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How to move my 20 gallon tank?

DurTBear

DurTBear

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Hi all,

Well looks like I'll be moving to a new condo I just bought. It's probably less than a mile away so it's not that far but I'm still unsure on how to go about moving the tank. I have the 58g Oceanic Ultimate that I want to upgrade to and setup. But there is no way I will have everything ready for that by the time I need to move. So I think I'll have to setup the 20 gallon and 10 gallon frag tank in the new place and have it running until I get the 58 gallon up and running. I've heard a lot of buckets and premixed water is the way to go. I also have a spare 40g tank sitting around that I can utilize. Since I probably have a couple months to move due to the timing of when I'll be giving my 30 day notice, I was thinking I could setup the 40g tank in the new place as a temporary holding tank, transfer all the livestock in there one day and then break down my 20 gallon and 10 gallon frag tank.

Any tips or ideas on how I should proceed? Thanks!
 
Durwin,

its pretty easy really...

First - at the new location - have an extra 10 gallons or so of water, maybe 20, on hand. You will be glad you have it.
Then, find yourself 4 or so 5 gallon buckets - with lids. Grab a rock, a fish, some coral, add water and seal it up, repeat.

One you have all the livestock, you can move the remaining stuff...sand (cant remember if you are BB or not), and all the pumps into a separate plastic holding bin. I have generally rinsed my sand when I move - I find that it makes a huge difference...so take 1/2 to 3/4 of the sand and rinse very well...I just use tap water, and make sure it runs clean once you are done.

Then, drive everything to the new place. Replace sand, add water and let it filter. I generally use a filter sock or two to help clean the water, then replace all the rocks and coral and you are set.

If everything is a neat, tight fit - take pictures of the tank with most of the water removed, remove a rock at a time and take another picture - then label the lids of the buckets so you know which rocks went out first. Then when you replace the rocks, take your camera and view them in reverse.

Good luck.
 
Thanks for the advice Kyle. Looks like I'll be moving within the next month so I'll have to start preparing soon. The more I think about it, I think I'm going to just throw everything in the spare 40 gallon tank I have and store everything in there until I setup the new tank. That way I don't have to worry about re-aquascaping and setting up the 20 gallon again.

Still not sure if I'm going to keep the sand or not. If I'm going to store my livestock in the temporary 40 gallon for say a month or two, do you think it would be wise to put sand in the temp 40 gallon for filtration? Or could I get away with just having my livestock in there with the live rock?
 
If you go easy on the feeding and do a few water changes while they're in the temp tank then I would avoid putting the sand in there. I'd take advantage of the time to rinse out most of the sand and get the new display set up just the way you like it before filling again.
 
I'd separate corals, fish and rock when transporting. Wouldn't want to smash any life with fallen rocks :)

falling-rocks-sign.jpg
 
Planning to move this weekend. Is it ok to transport the rock without water? Or should I do my best to keep the rocks in water? The coral will definitely be transported in water. But keep in mind I'm only moving about a mile away.
 
That sounds like a good idea. And should I try to bag up each individual coral? Actually, I might use Tony's idea and make a small frag rack that fits in the bottom of a bucket and just transport them that way...yeah, that's a better idea...
 
Ok...I will probably go that route. I think I'll just go buy 20 gallons or so of saltwater from the fish store so I can grab some bags while I'm at it. I'd mix up the saltwater myself but I don't have a large supply of RO/DI water (on my list of things to get when I set up the new tank).
 
I currently have two ocellaris clowns and a yellow watchman goby in my display tank. In my frag tank, I have two very young black and white misbar clowns hosting a rose BTA and a yellow coris wrasse. When I transfer everything from my display and frag tank into my 40g holding tank, what order should I put the fish into the tank to avoid any disputes? Are there any compatibility issues with this group of fish (I wouldn't think so except the clowns might fight for the anemone)? And do you think it would be fine to transfer all of them together in a 5 gallon bucket or should I bag them individually?
 
The move went great. My brother and I spent an entire day transferring livestock and rocks from the existing tanks into the 40g holding tank using a bunch of 5 gallon buckets and bags (thanks to Derek at OT for giving me a bunch of fish bags). It took a few trips and then we broke down the old tanks and cleaned up. So far it looks like I didn't lose much (knock on wood) although I think the appleberry monti I got from Mike through DBTC is looking very white. Fingers are crossed that it's just bleached but it doesn't look good. Anyway, thanks to all of you for your great advice. Couldn't have done it without you guys. Here is the new holding tank where everything will live until I set up a new tank. I'm starting to think I'm going to go with a custom 120g now so I'm sure I'll be asking you guys for advice. Maybe I'll start a tank journal for the upgrade. Here are some pics of the holding tank:

FishTank802.jpg


Left side of the tank where the clowns are battling for the anemone. I realized that the Leng Sy cap is MUCH BIGGER than I thought when I moved it out of the old tank:
FishTank803.jpg


Middle of the tank:
FishTank804.jpg


Right side of the tank where the frag rack lives:
FishTank805.jpg
 
Yeah, if it doesn't look better, I'm going to get one of those strawberry containers and put it over the anemone so it can take a break from all of this. Originally, the black and white misbars were hosting the anemone in my small frag tank while the other ocellaris clowns were in the main tank. I was worried that they would compete for the anemone and sure enough, the second I put everyone in the holding tank, the ocellaris clowns moved in. Hopefully the anemone will be ok until Saturday since I'm at my parents house for the next couple days for Thanksgiving.
 
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