Moving Marine Tanks

[StarFish]

:lol: Probably obvious answer is 'you dont' but the question is about MOVING Marine tanks, we really want one but we only rent and know that eventually the time will come when we have to move and I know what a mission it is to move just a normal tropical tank, so has anyone had to do this?? I can imagine there would no doubt be casualtys, maybe many, I would love some advice on this Thanks

Star

[minchton]

When you contact us I can also give advise on shifting marine and if you are good I will even let you see my tank :lol: :lol: :lol:

[jolliolli]

yip, most ppl here with a marine tank have had to move it at some time or another. the basics i have learned in the process are : prepare in advance, make sure you have a lot of plastic buckets and jerry cans to move the water (you would probably only want to shift half the water at the most, the rest will get too gungy). Make up enough ASW or collect enough NSW a few days prior that you will have enough to fill the tank when you set up on the other end

Disconnect all equipment, skimmer lights, sump and move them somewhere out of the way

Siphon water, in to jerry cans, remove corals and place in bags, remove live rock put in to large bins with wet towels (better chance of keeping the live rock live). remove fish and inverts and place in to bags, put bags in some sort of container and put the lid on to keep them in the dark and reduce stress. If you can have a tank or some sort of bin at the place you are moving too it will make it a lot easier. I set up a temporary tank and made up ASW a couple of nights before, and connected up a heater and powerheads. Then i transferred the fish and inverts in to the tank and reduce the amount of time they were in the bags. Put some pieces of liverock in to the tank to help with the filtration and to give the fish, inverts somewhere to hide. I put my liverock in to a large plastic bin with a heater and powerheads so that i could worry about aquascaping the tank later.

scoop out sand and if you decide you want to keep it store in buckets or bins, i scooped mine out using dustpans, made it easy to get the sand out of the corners of the tank. Get a few people to help move the tank, and set up at the new house. If you're using your old sand then rinse it well till water runs clear.

fill tank with ASW/NSW and also the water you took from the move, bring up to temperature. Its a lot easier if you have a spare tank, to store your fish/corals/inverts while you set up your new tank and aquascape.

[StarFish]

Ah haha Minchton I pm'd you have you not noticed?

Thanks for the replys though, we have thought about it but I havent yet come across a good place anywhere here in NP to get marine tank equipment let alone fish!

So maybe I can get some help with that through the Taranaki Aquarium and pond society, hint hint.

Otherwise.. maybe we will just flog it all together and go for a nice cichlid tank instead

Star

[wasp]

Also it is very time consuming, takes much longer than you would think.

Most people who start marine, set up their first tank, then in the course of time realise things about their set up they would like to have done better, and as they go through the learning curve, eventually set up a better tank.

So if you are currently renting, you could set up a smallish tank of 3 or 4 feet, (.900 or 1.200), and the natural process will happen of learning so by the time you move house you could set up a better and permanent tank in the new house and transfer you livestock over to it, and sell the old tank.

That's one suggestion but there's many ways, just depending how much time you're prepared to put in.