Is there a guide to relocating a reef system?

[Paul B]

Paul, if readers who do not use a RUGF attempt what you posted, partial sand rinsing in saltwater, they can kill their system

Maybe. Then maybe everyone should use a RUGF.
OK, maybe not.

I did move my tank I think 3 times, each time with no problems or death.
Besides, the OP said he was going to use "new sand". I wouldn't, but if he is using new sand, whats the problem?

People move tanks all the time especially if he is only moving it 45 minutes away. Brandon, I think you are making this more complicated than it has to be.

I would advise that he gets the new sand now and mixes it with old sand. Put it in one of the vats and vigorously move the water around with a powerhead. Maybe throw some snails in there and feed them with some pellets to grow some bacteria. Add old sand a few times as I don't think there is anything wrong with it, but thats just me and maybe I have been doing this to long and am in a coma but still have my eyes open, slightly.

When he gets to the new place, put everything back in the tank. I still don't see a problem.

RUGF = inherently clean and aerated sand

Exactly.

 

[brandon429]

The reason we don’t rinse sand with saltwater vs tap is because they’ll run out of rinse water and input a half dirty sandbed into the tank, occasionally killing things in the process. Choosing to half rinse new sand isnt dangerous, it just leads to days of half clouding.

if someone has three hundred gallons of ready made saltwater to spare, by all means use it up rinsing sand. Don’t stop until the sand is clear enough to pass a clear glass cup test.

some readers mix up the two options, they forget you can half rinse new sand if shortcuts are appealing but you can’t do that with old sand. Nothing is simpler than just tap rinsing all sand going into a transferred tank, final rinse in saltwater: you can run any reef system on the board with that mode and zero losses as long as the thread lasts, the no shortcut option is the documented best way.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I plan on moving my system to a new place about 45 minutes away. Not doing it anytime soon so this is not an emergency and I will likely have a 1 month layover time to plan and move the system and potentially have some stuff setup at the new place before I arrive. I would just like to know if there is a guide to doing this that has been proven. My situation is that this system has been setup for 5 years at this location. The tank is 10 years old and was moved once 5 years ago and I did this move very sloppy at least I think it was sloppy so I want to make sure I do it right this time. Its a small tank at 40G but has a fair amount of gear hooked up to it: 8 dose pumps, reactor, skimmer, fuge, apex, etc. I rebooted this tank a year ago after a crash and it's becoming pretty well stocked at this point with corals but not that many fish or inverts, (1) Clown, (2) Damsels and a mandarin, crabs and snails (3) shrimp and an urchin.
My rough plan is:
(2) 20 G Rubbermaids for live rock and coral
(2) Buckets for fish and inverts.
(2) Buckets to pre rinse new sand
I would: Empty the tank, shop vac water and old sand out, transport the tank empty and dry, carefully transport live stock. Set it back up at the new place, put in rinsed sand, start adding old tank water from the Rubbermaids, rocks, corals, inverts, fish. Done?

My concern is re cycling the tank, bacteria from the tank being left dry. Is there a cleaning method prior to setting it back up? Should I re cycle it with Dr tim's or equivalent. Thanks in advance.

Keep it simple. I have moved entire pet store over 3X due to business growth and even my own tanks and I placed coral in buckets and fish from some tanks. My trip was well over an hour and I left one quarter of the water in the tank and carefully moved the tanks with water to vehicle (in my case was a truck) and when i got to destination, added saved tank water plus New water to the tank and restarted filters, etc. Its like doing a major water change. Bacteria is still alive and tanks cleared up easily within a couple of hours. Then no need to cycle and alter all the work youve done to establish the tank and skip ugly stages

 

[Troylee]

The reason we don’t rinse sand with saltwater vs tap is because they’ll run out of rinse water and input a half dirty sandbed into the tank, occasionally killing things in the process. Choosing to half rinse new sand isnt dangerous, it just leads to days of half clouding.

if someone has three hundred gallons of ready made saltwater to spare, by all means use it up rinsing sand. Don’t stop until the sand is clear enough to pass a clear glass cup test.

some readers mix up the two options, they forget you can half rinse new sand if shortcuts are appealing but you can’t do that with old sand. Nothing is simpler than just tap rinsing all sand going into a transferred tank, final rinse in saltwater: you can run any reef system on the board with that mode and zero losses as long as the thread lasts, the no shortcut option is the documented best way.

This is how I just did my big tank move except I skipped the salt water rinse.. I went straight from my outside hose with rinsed buckets of sand to my display and had zero negative effects! Tanks been up for over a month and never lost a piece or had any problems with a couple gallons of tap water “just guesstimating the little water left in the sand of 6 buckets” mixed in with 100% new salt water. Vegas has city water with a tds of 570

 

[Paul B]

The reason we don’t rinse sand with saltwater vs tap is because they’ll run out of rinse water and input a half dirty sandbed into the tank,

What you are calling "dirt" I call "life". Of course we don't want to add "all" the detritus, but that stuff built up bacteria over the 5 years or so the tank has been running. Adding all new sand IMO is a big mistake. One big problem in this hobby is that we forget that it's bacteria running our tanks, not chemicals, bottle bacteria or anything else.

When I moved my tank here 5 years ago I did rinse a lot of my gravel in my old seawater that I saved before my move. Of course I added some detritus, or what you call dirt into the tank in the new location and that is what is normal and healthy.

Just my opinion of course.

 

[nothing_fancy]

I definitely appreciate all this info. I may or may not tap rinse the old sand and mix it in with a little bit of new rinsed sand. I don't have a whole lot of sand to begin with, this is a small 40g with a little less than an inch of sandbed. I have a couple of battery backup, server style, units that I believe will last the trip enough to power a few air pumps and a couple of heaters if needed. I'll be transferring this stuff again to a new system after the move so long as the move doesn't whipe me out financially haha. I am not however setting this tank back up with the mindset of it being temporary as we know the old adage of temporary solutions...