Topic: Moving Reef Tank - Advice Needed!

[Techy-Mechy]

I'd like to move my 100 gallon reef tank in my house and rearrange it so that it is more asthetically pleasing and easier to maintain. Could you please comment on my plans and/or provide URL's of good written material on how to move a reef tank. The key concerns I have are if:

a. I should replace my plenum w/ a DSB at this time?
b. If I replace my plenum - should I siphon it as much as possible now and should I remove my divider screen at this time?
c. I should try to eliminate/reduce some hydroids (spelling) that are on the rock by scrubbing them w/ a tooth brush and a kalkwasser paste?
d. If I do replace my plenum with a DSB, should I do more water changes for, say the next month (say 10% changes per week)?


I was thinking of the following set of tasks:

0. Get up as early as possible to get the move done on one day and get all of the stuff prepared before you start.

1. Buy and clean a number of containers to save as much water as possible. Select containers especially for corals(shallow but wide Rubbermaid containers), inverts and fish (possibly another aquarium), and live rock (probably garbage cans for live rock). Be sure to have a powerhead and heater in the containers, especially for the corals, inverts, and fish.

2. Siphon as much water out of the tank as possible and remove corals as they get to the water level and place them in the shallow Rubbermaid containers (or rocks w/ embedded corals like xenia, etc.).

3. Remove rock and place it in the garbage can(s) about 1/2 full of water. Be careful to get all of the hermit crabs, etc off. Maybe take the rock and a scrub on the hydroids w/ a toothbrush and kalkwasser poweder. Rinse the rock off in a bucket of fresh salt water before putting it into the garbage can. I have some hydroids which I really want to get rid of.

4. Leave about 3" of water in the tank and get all of the rock and corals out. Net the fish and place them in an extra 20 gallon tank for the day.

5. Siphon the remaining water out until it is at the plenum level. Pull out the plenum grid (I think that I want to convert my tank to a DSB with the appropriate sized particles. I set my plenum up over 4 years ago w/ CaribSea Geo Marine crushed coral - I believe that the particle sizes are mostly 1-2 mm. I would like to buy mostly ESV Oolitic reef sand for supplementing my existing sand bed. I have bought a IPSF live sand starter kit and I do have mini stars, worms, bristle worms etc in the bed.

6. Remove all of the equipment (sump, pumps, calcium reactor, chiller, etc.) from the stand.

7. Get appliance movers to move tank and stand together (a very complicated process - I have steps to go down).

8. When the tank is in the place where I want it - build up the DSB by hand mixing in the ESV Oolitic sand into the existing CaribSea crushed coral from my plenum (5" DSB).

9. Reassemble the sump, pumps, etc.

10. Fill the tank with as much water as possible and start to build a new rock structure w/ eggcrate, etc. Build an acrylic/eggcrate structure to pour the water onto so that the sand suspension is minimized.

11. Fill the tank with as much water from the coral buckets, etc. and place the corals in the appropriate places in the tank. Replace all of the water which is needed to fill the tank.

12. Start the main pump and add the inverts (hermit crabs, crabs, peppermint shrimp, etc.)

13. Add fish (and clams and other filter feeders)the next morning when the tank has cleared some.

14. Do more frequent water changes for...

I appreciate any help or thoughts that you have.

Dave

[Doug1]

Hmmmmm I don't know whats happening with this thread but it sounds like you are on the right track Dave. Having at least one friend who will hang out with you will make things alot easier. I moved a tank into a new tank overnight and it was a lot of work by my self. My main concern is your plan to move the tank and stand together. If you don
t remove the old plenum and substrate first its gonna be a night mare to move them together, maybe if its an acrylic tank and you strap it together, but it sounds like a disaster in the making.
Other than that the plan sounds pretty good. Water changes after will be a good idea, with that major a disruption of the sand bed you may have a small cycle, so dilution is good. I would also recommend getting a large container of Black Diamond Carbon and maybe a polypad filter or two, Good luck with the move

[Brooke]

Your plan does sound pretty good.

First, make sure you have plenty of newly mixed but aged saltwater ready at the new site. Remove the snails and hermits before things get really stirred up and put them in a bucket of tank water. Go buy some big rubbermaid containers and trash cans and home depot 5g buckets. These are great for fish and corals too.

Speaking from experience, hydroids are extremely hard to get rid of. If possible do not put the rocks with hydroids back in the tank until they are gone. We tried scrubbing, we tried kalk, and nothing worked except "killing" the rock.

Definately find someone to help you...it is exhausting work. Also, with a powerhead and heater your corals and fish will be fine in the big rubbermaid containers for a few days. You can put a few pieces of rock in there so they can have hiding places. It takes a long time to refill the tank and do the aquascaping and since you are adding new sand the tank will be very cloudy for a couple of days. Don't worry about rushing and trying to get it all done in one day.

Also, you might have to catch some of your fish before all the rock is out. Otherwise it might be so cloudy you can't see the little buggers.

Good luck-
Brooke

[Techy-Mechy]

Hey Guys,

Thanks for the advice and the thoughts. Yes Doug, my initial plans were to move the tank, stand, and plenum in one fell swoop. I need to move this bugger down some stairs so I basically came to the conclusion that it would be a swoop then fell. Actually, I was working on a ramp/jacks/blocking/reinforcement scheme - it basically hurt my head. Therefore, I'm seriously considering getting rid of the plenum and putting in a DSB. This make the move much easier and give me an opportunity to set my tank up in a "better" fashion -- that is a better layout and I'm not as sold on the plenum thing as I was when I was just beginning (this is my first and only tank). I'd also take this time to round up all of the hermit crabs and my peppermint shrimp and take them back to the LFS. These critters are definitely not good for sand beds.

I'm only concerned about the darn hydroids. I'd sure like to get rid of them. Maybe I'll get a new putty knife and scrape as many of them off as possible and then do the kalkwasser treatment. How long do I need to keep them out of the tank before I know they are gone??

As far a help - maybe my buddy DickO can help and my wife; who is basically a genetic god who is strong, quick, coordinated, ...; can help. I expect that the job will basically last from 6:00 am till midnight.

Question: If I replace my plenum with a DSB, will I be able to add all of my corals back and my fish? Will I see an ammonia spike? How often do you expect I should do water changes and what amount?

Thanks,

Dave

[Minnreefer]

I would expect that you will get a small spike and the water will be cloudy for a few days, I would expect that you will need to find a temp home for the fish and corals for a few days.
Jonathan