Moving My Tank

So.. i am new to this hobby i need to move my 2 month old tank about 30 miles at the end of this month, it will be about 65-70deg weather during the move and i will have a tacoma and a uhaul to work with

i have a 38g tank, 30 lbs of sand about 35 lbs of live rock, two yellowtale blue damsels, a percula clown, 8 hermits, 5 snails, 1 med sized cleaner shrimp.

what is the best possible way safely break down and move all this while keeping my fishies and invertebrates alive??

thank you,
Jason

 

There are several good threads on this site that deal with this topic. The best help I can give is read them all and then incorporate a little from this one and a little from that one to make your move as easy as possible. I recently moved my 55g reef with sump and all and lost nothing. It is a day long process and does take some advance planning, but it is not all that diffacult.

 

Its very easy with that size tank and temp, and is something I have done before twice now with a 40 gallon.
Go to home depot and get a ton of buckets. 8-10 of them.
You will need to fill these buckets with the tank water to store everything in. Rock in some, corals in others, fish in one, etc. Put the fish in the bucket last.
Leave about 3-5" of water in the tank and DO NOT disturb the sandbed. That size tank will be easy to lift with two people even with the sand and water.
When you get to the destination, just start adding everything back in. Rock, water, rock, etc. When it's nearly filled and the rockwork is done, then add fish, corals, inverts. Also do a 30% water change at this time.
Keep a close eye on the params for the next 72 hours after the move, as there is always a chance of a cycle after a tank move.

 

great!!! this is the exact answer i was looking for, i am assuming i should make holes in the top of the bucket with livestock for oxygen?

 

I actually just filled the buckets 2/3 of the way and didnt even put the lids on them. They didnt slosh bad at all. But if you're worried about sloshing/or jumping you could get the lids and poke holes, or throw towels over the top of them.

 

good idea, thanks for the info

 

This is kind of a long thread, but if you skip forward to post #358, I kinda documented a tank move with pictures. Might help with some of the ideas too:
http://www.3reef.com/forums/show-off-your-fish-tanks/packleaders-40-gallon-thread-52745-9.html

 

i liked the colorful buckets you got there haha. well sounds good, that is exactly what i will do.