Salt Water Transportation

[FishyFishy!]

Hi there! I have a 110 Gallon salt water setup. I recently moved into a new house, and have been stalling with the moving of the tank. I would like to know... what is your best idea about how to transport the water? Ideas/tricks to transporting the fish? I have a Nasso Tang, A Fox Face, A snowflake Eel and a Bursa Triggerfish to transport.

Any ideas or tricks to make this move better would be awesome!

I was thinking of purchasing a whole bunch of large, thick rubbermaid containers. Thoughts?

Edited April 22, 2010 by FishyFishy!

[Jaykit]

Large rubbermaid containers are really flimsy when they are topped up with water as well as very heavy.

When I moved i used a whole bunch of culligan 5 gallon water jugs for my water. I taped the lids on just in case, but it worked great. Then I had just as many 5 gallon luandry soap/paint containers with the lids that seal for my fish, plants, and the rest of my water. This was only for freshwater but I wouldn't see too much difference. This way they are still carryable too.

[Murminator]

Buckets and rubbermaids set up and small tank 55G or so and move 1/2 to 2/3 of the water into and house the fish in it. Then set up the bigger tank I find SW don't like to be moved you will go through cycles and die offs the fish maybe ok but corals usually take a beatin. If you can sell or give your corals to other members to hold for you till you get everything back up and restablished. I had friends move they just sold off all the livestock rather then them dieing and being worthless.....cause you have other thing on your mind moving....and just rebought things later made life simpler

[FishyFishy!]

Yeah that does sound like an easier way to do it. But what if I keep about 80% of all the water during the move? I have never moved a salt water tank before, but have read it can crater your tank. Any way to avoid a disaster other than selling off all of my fish?

[Ishkabod]

It sounds like you have the ability to move in stages so that might be a good way to go. Now looking at this from the viewpoint of someone who only knows the bare minimum what would make sense to me is that the move itself disturbs the bacteria in the rock and substrate. I would think that if you moved the rock once piece per 5 gallon pail and to be sure the bacteria doesn't die in the rocks add an air pump and BE SURE THAT the container is FOOD GRADE. maybe a bunch of Ice creame pails would be good as long as they are washed out with hot water. Snails in the new location would be a good idea. Now tank logistics might cause some problems in that if you don't have another tank to initially set up the new stuff in then you might have more trouble. I look at it like this... The bacteria and other good stuff will probably die if they don't get food, kept under water, or are exposed to toxins/large water chemistry changes.

Okay well that is what i think but i haven't really looked into the issue or asked around about how to do it so bring in the experts.

Good luck

L

[Murminator]

Yeah that does sound like an easier way to do it. But what if I keep about 80% of all the water during the move? I have never moved a salt water tank before, but have read it can crater your tank. Any way to avoid a disaster other than selling off all of my fish?

If your only worried about the fish I think they will be fine....tangs get stressed easily, if you have a mandrian he maybe a gonner unless he eats frozen

[cuz]

take as much water as you can, keep the fish in a dark (blackout) container to minimize stress, keep all rocks in water, all corals in another container with water. I wouldn't bother with taking the sandbed, this is what will cause you grief. Start the new tank with new substrate (have it rinsed and ready to go) or go barebottom (love it). Get as much help rounded up as it makes things go alot smoother and quicker. Dedicate the day to moving the tank as it can be time consuming. Once you get the livestock to the new place andd a heater and small power head to keep eveyone happy while you set things up.

[Wingin' It]

IME, I transferred as much of the water as possible. Piled all the rock in large buckets. Took 1 large pail of substrate and added to new tank, but rinsed it with tank water prior to putting it in to avoid putting in a schwack of the nasty stuff and used new substrate in the tank. (I was told you don't want all the old substrate 'cause it will cause an Ammonia spike). When putting the buckets in the vehicle, I put the buckets (full) into totes so that any spillage was captured. We moved everything quite a distance and were very carefull not to hit bumps I attempted to simultaneously acclimate all the buckets over several hours by squirting in new tank water. It worked for me, and didn't loose a single coral, fish or invert. I had zero readings all around when the water was tested and still do. The move couldn't have gone any smoother.

[FishyFishy!]

Glad to hear your move went well!

I really hope this goes smoothly. Is there any issue with putting lids on 5 gallon pales with tank water and live rock in them? Just wondering about oxygen transfer. I realistically only have about a 10 minute drive between houses, so it isn't that long.

[cuz]

no worries with the cover on, 10 min drive should be a breeze