Transporting a SW Aquarium

[SWFan]

Hi Folks,
Thanks for everyone who has responded on my previos thread.
I have done some research on how to transport a reef aquarium, and on the high level, you basically need alot of buckets
Any recommendations on where to get these buckets and other supplies that I am going to need? Should all LR, and corals be submerged in water?
I plan on transporting all the water that is currently in the 90Gal tank.

[zoom111]

Depends how far the move is. . . But, I would recommend having water for the essentials, like coral and LR; and have some water mixing at the new place. Check out smaller restaurants that arent "big chain", they might have pails used for food. Just give them a good rinse and your should be ok. Or go buy big heavy duty bins at walmart and return them when your finished. Also, the more organized you are, the smoother the transition will be.

[bt]

Corals should definitely be in water, as well as fish (duh).  Live rock being submerged would be best.... but good luck with that.  It might be do-able with enough 3.5 gallon buckets, but you wouldn't want to go bigger than that.  Failing that, wrap the LR in wet (completely soaked) newsprint.

Assuming the tank isn't bare-bottom, the sand bed is the tricky part.  An active sand bed can be transported safely, but it has to be done very carefully.

Minimize the amount of water you're taking.  1 gallon weights about 8.5 pounds - that will add up quick with a 90 gallon tank.  That means have enough water mixed up at home ready to top up the tank!

[SWFan]

I was hoping that I can use the water to avoid any mixing required. 

The move is only around 8-10Km.  I can get 3-4 guys helping out so thought it would be easier to get more buckets filled rather than preparing water at home.

[jon1985]

speaking from experience once you start moving rocks and corals around the water gets pretty nasty pretty quickly.  You may find it easier to just have fresh clean water instead of trying to save all your water.

[bt]

1) 90 gallons of salt water is around 770lbs.  You won't actually have the exact volume in water, but the stuff replacing the water is heavier for the same volume!

2) What Jon said about it getting stirred up.  You won't be able to save all of the water from the tank no matter what, so you will need some ready to top off when you get it set up at home.

[Greatwhite]

I am just starting the same process now to move my 90G to my new house...  My plan is to bring enough water to cover live rock in bins, and fish in buckets.  The rest of the water will no doubt be cloudy by the time I'm done getting the rock and stuff out and will be going down the drain.

I have a big rain barrel filling right now with RODI to mix some nice fresh water in.  Unfortunately I won't have time after I start the move to get the live rock into my tank before fish & coral to get a cycle done - but I'm hoping that everything will work out... *crossing fingers* 

[Thunda]

Depending on the time you have before your move.  We were able to talk to some of the local SW suppliers and was able to get some of the containers they recieve their orders in.  This made our move of the 125g sw tank a lot easier and safer. 

We took about half our water, the rest was freshly made ahead of time waiting.  The sandbed of course was the concern for us... we ended up going new and just used a little of the old sand to seed the tank.

All in all though the move went very well...

[Roland]

Buckets, thick zip lock bags, specific gravity meter, and thermometer.
Pulled all corals first and bagged them. Fish later.
Rocks next into buckets

The heaving lifting into the van. Got to the new place and began the temporary setup into a spare 70 gallon tank. Power heads placed, compact florescent lights heater. I forgot the damn specific gravity meter on the kitchen table in the old place 40Km away. Drive back and do some cleaning. Drive back to new place and pick up where I left off. The entire aquarium livestock sat in whatever water I had brought in the spare tank. There was just enough. 

Lost one small fish due to an improper placement of a filter. Everything survived in a temporary tank and actually did remarkably well. Granted I don't keep anything that is all that sensitive. Took all the gravel including the sump gravel laiden with sulphur. It was placed in a bin, then added light and a powerhead. I occasionally stirred it up by hand and in a few weeks it was fine.

The move took a better part of a day and it was hard brutal work. This was exactly two year ago and I love Ottawa City tap water. Plan it as if you are doing a military assault.

[SWFan]

The plan is to make the move this Saturday.  It has been a roller coaster of excitement->stressing out.  I hope to get 3-4 buddies to help out with the move.  I have only transported a 29G freshwater tank before, and that was a relatively low stress 45 min task.  I am thinking this is going to take us around 3-4 hours, judging that the driving part is only 10 minutes between the two places. I really hope I don't lose any livestock!

[Roland]

When you get a chance,SWfan, and if you aren't to wasted after the move let us know how it went. Inquiring minds have to know.

[SWFan]

So where do I start...It was definitely a labor intensive, and slightly stressful process.

First we got to the place where I was picking up the setup.  Light was dismantled, and we turned off the protein skimmer, and turned off the pumps.  Started syphoning water into the containers that I purchased, as well as taking out some of the live rock.  Bagged the fish, and corals, and things were going good. The sand bed was probably the worst part.  We put it all in a large pail, dismantled the sump, and started moving all the equipment into the vehicles.  This took around 1.5 hours, thinking we were doing good time.  1.5 more hours to go.  That was not the case.  After we arrived to my place (only 10 minute drive), we started hosing down all the tanks. I shouldve listened to others and used new substrate but we ended up spending around 30-40 minutes washing the substrate.  So much crud came out of there!!  We also ended getting rid of half the water as we were quickly cleaning the live rock.  Let me tell you, even with all the water we were disposing, it still did not look very pretty.  We hooked up the stand, and the sump, and the main aquarium.  This is when I started getting nervous.  It was about another 2.5 hours, and I knew I had not prepared enough water.  So in parallel I started making some extra water which I know is not the best method of handling this   Anyways with the live rock and water in the tank, and the fish floating in the bags, I was starting to get worried since the water was still not clear...I started with the fish acclimation process. Unfortunately one of my skunk fish was gone ....stress level went up a bit at this time...the tang was fine, the clown fish were fine, the other skunk was fine, the first chromis was fine, and then I also saw another chromis that was dead...so 2 out of 7 gone   The rest of the fish were now in the tank.  I was cleaning the bulbs and lighting system and unfortunately one of the bulbs end broke off (it was a cheaper bulb)...The corals, shrimps, and others all seem to do fine.  All in all, it was probably around 12 hours of work!  It was very challenging, and very informative for a newbie.  Its been now over 24 hours, and everything looks WAY better.  I will probably do some water tests tomorrow.  There were alot of other small details, but I think this is the gist of it.  I am now in need of 1 bulb, and probably beef up my cleaner crew...

[Feivel]

Sounds like a good job done :-)      too bad i couldnt list my upgrade experience...... But i use big storage bins for my tanks. I have 2 , one for mixi.g the other for wc. I also use them as safetoes for rodi water. I put a big water jug in the bin and fill the jug. If i forget or it overflows its safe. It will just go in the bin...... The only thing i would have done differently is but the fish and corals in bins with heaters and circulation pumps (seeing that you had some to spare)     

But yeah kudos for rincing the sand. That DEFINATELY saved you big time problems in about 2 to 3 weeks. When you move the sand bed the crotters houses collapse and they essentially die and rot off hence the nitrates spikes you will have. Keep an eye out for that cyano. I found a bio pellets reactor helped me out a ton for that., dangerous peice of equipment so do your resaerch on ot and add the dosing VERY slowly. Dont dose it one shot. It will shock the system and you will have other problems

Happy reefing.