How to move your tank (with pictures!)

[Spencer7]

It's undoubtedly the worst part of the hobby: moving an active, mature reef tank and its inhabitants to a new residency. It's a stressful process, which often comes with a strict deadline. Here, I've documented the steps I took in my most recent move to try and help you prepare for the future. 

 

The Goal: Give your corals (and fish) such a smooth experience that, to them, it was simply a cloudy day because the lights turned off. We want to protect your tank's microbiome and prevent a restart back to "day one" conditions as best as we can. 

 

What it's NOT: Contrary to instinct/urges, this is NOT the time to clean your entire system top to bottom. I advise you to restrain from putting everything in citric acid, scrubbing down your sump, using hydrogen peroxide on rock, etc. Your tank's microbiome is stressed enough. Wait a week or two and then you can unplug and soak/clean various equipment. We don't want a full restart. You're already doing a large water change and sucking out some gunk but don't get anal with it. This adds time to the transition and results in a bigger shock to the tank system. My opinion. 

 

The Tank: Red Sea Reefer 170 (tank journal)

 

The Move: Moving from my second apartment in Pittsburgh, to my third. Weather is 75C and cloudy. 15 minutes away. 2nd floor. Sounds easy, right?

 

Disclaimer: These practices won't work for every tank or move but can hopefully help you think about the steps most relevant for your situation. This tank was an all acro tank with no fish at the time so this article caters to the coral. 

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Prior to Moving Day

1. The aquarium should be the last thing you move over. Give yourself at least three days to move: small apartment stuff, large items, aquarium. Paying a little extra rent is worth it. 

2. Plan, plan, plan:

• How are you getting to the new place? Who's driving? Parking? What routes with the tank take?
• Did you account for the weather?
• Did you measure your doorways or cars?
• Do you have blankets ready to protect the tank/stand from scratches? Towels ready for water spillage? 
• Do you have mixed, heated saltwater ready to go at the new place? 
• Do you have a toolbox with the essentials ready? (zipties, drill, clippers, screwdrivers, etc.) 
• Consider investing in suction clamps for moving a larger tank. Perhaps gloves for a medium-sized tank.

3. Prioritize heat and flow. The other equipment (skimmer, lights, doser, reactors, etc.) are not priority for the one-day move. This is a good time to have a backup heater and pump with you. 

4. Get help. Offer a couple friends beers, dinner, frags, whatever...just get help. Everything is less stressful if you're handling a comfortable weight. You can think more clearly and have greater range for on-the-fly changes of plans. 

5. Make the process as easy as possible for your helpers. The ability to give straightforward instructions will come with planning. Ideally, they know when to come, where to park, the route you'll take, etc. You should be the expert for coordinating the big day. Be clear, concise and decisive. 

 

I will add additional tips here as others post. 

 

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Pictures

10am: Apartment empty, tank is hooked up

10:38am: Lights are taken down, doser is removed, side cabinet is removed (heat and flow in main tank)

10:46am: I fill my ATO reservoir with tank water and lift the entire scape up as one piece. In order to fit the structure, I pop off one branch and one frag (which is later crushed as the only casualty). Heater and circulator are in the reservoir. Scape was designed with this convenience in mind.

10:57am: This is the scene now. The coral is safe and the tank is ready to drain. Here I'm filling up two 5gal containers with old tank water. I'm saving this water for filling up the tank in its new spot. I finish draining the tank and wait for my helpers.

11:58am: Helpers arrived well-fed and ready to go. We carefully load the cabinet (back down), sump and tank into the two cars. My friend demonstrates proper measurement form 😉 Notice: enough water is left in the sump and tank to completely cover biological material (rock, sand, bio-brick).

 

12:29pm: The tank, sump and stand are put in place at the new apartment! 10 gallons of old tank water is ready to go and my mixing vat and RODI unit (with booster pump) are operational to make some new saltwater. Time to take a break, rest, eat something, etc. Apartment is kept at 74F and the sump has a heater running.

