mrpooley Posted June 5, 2006 Report Share Posted June 5, 2006 Hi everyone I just found out about this forum, wish i had known about it before!! I have just bought a 5 ' marine tank. You might have seen it on TM. Includes 2 x 15w 10k halides, skimmer, chiller.. Has many anenomes, leathers etc and 4 fish. A damsel, butterfly, blue tang, cant remember the other one. Im planning on moving this in about 2 weeks and would love some advice on the best way to go about this as ive never moved something like this before. Wont be moving it too far, will probably be a 30 min drive max. Ive kept marines before but fish only tanks. If anyone could help me out with the do's and dont's of moving a reef tank that would be great!! Thanks very much Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted June 5, 2006 Report Share Posted June 5, 2006 I moved a 4 foot marine about an hour drive. Had a 200 litre drum which I used to get 60% of the water. Obviously dismantle the lighting, chiller etc first. Put about half the water into a large drum. Take out the live rock (LR) first and put any of it that doesnt have corals into the drum also. Put any corals or any LR with easily damaged corals into buckets with more water. Lastly, take fish out and put them into buckets (easier to catch without rock!) The water temperature shouldnt drop quick enough so long as you drive straight to the destination. Setup the tank first, put all LR from the drum into the tank first, pump the water from the drum into the tank. Add the fish then the rest of the corals. Setup your heating first (specifically being winter ) then all the rest of the equipment. Just remember you cant "pull" the anemone off the glass, you're likely to rip its legs (??? forget what you call it) off. If it's on a rock, you'll be sweet. If possible, dont let any inverts (specifically shrimps) be exposed to the air. DO make sure you put the tank near powerpoints! Do make sure you use polysterene (or preferably get a nice flat new piece if the old one is screwed) Oh and make sure the floor is able to hold whats likely to be at least 700 kg's of weight! You're more than welcome to borrow my 200 litre drum and about 10 x 20 litre buckets with sealable lids for transporting if you need. PM me if you want to borrow them. You can then collect NSW or make up ASW for the remaining saltwater Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puttputt Posted June 5, 2006 Report Share Posted June 5, 2006 hmmm, anemone legs... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted June 5, 2006 Report Share Posted June 5, 2006 ok so i looked it up, it's "pedal disc" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrpooley Posted June 5, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2006 Chimera That would be great if i could burrow those containers. I bought some in the weekend but think i will need more. There is one really massive anenome in the tank, not sure of the name!! But its budding a lot of smaller ones near it that are still quite big so mayb eyoud like one for the loan of the containers? Is it correct that all live corals should be moved in separate containers and the water then disgarded from those containers due to toxins etc? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted June 5, 2006 Report Share Posted June 5, 2006 not sure on the toxin thing, i would doubt it would be that much of a problem in 1 hour. just dont put corals in the buckets so they're touching each other. the bacteria in the tank is in the rocks anyway, not the water so thats most crucial to keep 'alive' (or wet) during the move. would be a good excuse to do a bigish water change while you move, up to 50% i would guess. will be stressful enough for the fish so wouldnt go changing anymore than that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suphew Posted June 6, 2006 Report Share Posted June 6, 2006 after reading a couple of things from eric broneman I have started moving corals just covered in wet handy towels, according to him it lessens probelms with toxins and also stops them moving round and damaging themselves. If I was you I would visit my LFS and collect a few poly boxes, they usually have heaps because the fish arrive in them and they are glad to get rid of a few. line with newspaper put corals in, cover with handy towels or newspaper, dump some water over the lot till the paper is all wet. Of course poly boxes are also good for moving the fish. The rock would be okay done the same way, but the pods etc will take a hammering so might be better moved in water. Remember to add the fish etc to the new tank as though they have come from a different tank since with doing large water change your parameters will be different. If you do end up moving your corals in water, dont add that water to your tank, esp soft corals can release a lot of crap when they get stressed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skippy Posted June 6, 2006 Report Share Posted June 6, 2006 hi there - you got a bargain with that tank - wish I had some spare cash myself to spend on it. i've moved tanks three times in 18 months. I took the majority of the