Best way to move tank

[clancaster23]

I have two reason why I need to move my 40 gallon in about two weeks. One, I have low ceiling in my room and it actually comes down at an angle from 6' 6" on the high end to maybe 6' 2" on the front end, where the tank is now. I need to redo my ceiling drywall and I have less than a foot from the top of the tank to the ceiling and that would be a pain to try to do drywall over not to mention finishing it. Also, moving the tank to the other side of the room gives me a lot more space between tank and ceiling because of the ceiling height increase plus it's going on a much lower stand. Second reason is I finally got a 30 gallon sump tank put together and as soon as I get me a return pump for it, I'll be good to go. This tank won't fit in my stand that I have the 40 gallon on now so I have to relocate the tank onto my 4' stand and I'll be able to put the sump tank underneath. Anyways, I was wondering what would be the best way to relocate the tank without disturbing the life of the tank much. I have a goby, clown fish and six-line wrasse in there with a coral banded shrimp plus a bunch of coral. Can I drain most of the water out of it, place it in a good clean tub with some of the rock, move the tank from one stand to another and then put the water back in along with the rock and not expect too much of a disturbance from tank inhabitants?

 

[2XAl]

That's what I did, the only thing to be cautious of is try not to disturb the substrate too much or you risk setting off a mini cycle. That being said mine took a 30 min ride in the bed of my truck with no problems. Water, rock, fish and corals were all in tubs and I left the base rock and substrate in about 2" of water.

 

[Ted]

I have helped move a bunch of tanks from one side of the room to the other just like you mentioned. Strong backs and small steps....

 

[westcott]

I use a trash can for tank moving and servicing. I place all the rock and water in the trash can (only used for this and water changes). Fish and coral in buckets with air.

 

[cvcdrk]

In my opinion, it would be wise to replace the sandbed. Your idea would work just fine, but replacing it now is insurance for the future, it will probably look nicer and it will be more certain to avoid a cycle. Vacuuming it out is pretty easy...especially when there isn't much water in it.

 

[Kully3xf]

+1 to cvcdrk.
I've moved a few tanks in my life, it's a big undertaking, be careful. Make sure you have a good 10-20% of water pre-made and salt mixed.
Here's what I would do,
Go get a bunch of 5 gallon buckets... these are good to have in general

Siphon out some water into some of the buckets and place in as many corals as you can into as few buckets you can without crushing anything. don't pull any rocks that are in the sand bed yet.

Throw a heater into the buckets, this will buy you time in your move... as long as the temp is good you don't need current immediately, if you plan on doing it over a few hours throw a low GPH pump in there.

Now you can drain the majority of the rest of the water into other buckets, i'd say when the water level is about 50% normal try to catch fish... this can be really hard depending on what fish you have;
**PROTIP: use egg crating to section off fish into a small area of the tank, this stuff

this way you can make the area to catch the fish really small and trap them in a corner so they can't swim away or hide behind the remaining rocks
put the fish into one of the coral buckets.

Now drain the rest of the water out until just above the sand line, maybe an inch or so

Pull the rest of the rock work out slowly and shake them to get hte most of the sand off

Scoop out all the sand and throw it away! if you reuse it there is a really good chance you will start a cycle. once most of the sand is out, you can move the tank...

Once you've moved it, pour in the majority of the water again, and heat it to temp. Add rocks, then fish, and then coral.

Now that everything is back together, put your lights on a shorter photo period because everyone is going to be stressed...