Moving my tank to my new house. need advice.

[Dragynwing]

hi all! i'm moving within the next week and unfortunately, thatinvolves
moving my tank as well. it's a 55 gallon with at least 50 lbsof live
rock and a fairly deep sand bed (about 3"-4" overall). i onlyhave a few
critters. a yellow watchman goby and his tiger pistol shrimpfriend, a
yellow banded coral shrimp a few snails and probably 15 or sosmall
mushroom polyps. any advise on how best to do this? the tank isheavy as
anything and that's even after taking the rock out! my hubby,dad and
friends should be able to handle it okay, but i was wonderingif anyone
here had any helpful hints. thanks in advance!#ed_op#br#ed_cl#~Lisa#ed_op#br#ed_cl#

[reefdude007]

Hi Lisa,#ed_op#br#ed_cl##ed_op#br#ed_cl#I'm a newbie here, but I can share with you what I did when I moved my 75 gallon tank and 55 gallon bottom tank. #ed_op#br#ed_cl##ed_op#br#ed_cl#Prior
to the move I bought 2 house jacks that I installed under the floor
joists in my crawl space just in case the weight was too much for the
current loading. I then purchased several plastic containers (see
below) and rinsed them out before the move. I also found a friend
who would work all day with only payment being breakfast, lunch and a
malted beverage upon completion. My friend and I moved the 2 tanks, and
I found that having a hand dolly (for the buckets and drum) and
appliance dolly (for the tanks) saved our backs a lot of strain. #ed_op#br#ed_cl##ed_op#br#ed_cl#We
first disconnected the pump, skimmer, and hood from the tank.Then
we siphoned water into a 32 gallon plastic container (the kind you can
get at Walmart or Target). I then placed as much live rockand
coral into the container as possible. I then siphoned another15
gallons into a small plastic drum that I picked up at a local
feedstore...it had a rubber gasket which is very important so that you
don't lose all your water during the transport process. I then
put my percula clown, sailfin tang, red banded shrimp, and 2 maxima
clams into the 15 gallon bucket with an air stone. My remaining
live rock went into 5 gallon buckets (all with gaskets) that I had
topped off with the remaining water. #ed_op#br#ed_cl##ed_op#br#ed_cl#When we got the
tank home, we leveled the tank stand, re-piped the pump lines and
started filling the tank with water that I had saved. After every
5 gallon bucket went into the tank, we checked to make sure the tank
was still level. If your tank doesn't stay level, you will need
to siphon the water back out and re-level the tank. I then
positioned the rock and coral in the tank (which by the way was
difficult to do because it was all stirred up). I think some
suggest an RO dip for the coral, but I didn't do that. Finally,
we siphoned the rest of the water back into the tank, and placed the
critters in, turned everything on...and then crossed my fingers.
Oh, I also bought a chemical to help stabilize the fish, but I can't
remember what it is off hand. #ed_op#br#ed_cl##ed_op#br#ed_cl#The next day the tank was
a lot clearer, I tested my water and adjusted as necessary..
Heck, that was in May, and I've been repositioning rock every 4 weeks
since that time :-)#ed_op#br#ed_cl# #ed_op#br#ed_cl#The total move process took about 8 hours, and I only travelled 7 miles between locations. #ed_op#br#ed_cl##ed_op#br#ed_cl#Hope this helps. Good luck to you!#ed_op#br#ed_cl#Ed#ed_op#br#ed_cl#p.s.
I did give my friend one beautiful maxima clam for his 90 gallon.
It was the least I could do ;-) #ed_op#br#ed_cl##ed_op#br#ed_cl##ed_op#br#ed_cl#

[Reptoreef]

Excellent advice... that is what I did in a prior move, as well.

[Debbraey]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#my problem is I need to move mine only temporarily for carpet replacement. When I dismantel it I will probably re-evaluate the placement as I am sure that I will want to change the carpet before I get rid of my tank #ed_op#FONT size=1#ed_cl#(the one in the bad position)#ed_op#/FONT#ed_cl#, it is my baby!! I will take any 1 person capable easy fixes.#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#Myfiance' is going to have one **** of a fit when I ask him for help. Nothing in his is purchased, it is either given or captured. He alsohates that it costs so much.#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#BTW....Just some extra info.....I have access to hand trucks, dollys, base wheels, jacks almost anything you can think of. There are no load worries with my floor. And I have spare buckets for the excess water, extra power heads, and some micro filters. Suggestions are highly welcomed.....I have 4 months to plan this small yet large move.#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#