Marine migration: How would you move your aquarium?

[Reefvision]

I used aquarium maintenance co to pick up the new tank and deliver it to my house and place it on the stand. I put those round floor sliders to move tank and stand(210g empty) and plumbed the tank and then removed sliders and all went well. I would never attempt to handle a large tank myself.If I moved it would the same way.

 

[Bruttall]

8 foot 300 gallon 30+ year old Oceanic tank weighs 1000lbs empty. I start calling in favors from friends. Took 10 of us to get it into my basement last time I moved it.

 

[Privateye]

I'll be moving my tanks a few hours away, but I've moved tanks many times. How depends on the size.

55 gallons or less, I move them myself with the fish in the same trip. Usually before we hire the movers.

For my 125g freshwater I move the fish in advance, and keep them in rubbermaid bins at the new place with aeration and sponge filters. I have the movers move the tank at a slightly later date. Within a week. Water changes may be needed.

For my 90 gallon reef, I either move the livestock 1-2 days before like above, or I put them in my car and drive them over the same day as the movers come.

 

[mwilk19]

When we moved across town in 2020 I had a LFS move my 120 gallon reef tank and my 60 gallon Waterbox cube. It was in April in Texas and the day they moved the tank it was in the 90's. They moved everything on an open trailer including my fish. I lost a Kole Tang and a Swallowtail Angelfish. They broke my Waterbox and they had to replace that. I ended up excepting a Plant Aquarium replacement because the wait time for the Waterbox was going to be months to wait for. If I had it to do all over again I would have moved them myself.

 

[Court_Appointed_Hypeman]

If I was moving out of the state, I would have to do it myself. Moving interstate and using movers sucks. They mess **** up, lose it, you can buy all of the insurance in the world but they never ever pay out. Filing a federal civil suit to get it takes a few years and costs a lot of time, and money.

I will never trust movers again, been burned too many times.

If it was local though, probably movers.

 

[MantisShrimpMan]

I just moved my 20G AIO across the country from Missouri to NY and that’s just for the summer. Come August I’m gonna make the same migration in reverse. It’s stressful but if you have a small tank and do your best to think through any and all potential problems beforehand, it’s fairly straightforward.

 

[Vladthelarge]

I've moved a 75g and a 125g with relatively decent success. Fortunately, both times the move was roughly an hour away.

I broke down all the rock and criters into sealed buckets and brought along about 60% of the water. The tanks were drained down to the sand beds. I had a truck so both times I had to setup substantial underlayment (a mattress once and several foam strips the other) to prevent any damage to the glass. One thing often overlooked (IMO) is to remove any overflow plumbing pieces. They don't look like they stick out much but can crack the tank if not careful.

 

[TinyFish]

I strictly hire movers based on size and weights of my tank to assure proper handling, manpower and the fact that they are insured should something go wrong.
It costs me a few hundred dollars, but when a replacement tank is also $4500 (tank only), a few hundred is a great piece of mind. My last move was $700 and included removing tank and placing it at new location.
$700 would buy myself some nice fish and coral , but what is fish and coral with a broken tank.

Hired movers once that shattered a 200g used tank (empty) and they took half a year to pay us back for our 2000$ aquarium, but the liability was nice

 

[Mike1970]

Sounds like a upgrade to me