moving salt aqaurium need help, containers...

[Rioshilo]

This saturday I will be moving a 130 gallon salt tank to my house. I am looking for advice in moving an established tank with 7 or 8 fish. I plan to bag the fish and put some of the water into the food-drink coolers that I have. I also plan to put the live rock (probably 30 to 40 pounds of live rock) into one or two of the coolers. Can probably leave 30 or 40 gallons of water in the tank during transport. The 3 coolers that I have will hold another 40 to 50 gallons of water. Still leaves 70 or so gallons of water to haul. I will probably go to the store and change some of the salt water for fresh salt water as the tank is due for it. But I still need a way to transport that extra 70 gallons. Could do a clean 55 gal drum or may have to buy a bunch of 5 gallon buckets.

Any advice on moving a salt water tank/fish/ and live rock? Or any suggestions on how to move that much water? Anyone have a clean 55 gal drum I can use on Saturday?

Rio

[ademster]

When we moved a friends 150gal salt tank...

we just dumped the water and started fresh, ( except for what we put the fish with in fish carry bags. )

and as for the live rock etc. we put it in a huge cooler with some water.

[ROCRWLR]

when I helped my brother move his 125 gallon tank we used ice chest and some plastic totes to move the water and live rock and fish. it was 125 gallon glass tank and we had to empty the tank of all water and put the live sand in 5 gallon buckets just so we could move it. shortly after the tank was finished he sold it and put in a 240 gallon acrylic tank and it was much lighter. my brother lives in Surprise and just started a business called Arizona Reef Supply. I can get you his # if you have questions about saltwater tanks.

Dean

[Rioshilo]

Yeah, give me your brothers number as I am sure I will need to get some stuff

[terron gregg]

with it being a salt water tank there might be a decycling process that you have to go through

[Rioshilo]

with it being a salt water tank there might be a decycling process that you have to go through

decycling process?

[skier06]

I've taken that oppurtunity to do like a 50% water change pretty much. you dont need more than enought water to just slosh around on the live rock (depending on corals of course). I move corals in tupperware containers. Rock just gets put in large bins with water deep enough to cover half of it (think low tide). I move the fish in 5 gallon buckets, it seems less stressful than bags. Hopefully you arent moving so far there will be a significant temperature loss. I wouldnt keep 30-40 gallons in the tank, unless you plan on driving a few mph the whole way, it will get everywhere. just empty the tank. Do you have sand or like a crushed coral substrate?

Try to setup some new water at the new location ahead of time (prepped for SG, PH and temperature, etc.. to match the old setup)

I do have some 40 gallon bins if you wanted to borrow to mix water at the new location

[Robb]

last few times Ive bought it from the wholesalers, it comes shipped in wet newspaper.

Keep your sand/substrate wet and rocks wet and use the fish-bag / bucket water, but otherwise I would create all new salt water watching the salinity and temperatures closely before adding in when you still have small quanitites in the tank still.

rubbermaid tubs work good too for hauling/curing liverock and making big batches of saltwater.

[mingoglia]

I've moved my 125 gallon tank twice (well actually I got rid of it last year so I don't have it anymore). Anyway, mine was fresh water so it's much different but this is what I did:

I had about 4 buckets for the fish. I drained water out of the tank into the buckets. I had 2 Oscars and I made sure to put them in separate buckets so they wouldn't fight. I then put the rest of the fish equally in each bucket. I had a 5th bucket that I filled with water and took the filter media out of my filters and let them float in there during transport so they didn't dry out. In my opinion it's very important that you keep the old cruddy filters so your good bacteria remains... this will help keep your levels under control when you set the tank up again.

I only had a little bit of water that i couldn't remove in the aquarium. These things are so darn heavy that I wanted to remove as much water as possible. In addition I removed all the rock and put it in buckets. Keeping the original rock is important once again for bacteria. Keep in mind this is fresh water so I didn't have any live rock. ;)

I moved the tank in my toy hauler on the couch both times because the back opens and the couch is soft so it made it easier. :) When I got it to the new location I put all the rock in and started filling it up with water. Luckily Gilbert water has the perfect hardness for the type of fish I had so I didn't have to worry about that. As I was filling it up I was also dumping in pitchers full of hot water to bring the temp up to around the 80 degree mark (not sure what your fish require). Once it was approximately 20 gallons of water short of being full (because I was planning on dumping in the water from the buckets in the tank...one again for bacteria) and at temp I let it run with the filter for a bit to make sure the hot/cold water was completely mixed and the temperature stabilized (btw I kept the fish in a warm room with the door closed to try to keep them warm during this).

