Best way to move a 55 gallon tank?

d_scherby08

Reefing newb
I am moving out of my apartment this week and simply moving down the hall to a new 2 bedroom. The only thing that isn't going to be simple is moving my fish tank as i have never done this before. What is the best way to drain the water, transport the tank and water, and put the water back in without completely clouding up the water. Any help is greatly appreciated.
 
Ahh...FINALLY something I have some helpful input for! :) I've done this a couple of times with a 55, sadly I haven't found a way to do it without clouding up the water at all.

What I did was get a bunch of 5g buckets from the local hardware store, I used plastic bowl to scoop the water out of my tank and pour it into the buckets. Once I got the bucket about 1/2 way full I started adding some of my live rock, and fish as they became available, until the tank was pretty much empty. The first time I did it, I scooped out all the sand too, but the second time I just left the sand and enough water to keep it wet in there.

Once I got everything to the new house, I simply did everything in reverse. I used the same bowl to scoop the water into the tank from the bucket, inevitably one of the buckets is going to end up being mostly water with little or no live rock in it, so I started with that one. Once I got enough water in there to cover a few pieces of live rock, I just placed a couple of pieces closely together and poured the rest of the water over them so that they took the brunt of the force from the water and it didn't stir up the sand too much. I don't think there's a way not to get a bit of clouding in the water, but it should all settle overnight.

I would try to add any fish/corals last so that they don't get bothered by the force of the water while you're adding it, or just use the bowl to re-add all the water if you're patient enough for that. If you have a pump, like from you're SUMP or something, with a bit of hose on it, you could also use that to move the water to and from your tank.


Hope this helps.
 
+1 Th0r4z1n3

However, if the tank has been set up for some time you should either toss the sand and get new, or clean it very well before putting everything back in. The sand can trap a lot of gunk over time, and moving can release all that gunk which can cause a mini cycle or bad water quality issues.
 
the tank has only been set up now for about 7 months or so and the nice thing is i only have to move it about 20 yards down the hall to the new place. I think im going to do the 5 gallon bucket thing and try to siphon the water back in with a few pieces of tubing. i feel that way the water will be entered back in slow enough to keep the sand pretty well settled.

I appreciate the advice as well and thank you for taking the time to reply
 
+1 Th0r4z1n3

However, if the tank has been set up for some time you should either toss the sand and get new, or clean it very well before putting everything back in. The sand can trap a lot of gunk over time, and moving can release all that gunk which can cause a mini cycle or bad water quality issues.

I have a 20gallon that has been set up for about a year and I'm moving soon as well. So you would suggest changing the sand? If so that would be awesome! I've been wanting to do that for a while. Just to be sure though, it will be safe to change out the sand completely and not cause some form of a mini cycle? I'm planning on leaving just enough water to keep it wet and still be able to carry the tank.
 
Most of the bacteria lives in the rocks, so its totally fine to get rid of all the sand. I would just consider saving a cup because of the good bacteria and other microfuana in it
 
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