Moving a large reef tank loads of fun

JohnVH

Reefer Madness
Not sure where to put this so I’ll share my experience to those of you who ever moved or thought about moving a tank.

Well my friend passed and it was time to move his tanks. It was not fun I do not recommend it to anyone. Everything went pretty smoothly and everything survived except for one small horse shoe crab. If you do have to move a tank plan it very well and have some really good friends. I didn't take pictures of the teardown there was just too much to do.

We moved 120 gallon reef tank and sump with a ton of pails and Rubbermaid containers 30 miles. Two weeks Prior to this there were two other freshwater planted tanks 100 gallon and 120 gallon. I had to tear them down and move them into the city. I gave all the plants and fish away to a friend of mine with a freshwater tank and also on a local fish forum, sold the tanks as per my friends wishes. The money is going into a fund for a 200 gallon build to combine my tank and his tank into one. I will start a new build thread when we start.

Freshwater tanks
100fresh.jpg 120fresh.jpg


We all set up our systems differently and tearing down someone else's set up proved to be very challenging. I had 120 gallons of freshly made saltwater ready to go. I also had a 20 gallon frag tank set up. We laid our base rock and then added new fine aragonite sand rinsed numerous times and still clouded up the water something fierce. We basically scaped the tank blind with the rest of the rock. I added a filter sock to start clearing up the water added the fish after a long acclamation and crossed my fingers. This entire process took 22 hours straight for the reef tank alone.

Before move
oldscape.jpg

After move
newtank1.jpg newetank2.jpg


After the water cleared up we were amazed at how it looked considering we couldn't see what we were doing because of the cloudy water, we got lucky one in a row. Now we can put the rest of the corals in the tank now that the water is clear. Some of the smaller pieces are going to be given away on the local forum here.

Corals that have to still go in
fragtank1.jpg newtank2.jpg

Some plants and fish in my other friends tank in their new home
tystank.jpg

Our current tank to be combined in the new build
mytank.jpg

I could not have done this without my wonderful wife who has been absolutely stellar throughout this entire process I love you Pam thank you
 
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Good work @JohnVH :thumbsup: Sounds like quite an ordeal, so I'm glad to hear the casualties were minimal. Bet the new combined tank will look great!
 
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