covered with water. Once I got the tank home I cleaned the algea off the inside of the tank and cleaned out the chambers of the wet/dry on the back. There was quite a bit of sediment in it..

I then put the rock in and arranged it.. and then started to fill with water.. Added about 10 gal of the old water and filled the rest with DI from the LFS.. Once filled I started with wet/dry filter which is built into the tank. and then cleaned out the canister filter and hooked it up.. The water was clear within an hour or so. I then added the fish and cleaner shrimp back in.. The fish hid for another hour or so and then started coming out to check things out.. I fed a bit of frozen food that night and they scarfed it down.. Today, one day after the move, the water is crystal clear and the fish and shrimp seem very happy. I fed them a little more food today and all are eating like champs..

P.S.. when taking a 30 gal drum to the LFS to get saltwater make sure you can get it back in the truck after filling it...

Here is a link to a post showing the setup.. I'll be enhancing it over time. http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=67973

Cheers,
Jerid