Tank Transfers - Tips and Tricks

[JATReef]

Hi all,

Today is the big day, I will be moving my entire reef (corals, fish, inverts etc) from a 65G into another tank of similar size (I needed slightly different dimensions due to space in my new home).

Does anyone have any tips/tricks or general helpful information on doing tank transfers for myself and others on the forum who may not have done something like this before?

Many thanks

 

[nick0206]

Once had to move to another apartment.
But the tank was small, 25 gallons.
A 10 gallon plastic container was purchased at the Ace Store. This is a container for collecting children's toys.
Drained the water, about 8 gallons, and transferred all the live rocks with corals there and connected the circulation pump.
The remaining water was poured into 3 buckets (total of 25 gallons, 20 saved).
Fish were planted in one of the buckets and a pump was also connected.
First of all, transported the tank and equipment, installed.
Washed the tank, installed the RO and began to drain the water from the RO into another bucket, for further salting and compensation for the missing.
The second race transported fish, corals and water. (I didn’t have sand bed then).
First of all, live rocks with corals were moved and all the water was flooded and at the end a bucket of fish.
All equipment is included, the missing volume of water is salted.
Everything went well. The main thing is to correctly draw up a work plan.

 

[CuzzA]

Hi all,

Today is the big day, I will be moving my entire reef (corals, fish, inverts etc) from a 65G into another tank of similar size (I needed slightly different dimensions due to space in my new home).

Does anyone have any tips/tricks or general helpful information on doing tank transfers for myself and others on the forum who may not have done something like this before?

Many thanks

65 gallons is pretty manageable. Setup a cheap kiddie pool 100 gallons would be ideal or a large tote at the new location with some new water and powerheads. Go ahead and make more new water in case of an emergency. You will still be able to use it. Move everything from the tank to smaller totes or buckets for transfer. Keep all of your old water, you'll need it. Put all of the tank contents into the kiddie pool, including the skimmer. This gives you almost indefinite time to move the tank. Put all of your sand in a bucket and keep it submerged and aerated.

Once you have your tank setup you'll want to flush the sand. Since you should have extra water from the kiddie pool and emergency water use that and do a good flushing with a pump and a filter sock. Keep adding water as you flush it. You may want to go ahead and vacuum the sand bed before doing the break down.

Finally, put about 20% of new water in the tank and transfer the old water and tank contents to the new system. Everything should be good to go. Nevertheless, having water in hand is paramount. If things go sideways, a spike in ammonia for example, you'll need to be prepared to deal with it. New clean water is key.

Edit: I just realized you are moving everything into a new tank. Even easier. Just transfer everything in totes and do water changes, clean your sand or start new. I'll leave my original post for posterity.

 

[CuzzA]

I forgot to mention, since this is a new setup I highly recommend running carbon for several days before transferring everything. Many people report unknown loses when transferring to a newly setup system and I believe there's a high likelihood it is due to a lot of contaminants from the manufacturing and handling process. Who knows how many chemicals, oils and solvents are present in a new system.

 

[Wolverine47]

Following along. I am about to move my 75 into a different room and have never moved an existing tank. Only upgraded so never had to worry as much

 

[CindyKz]

When I moved my 75 gal and 32 gal across town I took the opportunity to replace the sand with fresh. I think it alleviated a lot of problems. I saved the old sand and washed it for future use.

Otherwise, what everyone else said. If you have access to the new location, make saltwater and heat it up there ahead of time. You'll be glad you did, and if you don't use it you can save it for later. I didn't use a kiddie pool, just lots of totes. Fish went into several 5 gal buckets with airstones. We moved in the summer so I didn't worry so much about heaters.

Lastly, get as many friends to help as possible. One of my friends from the reef club ran the show for me, because I was a nervous mess LOL.

 

[Drewbacca]

Make sure the new area is set up or double checked and ready...stand fits area, leak test..plumbing..electrical runs..etc.. if upgrading all & new spot in house..maybe do a test run with the rodi you will use to make new sw..or if moving AND upgrading same time...test setup ahead of time.. whatever you can to avoid snags in the middle.
I thought... I'll upgrade my 55 to a 90...with a sump it's just taller...so all I have to do is put all in totes.. sump in place under with plumbing ready.. take old tank off...drill plumbing holes in stand and put new tank on..
...to realize...tank is hanging off..
... because w&d go up a ½ inch..
Contemplated letting each be over ¼.. but ended up doing lumber run & building a nee stand in 2 hours and setting up unfinished & wrapping wood stand with pvc sheets & trim later.. all worked out great.