[Beaches]

OK, it's official--I'm a home owner again which means I'll be moving my tank and I'm hoping for some opinions on some things (40g, 50/50 110 light strip, wet/dry for 55g, Prism for up to 100g, 2 jets for water movement, mostly fish w/some "easy" corals and 2 anenomes):

1. I know to save as much water as possible from the tank--how much of a re-cycle can I expect? One of the owners of my favorite LFS maintains tanks in several businesses and homes in town and I'm paying him to help me move (I also have two 20g fw tanks).

2. Of course, without saying--I need to aerate the fish and lr when moving/relocating (I'm assuming since my drive is about 20 minutes to my new location it's gonna take me at least 3 hours to re-set everything up)--how long can they stay in the "buckets" safely?

3. I'm going to take this opportunity to "clean" off my lr of some green algae (and possibly some hitchiker crabs)--is there an easy way to do this--what's the best way (I'm really aiming for those "bigger" bristleworms that are in this one rock...)?

4. I'm also taking this opportunity to switch out most of my original mixture of crushed coral/sand and replace it with some fine sand (main reason is the crushed coral has some brown algae and just makes the tank look dirty and also to ease my
population of tiny bristleworms a bit--since I returned the Arrow Crab they've increased again). My current sandbed is about 3 1/2 to 4" deep and I'm thinking 3" should be plenty?

5. Another question--what is the life expectancy of most equipment? Return pumps--is there a way to clean these (salt buildup) or is it necessary? Water jets? Skimmers ? I've had most of my equipment for about a year and all were new when purchased, just wondering when I can expect (hah!) a breakdown--or to avoid, what maintenance to perform.

6. Recommendation for replacement heater and where to place--in tank or bottom of wet/dry? I'm not really in a hurry for this--here in FL it's supposed to be 90 today--I'll more than likely be searching for ways to keep it coo!

As always, thanks for your assistance...

 

[Beaches]

Oops, not that it makes a difference...but I left out my cleanup crew--1 green brittle star, 2 or 3 peppermint shrimp (I haven't seen #3 in a few days), and 20 N snails, 3 turbos, and 15 astrea...

 

[Mrs Smith]

Personally, having moved several times and helped others move, planning is essential. I'm an advocate of having LR buckets as well as fish coolers heated and aerated for the entire time except while driving. (Unless it's a really long distance.)

To try to vaguely answer your questions:
1. Minimal. It's not so much the water, as keeping the rock alive. Keeping water mostly just gets you out of remixing new water. (Which does make things easier!) Transport the extra water separately from rock, as the water in rock buckets tends to foul pretty quickly, IME.

2. As long as they are aerated, and kept at a constant temp, a pretty long time. Overnight isn't out of the question at all. (We've done that, mostly because sugar-sized aragonite settles slowly and it's very hard to see in the tank) And I would plan on it taking a lot longer than you think it will. It always does. We managed a 200 mile move (just the 90g reef - we'd already moved everything else) in approximately 22 hours including 6 hours of driving time back and forth. A 40 won't take as long, but I'd plan for 6 hours to be safe. Having help will cut that down somewhat.

3. Honestly, it might be better to try to do that beforehand. Same for cleaning pumps, skimmers, etc. If you do have time, the toothbrush-in-a-bucket-of-saltwater seems to work.

As hot as it sounds like it will be, I'd invest in a dedicated fish cooler if you don't have one. A cheap Rubbermaid will work - put the fish in, your inverts (we have a seperate one for corals, but that's your call - just so they don't sting each other. Or you could bag them...) and a rock for them to hide under. That way, you get some temperature insulation, can run an airline in (cheap battery-powered bubblers can be a lifesaver in an emergency, and helpful in moving), and can close the lid to keep the fish in the dark.

Sorry to ramble on - if you have any specific questions, let me know. Good luck!
Danielle

 

[ReefDave]

Hey,
In my opinion number #4 is the most important on my list. When I moved my 75 after we finally bought a house, it stirred up that nasty crushed coral (that I never should have had in the first place) and withing 3 days almost everything in the tank was a loss. The algea bloom never did get under control, and my nitrates when from almost undetectable (low bioload) straight threw the roof. Never could get them down until the crushed coral came out...after that it was fine...before the move it was beautiful.

So, I would make sure you got almost all of it. Mabye keep a small tupperware container sized amound to dump in to resead the sand bad. If you are going with a DSB make sure you get the right sugar sized sand. If you are just going with a shallow SB its not as important. BUT GET ALL OF THAT STUFF OUT. Make sure you siphon out as much water as you can (to save for the re-set-up) before you start scooping that CC out.

Lastly CLOTHES PINS. A fouler smell than that CC you will never find!


Dave Jr

Much luck and planning to you. My move set me back 2 years in the hobby....but it also made me find this forum!

 

[ReefDave]

sorry just re-read your post.

If you are looking for the benefits of a DSP then I would go with the 4" bed for safety sake. As that is what most of the recomendations say. I know of alot of people that just put 3" of sand into the tank, then push alot of it to the back of the tank so that they don't have so much built up in front of the glass, and they still have 50% of the bottom 4" or deeper. I think it all ends up leveling off over time though.


Dave

 

[Mrs Smith]

On yeah, he's right. CC beds stink. *but so do DSBs...
Pull off all the water you can before messing with it.

When we moved, we pulled out our CC plenum in favor of a DSB. Good choice for us. We went with 5-6", but 4 is fine. I personally love the way it looks, but to each his (or her) own.

Danielle