water with me in 20 litre carboys (those square barrels if you haven't come across carboys before) but Chims 200 litre barrel will work just fine. Just remember to put it on your trailer before you fill it up!!! :lol: The LR and corals I put in square/rectangular polystyrene boxes with lids and covered the coral with newspaper wet down with water from the tank. I bagged my fish (1 per bag) and my shrimps (same as they do in the fish shops and loaded them all in poly boxes in their bags. The sand I just put in a lidded bucket with enough tank water to almost cover it. Chims dismantle order tips are basically what I did. Mind that if you have any blennies (such as bi-colours) as they have a terrific tendency to hide in the holes in the LR and you find youve packed all your LR in the boxes and find you are a fish or two short and then you unload it all back into the tank to find it. Doing it this way was fine to move from it from Auckland to Kerikeri in Northland - about 4 1/2 hours with a fully loaded car and trailer. :-? Plus a couple of hours (or more) either side to pack and unpack everything. to be honest I pretty much just put everything in the tank on the unload side of things just to get it all up and running. went back to it a week or so later to make it look nice :lol: so the fishies didn't get to stressed out. Good luck with it - stick up some pics when it is all up and running - and ask plenty of questions here - some folks on here know plenty about this "hobby" Cheers Skippy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted June 6, 2006 Report Share Posted June 6, 2006 Yeah, wet towels should work. They won't dry out(Obviously) and would be pretty well protected from sliding around and bumping into things. Most can handle a reasonable amount of time out of the water fine. Now, who is going to start the argument about phosphates in the laundry soap? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted June 6, 2006 Report Share Posted June 6, 2006 When I changed over tanks recently many of my sps, leathers & mushrooms sat out of water for 3 hours. Nothing died although most sps went brown after the move, although there could be several causes I'm not sure which. Wasn't sure how lps go out of water so they stayed in water. About chucking water they have been moved in, IMHO you should if you can afford to, the corals, if moved in water, will make a lot of slime it will be better to stock the new tank with clean water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raeh1 Posted June 7, 2006 Report Share Posted June 7, 2006 Set aside a day to move this puppy. Oh take into account. The first things you take out. will be the last things you put back in.. Get tons of fresh sea water as it will be needed when you move things around.. Good luck, and take your time. OH and welcome to the forum Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suphew Posted June 7, 2006 Report Share Posted June 7, 2006 Yeah, wet towels should work. They won't dry out(Obviously) and would be pretty well protected from sliding around and bumping into things. Most can handle a reasonable amount of time out of the water fine. Now, who is going to start the argument about phosphates in the laundry soap? Was actually paper handtowels I used. :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted June 7, 2006 Report Share Posted June 7, 2006 Even worse! They're bleached! They'll throw off the chlorine ionic balance of the tank! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suphew Posted June 7, 2006 Report Share Posted June 7, 2006 yeah should have said,, take them off the corals before putting the back in the tank. lol Never seems to have caused a problem, was fragging the other day and used the same to dry contacts for glueing. I guess if your worried use non-bleached Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrpooley Posted June 19, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 19, 2006 Thanks for all the tips for rhe move and big thanks to Chimera for the loan of all the buckets!! So got everything moved on saturday. Took a little longer than expected as the tank wouldnt quite fit in the ute i was using so had to hire a trailer. Plus the wheather on Saturday was pretty crap! Encounterd a couple of problems 1- the tank was moved into a downstairs room with a lower ceiling stud, and wouldnt you know the lighting frame for the halides couldnt be ajusted low enough to fit! so have to get that modified, so using some fluros in meantime 2 - After everything was setup, temp right, salintiy etc, i found a leak in the overflow fitting that drains into the sump and has been leaking water between the poly sheet and the tank. So will have to drain the tank again and install new fitting and new ploy sheet. May also get a new tank when i do this. So have moved the fish into a smaller tank for the meantime with a power head, some live rock and a heater. They are eating fine and seem healthy. Hope they will survive ok until i can get the main tank fixed up. Nohings easy!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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