Moving a system

[MUCHO REEF]

Happy Holidays everyone. I am going to be moving in a couple of months which will require me to break down my reef which has been up an running smoothly for about 8 years now. I will be doubling the size of my reef with the new tank. I have heard and read a ton of info on the process. I would like hear from someone who has actually done it already. If you can, please give specific details on the moving do's and don'ts. I am well versed at reef keeping, but this is one area I have never explored.

Thanks

[MUCHO REEF]

ANYBODY ?

[mojoreef]

Mucho moving sucks doesnt it. Thier are a few different ways of accomplishing it. How far are you moving (hours days) this makes a big difference in how its done.let me know and I will try to throw a few of the moving plans I have used at u



Mike

[MUCHO REEF]

Hey thanks Mojo. The move is about 30 minutes away. I will be moving in May. Temps here should be kinda warm but I can handle that. I have an idea how to do it, but I want to hear it from someone who already has. I plan on saving all of my water and sand. I'm all ears and spare no details.

Just saw your sight, very impressive. I hope to set up one for my reef soon. Your aquascaping is almost identical to mine. Maybe some day I'll post a pic. Thanking you in advance.

Mucho

[mojoreef]

thanks for the kind words mucho. Ok a 30 min move aint so bad. I am not sure what u have for a sand bed, if it is a DSB make sure you only tryt o save the top 1 1/2 of it. scavenge the rest for critters but IMHO i would clean it to new dead sand. What I did on a simular move was to go to the paint store and buy a bunch of brand new empty 5 gallon pails. I putt all my LR and water in these, then baged and boxed the corals and critters as if they had come in on a shipment (heat pads (maybe in your case ice pack). I packed everything up and did the move (make it the last thing you move). once at the new house I transfered everything to rubber maids and put it a bit of LR inot each container along with a heater and a sm PH. that way the critters will be ok for a day or so, so that I could take a bit of time to set up the tank proper. Saving the water LS and LR should hoefully avoid having to go through a cycle (it did for me). On the LS that u are saving I put it into a rubbermaid right away (2 if you have to) and moved it like that. If you put it into a bucket you will starve the bacterai of oxygen and thus make it more dead sand.


let me know if I left anything out.


mike

[Jeremy1973]

*represses the nightmares* heh heh The Smiths and I helped a friend move his 75 out of his 3rd floor apt last month. Mrs. Smith can answer more since she did more then I.. but we took out the corals, and placed them in one container...be sure to stick in a battery operated powerhead and a heater if it will take you a while to take down the tank. Once the LR and corals were out, we caught the fish and placed them in a bucket. We then started to siphon out the water. We saved as much water as possibe. We then scooped out the sand. (We needed a two wheeler to carry it..heh heh) Once we had the tank emptied, we unplugged the heaters, and quickly and carefully carried the containers (bought at wal-mart) to the van, took the water, took the tank, etc. Loaded all the containers in to the house, and reversed the process in his new 155 tank. We put the old sand on top of the new...this helps keep the dust down from the new sand. Then he placed in his water, (old and new), made sure the tank was at temp, then added the LR, and then the fish. Mrs. Smith can expound more if I left something out. Hope this helps.

[Doug1]

Mucho, are you resetting up the same tank? If so how big is it?
What I did when I switched mine from 55 to 75 is laid down the new sand bed, it had been subjected to the water from ater changes for a bout 2 months so it had a chance to develop biofilm , which helped with the cloudiness. I then layed the old sand bed on top of it, after carefully scooping the top inch off and placing it in seperate container of tank water. then added the deeper layer followed by the live top layer to the tank filled with new SW. The LR and corals were in a 100 qt icechest and as the temp equalized I started swapping watter between the tank and cooler with a half gallon pitcherafter a couple hrs of that everything was fairly equal and I put the LR back in, followed by placing corals in the tank. At the time I only had 3 fish and unfortunatly they were casualties of power heads in a closed area, so stow them seperatly, you might hit up the LFS for a few styro shipping boxes, they are very handy for the move. If the tank isn't huge and you are setting the same one back up, I recommend getting a sturdy plywood cut about a foot larger than the tank foot print and drain the water within an inch of the substrate, then coax tank onto the board, using several burly friend(pizza and beer is traditional reef movin currency ) then cover the tank, and move it as soon as possible. Make up enough new salt water a few days in advance, using Runbbermaid brute trash cans or similar. The move is going to be somewhat stressful no matter what, but i think having enough water on hand to dilute any PO'd coral by products is worth while in the long run
Good luck, you have quite a while to plan this out

