Moving

[zClassified]

Hello guys,

I am moving (only like 5 mins away), any advice how to move live rock and all the critters in my 32 gallon bio cube tank? Any advice would be great as I invested a lot of time and money in this awesome hobby

[mcgyvr]

Drain half the water into a plastic tote... put some rock or whatever in there...
Carry it just like that..

Its all about just spreading it out into as many totes that allow you to carry it..

I drained by 40b half way down with corals/rocks/old water into a few totes and my brother and I were able to muscle it all into the back of the SUV then right out and onto the stand in the new house.. Then dump all the totes right back into the tank..

I bought a cheap inverter for the car to run a powerhead if needed but I just made the tank the last thing I broke down during the move and we had it all moved in under 1 hour to the new house so I didn't even need the powerhead..

[Reef Guy 04]

I moved a 65 gallon reef 6 hours away just using 5 gallon buckets and stirofoam coolers. It work very well.

First step, take lots of pics!

Next, all the senitive live stock (Fish and inverts) was bagged and kept in the coolers. Remove the water you will need for bagging first in case you have to distrupt rock and sand. You want the water for bagging to be clean.

I separated the live rock between pieces that had corals attached and those that did not. Put the pieces without corals in the buckets first, then wedge pieces with coral close to the top to prevent damage. I used chunks of stirofoam to wedge between them to help keep them stationary. Fill the buckets with just enough water to cover. The most difficult coral for me to move was a large orange cap monti that barely fit in a bucket on it's own. Only about 1 inch clearence around the diameter. I used stirofoam and wedged it around the attached rock and used partially filled bags of water around the coral base to limit sloshing.

All the sand (Carib crushed coral) went into one bucket with enough water to cover.

Things I learned...
1. Take pictures!
2. Premix water to replace dicarded water.
3. Label bags and buckets with it's contents.

Since you are only moving 5 minutes you shouldn't have any problems. I didn't use any water circulators, so you should be fine.

Good luck!

[JUNBUG361]

What they said ^^

[zClassified]

Thanks guys! I am just really nervous, appreciate all the information! I will take some pics and probably post it here to show you guys! Maybe I can clean the crap out of my tank while im at it and fix my algae problem lol

[zClassified]

well I lost a emerald crab on the move a few days later...It was -30 C or so that day. So I think the temperature change didn't help my situation much. But other then that everything else survived. I finally added two onyx nemos and a dory fish to my tank along with my first frag! yay

[tonyreef]

Great news!

[JUNBUG361]

Very nice

[ReefkeeperZ]

I would go pretty much as described above, totes, Styrofoam, buckets, re-use as much of the water as you can. Get your install area prepped ahead of time, as well as enough water for a significant water change. the wetter you keep everything including the rock the better I like to transport my rock underwater whenever possible to avoid die off. leave just enough water in the tank to keep the sand wet. drop all your filter media (from the back of the cube) into buckets of water as well to keep it fully wetted.

watch your parameters closely over the next couple days, I usually do a water change 24-48 hours after a move to remove all the detritus I've kicked up disturbing the tank.

[Sugar Magnolia]

I'm very glad to hear the move went well but am going to recommend that you return the tang, a 32 gallon tank is way too small for any tang. The minimum recommended tank size for that kind of tang is 180 gallons. The clowns will be fine though.

[zClassified]

Originally Posted by Sugar Magnolia

I'm very glad to hear the move went well but am going to recommend that you return the tang, a 32 gallon tank is way too small for any tang. The minimum recommended tank size for that kind of tang is 180 gallons. The clowns will be fine though.

I lied it is a damsel fish...im a nooby...my 2 year old daughter calls it dory haha

[zClassified]

Originally Posted by ReefkeeperZ

I would go pretty much as described above, totes, Styrofoam, buckets, re-use as much of the water as you can. Get your install area prepped ahead of time, as well as enough water for a significant water change. the wetter you keep everything including the rock the better I like to transport my rock underwater whenever possible to avoid die off. leave just enough water in the tank to keep the sand wet. drop all your filter media (from the back of the cube) into buckets of water as well to keep it fully wetted.

watch your parameters closely over the next couple days, I usually do a water change 24-48 hours after a move to remove all the detritus I've kicked up disturbing the tank.

Thanks for the information! I did water change the next day, I finally got a RODI unit coming this sunday...looks like I enjoy this hobby and am in it for the long haul!