After moving fish you can count on possibly having 1 or 2 die. I was fortunate that all of mine made it. Your fish will probably have a less of a time of making it since salt water fish tend to get stressed more than fresh water. :(

Mike

[Oc1paddler]

I have a plastic 55 gallon drum you can use if you want but I have no idea how you would move it once its full. It will also be a huge pain to fill and empty as it only has about a 3 inch opening in the top. I got it from a guy who planned on storing fresh water for y2k and never used them. I cut the tops off a couple to use as trash bins on jobsites but still have one or two that are brand new never used.

[HiJinx]

I have a 55 and a 150 gallon tank I've moved several times now. I don't even mind moving, but I'm already horrified at having to move again soley because of the chore of moving the tanks.
Ok, here's how I do it.
Obviously, the fish transfer requires their own containers with enough water to provide oxygen for the trip and tank setup time or a battery powered air pump. In prep for the move, I don't feed my fish for a few days so their systems are clear of waste. This really helps by keeping the water clean, keeping their stress levels lower. Dark containers are the best also for keeping stress levels low. I've lost fish due to stress, so this is key.
Ok, next, the substrate needs to be kept wet so I place my gravel in one giant bin with water to cover it. The substrate is covered with bacteria that NEEDS to be kept alive or you'll have to recycle the tank again. UGH! Not a fun time as I'm sure you know.
Same goes for any decorations and such, keep them wet to keep bacteria alive.
I also try and transfer abotu 1/3 of the water from each tank. this is the biggest chore of all due to the weight involved, but experiance has tought me that doing it this way pretty much gets rid of the need to recycle the tank and keeps expensive fish alive.
Since I've been moving tanks this way, I've not lost one of my fish.
I hope that helped.
OH, keep filter media wet also. I usually just put it in with the decor bin.
Another note is you can of course use the water transfer bin to keep the decor in as well.
I've found that some nice powerheads are great for pumping the water back into the tank.
cheers.

Here's an older pic of one of my tanks for fun.
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a62/wogabo/Aquaria/The120Crew.jpg
and a few more pics here. (I really need to update these) http://s9.photobucket.com/albums/a62/wogabo/Aquaria/

[Duality]

whatever bart (hijinx) says is true. he knows fish.

[Rioshilo]

sounds like some good advice, thanks all... So what the deal with making batches of salt water? My brother in law that I am getting the tank from buys his salt water from the store when he changes 1/2 of it out. Will it hurt to add in tap water(it's from a well)? As in adding hot water to bring temp up or filling up the tank the rest of the way.

I've been reading a lot about this, but there seems to be a lot more to know.

[HiJinx]

I haven't done to much with salt water setups regarding particular salinity and mineral levels, but I'm sure Ph / hardness needs to be checked and compared to the Ph / hardness tolerance of the fish being applied to.
The Ocean Floor (I don't have their number with me right now) should be able to point you in the right direction on that topic.

[Robb]

depends on the nitrate and phosphate levels in the well water.

in a reef tank, those two items equal excessive bad algae.

airwaterice.com has some good 3-5 stage RO DI systems so you can make pure water at home.

some folks will tell you not to use hot water for your fish tank because the chance for extra dissolved materials that the hotter water could introduce. if you have RO DI shouldnt matter.

heck in AZ the cold water is warm in the summer anyway ? :)

when you have a big tank, or you get alot of evaporation, its much more convenient to make water at home than it is to go to the fish store. I lose about 2-3 gallons a day to evaporation on my 110 tank with 20 sump and 20 refugium

[cross_007]

I had a 125 gallon salt water tank for several years and about $4K into my set up and then sold it when I started having kids and moved to a different house. I sold it to a buddy and moved/set it up at his house.