[Mrs Smith]

Mucho, I've now moved 3 big tanks, so I know the overwhelming panic you will start to feel as it gets closer.

Mrs. Smith's moving list:
*Towels
*Instant Ocean salt buckets (with lids - for LR) These are just great, but any heavy-duty 5gal buckets will work.
*Rubbermaid tubs - for more LR
*As many powerheads as you can get your hands on
*Same for heaters.
*Coolers for fish - multiple ones if necessary
*Coolers for corals - multiple ones if you have both softies, LPS and/or SPS. You don't need things stinging each other.
*The sand you plan to use for the bed
*As much pre-mixed saltwater as you can have on-hand. I missed how big a tank you're moving into, but plan to have 50% of it on hand. Everyone plans to keep the same water... you lose the water close to and under the sandbed, and anything that dies will foul the water, too.


Hm. The biggest thing, I think, is having enough backup water ready and the new tank ready. Get it up and plumbed, brace the floor, put the dry sand in it, and have the setup details worked out as much as possible.


It takes me about an 2 hours to break down a 75g by myself. Set out your coolers/buckets, and decide what will go in each. Powerhead and heater in each one. Even if the weather is nice, it always takes longer than you think it will. As for breakdown, it goes much faster if you can pull a coral out and hand it to someone who will put it in the appropriate cooler. Rather than bagging, what I usually to is use plastic baggies to loosly separate and cushion, rather than actually bagging the pieces.

As for LR, put your nice aquascaping pieces where you can get to them - same for base rock. It makes aquascaping easier.

I'd take the top layer of your DSB for the new tank, but it gets really smelly farther down. That, and you won't be able to see much when you get that close. A long hose you can run to the sink will help get the water level low enough to catch as many critters as you can.

Keep the lids of the coolers down on the fish. (I use an battery-powered airline bubbler to keep o2 available if you run out of powerheads. Not ideal, but good for transporting longer distances - one of my tanks went 200 miles.)

Hm... if I knew more details, I could give you some time idea, but figure several trips unless you have a small tank and a big truck. Dedicate a single day to moving the tank. It's exhausting, and you don't want to me messing with furniture if at all possible. Start as early as possible... you will be aquascaping well into the night, most likely.

When adding water to the new sandbed, add your LS when the water level is near the top. If you can add it continuously via an airline tube, it won't disturb the bed as much, and it may be settled by morning. What I personally do is start aquascaping my way up slowly as the tank fills with water. I also put powerheads in right away to get it oxygenated. Ideally, your fish can go back in if the bed isn't too messy and the water is ok temp/pH wise. Corals can go in the next morning when you can actually see what you're doing.

I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but I have done this several times, and the above (or some variation) worked for me.

Oh, and if you have a lot of xenia, put it in it's own cooler. It doesn't ship well for a reason. That same reason may foul the water very quickly, and you could lose other things. Just a little bit of xenia probably won't be a problem.

If you have any other questions or ideas, feel free to post them or pm me.

Good luck...
Danielle

[MUCHO REEF]

WOW, I guess I asked for it. I thank each of you for your insightful input. I have moved the tank once before from one side of the room to the next a couple of years ago with no problem. In conjunction with all of your advice, this is what I am planning to do, so sound off as well.

