Moving a tank…

[Jennifish]

Long story short, my husband wants to move house and I don’t. I like where we live and amongst other things I have 9 aquariums.

He claims they are not a valid reason not to move (they’re not the only reason I don’t want to move…) but I have hundreds if not thousands of £ as well as time invested in my aquascapes - the majority are planted tanks which would have to be destroyed to move and start all over - replacing substrate etc… fish stress amongst other things…

But my main concern is my reef tank which I know has thousands of £ in it… it’s not huge - 70ltrs, but it has some expensive corals which are attached/grown to the rock work. A lot of the videos I’ve seen have said it’s easier to sell everything and start again at the new house as chances of loses are high - I don’t want to do that! I’ve spent ages collecting zoas and lots that I wanted and I’m really attached to the fish I have in it too.

Has anyone successfully moved a tank? It would devastate me to break down my planted tanks, but it could be fun to rescape (though costly ) but my reef tank…

The annoying thing is he wants to stay close to where we are so we don’t have to move my daughter school wise - so it’s all for the sake of 5 mins… we do have a valid reason to move (cars collide with our front fence regularly in winter due to council not gritting road) but still…

 

[Peair]

Long story short, my husband wants to move house and I don’t. I like where we live and amongst other things I have 9 aquariums.

He claims they are not a valid reason not to move (they’re not the only reason I don’t want to move…) but I have hundreds if not thousands of £ as well as time invested in my aquascapes - the majority are planted tanks which would have to be destroyed to move and start all over - replacing substrate etc… fish stress amongst other things…

But my main concern is my reef tank which I know has thousands of £ in it… it’s not huge - 70ltrs, but it has some expensive corals which are attached/grown to the rock work. A lot of the videos I’ve seen have said it’s easier to sell everything and start again at the new house as chances of loses are high - I don’t want to do that! I’ve spent ages collecting zoas and lots that I wanted and I’m really attached to the fish I have in it too.

Has anyone successfully moved a tank? It would devastate me to break down my planted tanks, but it could be fun to rescape (though costly ) but my reef tank…

The annoying thing is he wants to stay close to where we are so we don’t have to move my daughter school wise - so it’s all for the sake of 5 mins… we do have a valid reason to move (cars collide with our front fence regularly in winter due to council not gritting road) but still…

I moved tanks lots of times with no problems, just move everything to the bottom, excluding the electrical stuff, remove 70% of the water and keep it, sometimes I even kept my corals and fish in the tank, most of the times I put fish and corals in a bucket or large tray with the same water with air stone, and make sure you have lots of people helping because the tanks are heavy, then load everything in your van with lots of blankets.

 

[DJC]

Sort of similar to peair have moved both tropical and marine tank
I removed 90% of water (keep as much as you can) then keep just enough to keep the sand wet with some water over it
Place some of the water from tank in multiple buckets / sealed plastic containers (large) this will support your live rock
I place the fish in more containers be sure to place something in there for them to hide in so they don’t become too stressed and don’t overcrowd the fish containers

Corals a little more trickier I place the corals in plastic airtight bags and then place them into a bucket pack them in so no movement is allowed this will keep them stable and not bumping into rocks or other equipment


Time is of the essence so logistically you need to empty pack travel unpack - setup preferably all in 1 hit the more time you waste the more likely your going to loose something or it dies

When travelling with the fish it’s important you cover them with blankets or something dark so they are constantly in a state of darkness while the move is in process

What I did with my last move Is I bought a really small power head x 4 one that really does not pump out harsh flow and at each point at old house then new house plug it in so fish get that support and feel normal flow of water while you empty and set up tank on new location this also includes heaters to support your water temp could even place a small filter in there this is your choice and depends how safe you want for your fish

Corals can last in a bag for over an hr dependant on the coral before they start getting stressed out so those should be the first to go back into tank

May even be a great idea to set up a quarantine tank in your new home before the move
Then move your corals into quarantine tank prior to everything else to limit the stress if you have the ability to do this your success rate of no death goes up high

Hope this helps