4:10pm: My girlfriend and I return to the old apartment to move the coral container over. I optimistically, thought we could carry the container over with water fully covering the scape but it's just too heavy without our helpers. Game time decision is to remove the 80% of the water and hustle up. We're able to get the structure submerged in water (at the new place) in 20 minutes. The acropora didn't like it...but they'll live. Keep in mind, many of these species experience tidal cycles in the wild. We finish filling the tank with clean saltwater and hook up all the pumps/plumbing. This where the Red Sea's unions make things easy!

 

24 hours later: 

The hanging lights are installed and everything is running smoothly. One small frag was lost due to being crushed in transit (popped off rock to let the structure fit in its container). Everything looks good. I added 5mL of Microbacter7 to help with the detritus stirred up. I also dosed 10mL NeoNitro, 5mL AcroPower and 2mL of NeoPhos since this was already a low nutrient system before the ~70% water change. After 24 hours, I test all my parameters and dose accordingly. Check up on the tank's progress here: tank journal

 

Good luck everyone! I hope this was helpful to some!

 

[Kellie in CA]

Nice write-up!  Sadly, I have had to go through this process 4 times in the past 5 years!  Not fun and it adds an incredible amount of stress to an already stressful time.  But luckily I've never had any major losses. 

 

I always toss all the sand and start fresh.  

[Spencer7]

28 minutes ago, Kellie in CA said:

Nice write-up!  Sadly, I have had to go through this process 4 times in the past 5 years!  Not fun and it adds an incredible amount of stress to an already stressful time.  But luckily I've never had any major losses. 

 

I always toss all the sand and start fresh.  

What kind of tank? Tossing your sand is a bold move but I imagine you have a thin bed and a pile of other biological material. 

 

Yes, this tank was moved after my first (one year) lease in Pittsburgh ended. Basically used it as a restart for the system...but more than I would've liked. 

 

I feel I have to be especially conscientious of my tank's biological surface area because I have such little rock work. Probably only 10-15 lbs and it's artificial rock. Can't rely on it for my surface area. That and the fact that I just have a bunch of sensitive acro's.

[Reefkid88]

Aweosme write up Spencer !!! I am glad to hear the move went well with nothing going crazy. 

 

 Mainly all my moves and tank transfers have gone smoothly besides the one time I had a ton of Acro's. I lost probably 25-30% of them. But any time its been mainly softies and lps its gone pretty dang smooth. 

 

 I have to move tanks often,usually once every year or 2. One really hope within the next year with my wife getting a consistent paying job w/ bonuses that we can buy a house because I am tired if it and want a bigger full blown reef the way I want. 

[Kellie in CA]

19 hours ago, Spencer7 said:

What kind of tank? Tossing your sand is a bold move but I imagine you have a thin bed and a pile of other biological material. 

 

Yes, this tank was moved after my first (one year) lease in Pittsburgh ended. Basically used it as a restart for the system...but more than I would've liked. 

 

I feel I have to be especially conscientious of my tank's biological surface area because I have such little rock work. Probably only 10-15 lbs and it's artificial rock. Can't rely on it for my surface area. That and the fact that I just have a bunch of sensitive acro's.

Really? I always heard it was a bold move not to toss it.  My tank has about an inch or 2 of sand and minimal rockwork.  I'm transferring to a new tank this weekend and it will be all new sand again.  haha 

[Spencer7]

34 minutes ago, Kellie in CA said:

Really? I always heard it was a bold move not to toss it.  My tank has about an inch or 2 of sand and minimal rockwork.  I'm transferring to a new tank this weekend and it will be all new sand again.  haha 

Interesting. I guess if your bed is >1" deep and relatively undisturbed, the stirred up detritus represents too much of a nutrient dump. 

 

My bed is probably 0.5" and pretty clean (no fish right now, high circulation). 

 

Good luck! Feel free to post any good pointers here and I can add them to the OP 😊