Part of maintaining a salt tank is regular water changes. Some people buy water from a certain fish store cause they got free water when initially buying their tank or they bought water from a specific shop after moving it and setting it up. This allows them to avoid the hassle of making their own water at home and helps ensure consistency in PH, salinity, and nitrate levels.

If water chemistry gets out of whack, it can cause your fish to go into shock or get sick due to allowing disease to be introduced into the tank or can kill your live rock/coral. This is why, to me, it's worth the hassle to keep and move as much water as you can and also be careful what containers you transport in (need to be very clean and free residue from chems - important if you are using a 55 gal drum). I would try to move at least 60% of the water since normal maintenance only requires 15-20% water change every 1-3 weeks depending on quality of your filtration system, number of fish, size of fish.

x2 on:

- prepping some replacement water ahead of time at home while you have time to get PH, salinity, and nitrate levels in range. There wont be time once you start moving unless you have air pumps to keep oxygen in buckets of water with fish/coral/live rocks in them.

- keeping the crushed coral substrate and filter covered in water or the bacteria will die and you will have to recycle tank....fish will have to stay in buckets while tank is recycling or they can die from shock/stress - VERY IMPORTANT

- Using 5 gal buckets to move fish individually if large fish or put a couple in one bucket if they are smaller fish.

- not trying to move the tank with water in it. The water will be everywhere and it doesnt always smell the best out of the tank. Also, what if you drop it?

I would add:

- Tropical fish require water temp to be around 76-80*. If water temp fluctuate by more than a few degrees in a 24 hour period, it can cause shock and kill your fish. You need to find out if the tank has a water heater, and if not how cold do you keep your house in the winter? You may need to invest in a water heater or start keeping your house a few degrees warmer to maintain water temp. Same goes in summer time...can't just leave the thermostat off if going on vacation cause inside of house will get into the 90's and tank water might get too warm....most importantly read up about your fish and what temp the water should be to survive.

- Be sure to not group fish that have lethal defense mechanisms with other fish in the same bucket or they might accidentally kill one another. Move puffers by themselves, lion fish by themselves, octopusses by themselves, eels by themselves. There are others but I owned these and know from experience. Also don't move smaller fish with larger fish (such as a puffer) that might eat them when they're in the bucket and have no where to go.

- Don't forget that you need to acclimate the fish to the new water. Before you add newly prepped salt water to the tank, save some so you can slowly add some to their 5 gal bucket everys 30-60min for 2-3 hours to allow it to mix with the old water so they become used to any shifts in PH & nitrates and salt levels before you put them back into the tank since it will have the bulk of the prepped water and shifts in water chemistry in the tank will be greater than in their 5 gal buckets. Depending on how much is invested in the fish, you might want to consider the turkey baster method: http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/acclimationcare1/a/aa102999.htm

- You may notice that some of the fish will not eat any or much food for 1 or 2 days following the move. If this happens then your fish may be stressed/in shock. Start check the water for salinity, nitrates, ph level, water temp. Also if you have kids, keep them away from banging on the glass as this stresses out the fish until the fish become acclimated and start eating again.

- Avoid buy saltwater fish from Petsmart. They are like Walmart when it comes to saltwater livestock and it's not worth the risk of introducing disease into your tank to save a couple bucks by buying from them. You will need to find your nearest saltwater aquarium shop and get to know the owner...they can be helpful in testing your water (some do it for free) if you feel you are having a water chemistry problem and can also put you on their calling lists when they get certain species of fish in stock that you have been wanting to add to your tank.

- Most of all....:smilielol5: get ready to start reading up online cause there's a learning curve in the beginning and you don't want to start off losing fish cause saltwater fish can be an expensive hobby. My room mate used to give me hell because my $100 fish ate my $25 fish the first day I introduced it to the tank and also cause my fish ate better than I did since I fed them frozen krill (baby shrimp) and live crawdads 3 times a week, but it's was worth it in the end.

[HiJinx]

x2 on the happily fed fish. Mine eat 4" prawns/shrimp 3-4 times a week.
I bet my boys would LOVE crawdads, but I don't think they're available in AZ anymore as they've been declaired an invasive species.