Moving an existing tank - need help

[barkingshark]

Hello,

We are new to saltwater aqauriums but are jumping in by purchasing an existing 180 gallon saltwater tank that has been operating for about 8 months already. It comes complete with several hundred pounds of live rock, sand, an engineer goby, and a wrasse (which will be traded in at the LFS).


We have been obsessive with research and have hit all the LFS to spread out our list of questions, we’ve spent many hours searching the internet and great sites like reefcentral.com as well. Now it's time for the big move and we have all sorts of questions so any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

The move is scheduled for Saturday. We are accumulating rubbermaid containers to help with the move, we want to keep as much of the existing water as possible.

- If the rubbermaid containers have ever been cleaned with an ammonia product like Windex, can we still use them to move the water/live rock? They will be rinsed out prior to being used. We're not sure if they have or haven't - our thought was to fill them with tap water and run an ammonia test on each container to see if there is any ammonia present but is this needed?


- We live in Michigan and it's freezing cold here. The water/rocks will be in heated cars to try to minimize exposure to cold - are there any other risks to think about? What would happen if the live rock/water did get cold?

- Can we use a garden hose to pump the water from the tank into the rubbermaid containers that are in the car? Any other suggestions on how to move the water?

- We have 3 SUV's lined up to help with the move, do you think that's enough? It's about a 40 minute drive from the old location to our location so we're hoping to do one trip with all 3 SUVs.

- Once the set up is at the new location should we put the live rock in first, follow with the sand, and then add water by pouring it on a plate? Or put in the sand, then water, then rock? Does it matter?

We will not be putting any fish/invertebrates/etc in the new tank for at least a week or two while we are giving the tank a dark treatment to cure the remainder of a hair algae problem. Any fish will be quarantined prior to going in the tank.

Thank you so much for your input!!!!

[Ichyface]

Well I have done a similar move once but it probably wasn't as big a move but what I would do is get some foam coolers from a bait shop or gas station for the fish to help with temp. You can get small ones at a bait shop line the inside with an unsented trash bag. For the rocks put them in rubber maid containers cover them in wet newspaper (wet them with water from tank), or better than that if you could keep all you can in the water containers you with have less die-off. You can use a power head and some hose to transfer water, a garden hose has copper fittings I wouldn't use that. I woulnt keep all the sand, keep just enough to seed the new sand. IF you try to keep it, either rinse very well or don't disturb it leave it in the tank but this will make the tank heavy and cause stress on the bottom, you would have to support the bottom, but its not worth the risk to me. If you disturb the sand it will release all the trapped nitrates. Are they full size SUV's if so you should be ok if the seats fold down. the water will get a little colder but if the are inside the SUV it souldn't be to bad. But you will no-dout have some die off SO EXPECT to see a cycle of some sort even though it might be a small one. OH and plan on some new water. What kind of water did he use? Make sure you test his water before you deside to keep it. Why did he have so much hair algae?

[maeistero]

Testing tap water in your containers won't tell you the whole story. waste of time.

You should have mixed up new water at your place instead of moving the water from the other tank. Just take enough water from the old place to keep the rocks wet or better yet wrap them in drenched towels.

garden hoses aren't recommended at all. spend a few 20's and buy a roll of clear hose from hdepot or owes. you'll use it later anyways.

when at the house, I'd fill the tank halfway with water you should have stabilized at your place. then put in rockwork. the sand will cause a pretty spike after being disturbed. stir it in those rubbermaid containers for awhile until it's levels are stable, then add it to the tank little by little.

your "dark treatment" will cause more die off and another spike. leave the hair algae lit and get a fish to take care of it. easier and quicker.

why are you going to quarantine fish from the same setup?

[barkingshark]

We were told that the hair algae was due to his wife leaving the lights on for one solid week. I suspect that there were other issues contributing as well - not a big enough protein skimmer (we are getting a new one), possibly the undergravel filter (we will be removing this, there is also a wet/dry sump in place), and possibly tap water issues.

As we place the live rock in the new set up we are planning on doing some scrubbing. Several sources have claimed that the dark period would get most of any remaining algae without causing a spike or long term die off to the live rock.

Our plan was to take as much of the old water as possible and get any remaining from the LFS. The more I read the more it sounds like we'd be better off getting mostly new sand as well, maybe seeding the tank with some of the old?

Like most people we're pretty anxious to get started so our hopes were that by going this route we'd be able to miss the big cycling problems.

Thanks again for any comments and suggestions.

[viodea]

I just read a story of a guy moving his tank. After everything is put in place, the tank crashed the next morning. Not sure about the cause but most likely disturbed sand bed.

I would move as least water as possible. Salt water is heavy and cause major damage if spill.

Premix some saltwater in your rubbermaid at the new location to hold live rocks.
Maybe put the 2 fishes in a QT while you setting up your tank.
Setting the aquascape the way you like it... this may take a while
Add new sand & some old sand for seeding.
Add saltwater and let it cycle.
Add fishes and enjoy.

[phish guy]

best of luck to ya man. i remember moving from one side of the room to the other and it was stressful.

[Ichyface]

it will still cycle its unavoidable. I just did this with a 90 and i use about one have old water half new it. If he had an underglavel, oh man!,, don't use that sand, and take water out first if you still want to use some of the old water. 20 lbs oh old sand should do