moving a tank

[Afterdark230]

Ok a friend of mine found this realy good deal on craigs list for a already setup reef tank. has 45lbs of live rock, 40 pounds of live sand. 2 clowns, skimmer, lights, almost a compleate system. "still needs a few things"

he wants to know what he as to do to move the tank and everythign in it. I dont know how long it would take to break down, do we want to save as much water as we can? or do we want to start with new saltwater once the tank is moved? do we have to cure the rock again? or just make sure it stays wet? could we use a small tank to keep the clowns in untill the main tank is setup?

lol should we just break it down and start over fresh with a new start on a cycle?

any ideas would be nice!
Matt

[wildreef]

best to save the water and keep the LR / fish/ etc. in same till you get it home.
and move as quickly as you can.
I wouls QT most of it.. and inspect for any "NON" WANTED's before adding to your set-up

[mr40g]

when i moved my tank,
I started by taking out some water into some fivegallon buckets filling them only half way then placing live rock inside of the buckets,
after getting allthe rock into buckets with water i had some smaller buckets for the fish,
The fish will be easier to catch once the rock is out of the tank.
then place water and fish into the smaller buckets leaving room for slush/splash, air induction into the water, or a battery powered air stone would be best.

leave sand and water up to top of the sand. move tank.
I used most of the old water and added some new water
adding salt mix depending on salinity and what not.

you might have a mini cycle but probably wont even notice it.

[mr40g]

ohh and when adding water back in use a plate or rock or something so the sand doesnt get all stirred up and clouds everything.
that way you can enjoy the fruits of your labor sooner

this is just what i did when i moved my tank.
good luck.

[jbaker]

If the water parameters are all good I'd keep as much of the water as I could. Place the rocks and fish in with the water and as wildreef said, move it as fast as you can. I'd also take everything out and most of the water before I tried catching any of the fish. Don't even try to move it with any water inside, you'll split the seams or crack the glass.

[Iraf]

i put my fish in bags since i always have some from the LFS when i buy stuff then filled a 5g home depot bucket about 75% full and floated all the bags in it and put the lid on it

then i did the same with the live rock and sand then moved the empty tank and equipment to its new home

put the sand back in, then check the rock for any critters or algae that needs to go away, set it all back in and start putting the water back in

usually when i've moved a running tank i do a 50% water change at the same time, I've never lost anything more than a couple of snails when doing it this way