Moving a 10g tank and changing sand

[likwid]

Hey guys,

 

I'm planning on moving my 10g tank to a different house, and was wondering what the best way to go about doing this would be. Currently, the only inhabitants of the tank are various corals, snails, anemone, and hermit crabs. I would also like to change out the sand bed to a new finer sand. What is the best way to do this? This is the only tank I own, so would I have to store everything in a bucket or something after I change the sand if there is a cycle? Thanks

[henrlee]

What I've done is put live rock and livestock in a bucket with tank water, put my corals in thermos, and left my sand with a few inches of water in my tank.

 

I actually just moved my tank from my college apt back home last saturday. It probably took 2-3 hours to finally set-up at home. Nothing has died as of today. I did the same procedure moving the tank from home to apt.

 

I'm not sure about the sand. But what I think is you should wait a week after you move before you change your sand. Let it cycle in a separate bucket, before adding it.

 

Hope this helps

[dshnarw]

What I've done is put live rock and livestock in a bucket with tank water, put my corals in thermos, and left my sand with a few inches of water in my tank.

 

I actually just moved my tank from my college apt back home last saturday. It probably took 2-3 hours to finally set-up at home. Nothing has died as of today. I did the same procedure moving the tank from home to apt.

 

I'm not sure about the sand. But what I think is you should wait a week after you move before you change your sand. Let it cycle in a separate bucket, before adding it.

 

Hope this helps

 

 

Sand doesnt cycle - theres nothing to die in it - unless you're using Arag-Alive. Better for you would be to just get whatever size you want of the dry kind. Rinse it really well to prevent cloudiness, and have it ready when you get to the new place.

 

Also have a couple gallons of new saltwater ready to go.

 

Then:

 

Stick everything in a couple of buckets - live rock at the bottom, corals on top (best is in small containers to keep them from touching.) Snails, crabs can just be thrown in.

 

Scrape out the old sand and discard it, and move to the new place.

 

Add the new sand, put the livestock back in, and turn on the electrical stuff.

 

 

 

OR:

 

Put all the livestock, filters, and heater in a rubbermaid the night before and plug everything in. Discard your old sand.

 

On moving day, move everything, add the new sand, and put the livestock back in. You could even just plug everything back in, still in the rubbermaid and leave it overnight again, if you need to.

 

 

Either way - no new cycle because you're keeping the liverock. Just don't get Arag-Alive type sand.