luckiest reefer

[sjwalton]

Well my luck is changing for the better i see. My girlfriends brother is giving up his reef addiction (he just got married) and so he is just GIVING me his 30g reef tank complete with compact lights, wet dry filter, skimmer, live rock and many corals. The problem is i gotta move it and it has been neglected in recent months. There is green hair algae covering everything and i mean everything. I dunno how anything has survived in there. SO my question is how do i clean off all this green menace and move a 30g tank full of beautiful xenia, mushrooms, anemones gorgonian and several other corals i cant ID. Suggestions please, the morons at the lfs said just get several guys and pick the tank up and put it in a truck. Jeez, i would like to maintain the tank seal integrity. SO anybody....anybody?

[tinyreef]

try this, saltaquarium.about.com/library/weekly/aa051400.htm

 

stan is usually right on about that kind of stuff. now i've never tried it. i'm waiting for the 300g+ (i figure the wife's gotta get tired of hearing me beg sooner or later)

[mattdog]

Moving a tank isn't all that hard. Just evenly place all the rocks on the bottom of the tank (without crushing any livestock or corals) and drain the water as low as you can without leaving any of the rock or corals uncovered. If you are using a truck, you can get some of the leverage type tiedowns and secure the tank very well with those. I moved my 45 gallon hex about 25 miles away with the help of a few of my friends with no ill effects on the seals of the tank and I only lost one fish.

 

HTH,

 

Matt

[hhasty79]

Or you can place the rocks in buckets, bag the fish and animals, drain water to sand level, and move it like that. A 30g tank is going to be a heavy beast with a few bags of wet sand in it, though. Remember not to tilt the tank at all; if you move it with anything in it, it will be a better idea to place the tank on a flat peice of wood and carry the wood...not the tank...keeps pressure even on the frame.

 

As for the hair algae -- the only threat it poses is to block light from corals. It's not generally dangerous, just ugly. Perhaps he's been using water high in phosphate for water changes? That may make all the difference. Remove as much as you can manually, and your water quality may take care of the rest ;-)

[lizbeth]

Congratulations and good luck with the move!

[fishymissy]

One of those big plastic insulated coolers will help you out. You can put the rocks in there with some water and carry them that way. With the lid on, it helps to keep splashing to a minimum too. You also won't have to worry about the rocks poking through bags, or soaking newspaper. Put fish and inverts with water in seperate containers. You can take some of the water too (if you want to), in some clean 2 liter pop bottles, or clean milk containers. Then, either take the sand out and put in plastic bags, or carry as is. Putting a board underneath the tank is a real plus even if you take the sand out. Then, when you get the tank home, you put the sand, water, and rocks in. The water is going to be real cloudy and this is where the cooler comes in handy again. Once the rocks are out of the cooler, you can put the inverts and fish in the cooler with a powerhead for circulation. Put the lid on but not tightly, you want it so no fish can jump out and it stays dark. They can stay there overnight while the sand settles. Run the filter on the tank, this will help get some of the debris, but you will have to change the filter pad the next day.

 

Good luck!