My reef has exploded with growth and I have all but outgrown the 70 gallon I currently have. I will be upgrading to a 120 gallon. I have lots of 5 gallon buckets and rubbermaids already on hand. I only have two fish, an Algae Blenny and a cute baby clown. I wanted the reef to be the primary focus. I will place the 2 fish in my small breeder while I break down the reef. I plan on having the 120 half filled with RO water with the correct salinity and several powerheads running at least 2 days before the move. The temp will be that of the current system 78 degrees. I plan on added 2 1/2" of live sand as a base to the 120 along with the water. On the day before the move, I will add all of my new fully cured live rock to one side of the 120. The break down will begin at 6:30 in the morning with the removal of the coral to the rubbermaids as suggested. My system is comprised of all Rare Bright colored Ricordea, Zoanthids, Bubble tips and Palythoas. Per your advice, I will remove the top 1 1/2 inch of the 3 1/2 bed to a wide container and send it over to put in the new 120 before I arrive with the balance of the reef. I will add as much of the old water as possible to the new system, leaving some of it to cover the corals in transit. What do I do with the remaining sand in the old system. No one advised on that. Can I rinse it and reuse it ? When I arrive at the 120 with the corals and LR, I will began my aquascaping which is alreqdy mapped out with a grid and graph. I will build the reef from left to right, taking pieces from inside the tank that I added the day before, as well as pieces from my old system which will be in front of me as well. I have been an avid user of Bionic for the past 7 years and I can adjust my levels by the next morning. Once the aquascaping is complete and all corals are in place, I will top off the system with the balance of water from the old system. Don't think I can't wait until the next day to add the corals. I think the water will be clear enough to navigate.

I will shoot for a 3 1/2 to 4 inch bed. Question, is it better to add the new sand on the top or bottom. I plan on adding two new fish to the new reef 3 to 4 weeks after the system is up and running. OK you guys, let me have it. I'm a pretty organized person but I'm always willing to be taught a thing or two. I will share a picture someday of my mucho reef. Thanking you all in advance for your time and energy.

[MUCHO REEF]

Sounds OK ????

[Jeremy1973]

I would go a little deeper on the sand bed, cause it will settle. You may think you have a 4" bed, but after it settles, you may only have a 3-3 1/2" sand bed. I would put the new sand on the bottom, and your old LS on top. This can help with keeping the dust storm down when you add water, and allows the critters in the LS to work their way down into the newer sand. Just my 2 cents.

Jeremy

[Mrs Smith]

I agree. I'm all for DEEP sand beds. Mostly because I prefer the look, but it's your call.

Sounds like you've been planning - I really think that having an overall plan is key to success.

I think you could rinse and reuse the old sand. I have all the old sand from when we last upgraded, but haven't done much other than run some water through it.

Danielle

[MUCHO REEF]

You copy Mojo ?

[mojoreef]

I agree with Jeremy and Daniel on the depth of the sand. One thing on the procedure you stated that isnt going to work. On the sand bed.
Take out the 1 1/2 inches as u plan, but take out the balance of the sand bed and after scavenging it for critters take it outside and hose it clean. Now take this cleaned (and now dead Sand and put it in the new tank, THEN take the live sand and put it on top of the cleaned sand.
The problem with DSB's on the move is that the lower reaches (say approx. below the 1 1/2 inch level) is anoxic (oxygen free) so when you pull off the top layer you introduce oxygen and thus the bacteria dies and thus ammonia. So we save the top layer (which contains oxygentated bacteria and most of the critters) and then clean the lower to remove the ammonia and such and then reverse the procedure going back in.


good luck

mike

[MUCHO REEF]

Yes, when I said about a 3 1/2 to 4 inch sand bed, that was after settling.

So that I'm clear, the washed ( OLD Sand ) from the lower 2/3 of the old reef will go on the bottom. The top 1/3 will go on top of this in the new tank. Since I am upgrading to a larger system and will require more sand to accomodate the larger system, should the new live (in the bag ) sand go on top of the top 1/3 from the old system as well. Sorry for the confusion. I just want to be clear.

Thanks again and I will upload a picture of my reef tomorrow if that's OK. I'm new and I don't know if there is a required time as a member to display pictures of a reef.

A MUCHO thank you to everyone.