Moving Your Tank, Part II, Preparation

Last week, we talked about using moving as an impetus for up sizing your aquarium, and this is a great way to move a tank. However, some of you will not have space in your new place for a new aquarium, or perhaps there isn't budget for it, or maybe you already have your ideal tank size. The point here is, you'll still need to be able to move that tank, without having another one to set up in. This is slightly more challenging, but still a very manageable process with some planning. We should really look at this process in three stages: Preparation Day, Moving Day, and Recovery/Beer or (age-appropriate bevvy) Day.

Preparation:

Preparation is what will make this process go as smoothly as possible with as little stress as possible and there are multiple aspects to the preparation. We can't emphasize enough how much good preparation will facilitate a low stress, high success move.

First, figure out where the aquarium is going to go in the new place. You want to have everything set so there are as few questions as possible going through your move. Also in the new location, you'll need quite a bit of saltwater that is premixed and the right temp, so we suggest getting in there the night before the tank move and mixing up a large whack of it, at least ½ your tank volume, if not more. This move is going to function somewhat like a deep clean.

Prep at the house is multifaceted. You'll need to stock up on clean buckets; big box home improvement stores and hardware stores usually have tons of these at reasonable prices. We always recommend saving your salt's buckets for this occasion. If you're worried about plastic leaching (which won't be an issue in our opinion), you can always purchase food grade buckets from home brew and kitchen supply stores, though this is much more expensive. If you're going to bag fish, be sure to stock up on bags!

We suggest having a large cooler, as a cooler can be used in a couple ways. In our move/upgrade article, we suggest using the cooler to hold bags of fish / inverts, and this is a great (and preferred) model. Another way to use a cooler is to fill it to a few inches deep and add a small heater and an air-stone-pump and add fish and invertebrates directly to it; obviously, this model will require a battery powered air stone / heater. For those of you moving in the summer, with temps anywhere in the 60s to 80s Fahrenheit, you don't need to worry about the heater. If you go down this route, don't add rocks to the cooler as they will shift in transit, and are likely to cause some mortality via smooshing. Regardless of which model you chose, the cooler functions more like a warmer, and works quite well.

You're going need a bunch of towels and maybe a small tarp. It's nice to be able to pull rocks and décor out of aquariums and get them into buckets without leaving huge drips on the floor. The towels can do double duty by keeping rocks wet once the cleanup is over. You can cover rocks with aquarium water, and then close those buckets with the included tops. If tank water runs low, towels soaked in it will keep live rock plenty wet enough for a few hours and you'll have very limited or no die back. Once the siphoning is done, the last of the towels is super useful in getting that last 1/8 inch of water out of the bottom of the tank.

The night before, take down lighting, auto feeders and anything else over the aquarium that won't get used before the move and box it up. Package up all the other stuff you won't need before tomorrow. All the random hoses and old air pumps can get boxed. Even top off systems are great candidates for getting out of the way. It doesn't seem like a big deal, but anything you can get done the day before, will really help you in saved time and stress the day of.

Soft aquarium plumbing can degrade over time, and some hose clamps can get brittle, and other rust. This is a great time to do any replacing that needs to happen anyway, and if you're doing this, go to your Local Fish Store and stock up on all the supplies you'll need for your maintenance or upgrades, and have this ready. We suggest buying everything in redundancy, so you won't need a run to the shop in the middle of the move.

Next you need to think about how you are planning to manage your sand bed if you have one. Sand has a shelf life. It will act as a buffer in marine tanks, until it is saturated and then it will start to leach, negatively impacting your nitrate levels and your pH. As a result, all sand should be replaced on a schedule, and it is not the most fun of the jobs for aquarists. Moving day is a great opportunity in regard to sand replacement, and we suggest you take it. If you decide to keep your existing sand bed, because it is newer than 6 months old, or because you have very little live rock and need the sand for bio-filtration then don't worry about buying new sand. If you're due for some sand bed work, then this is the time to get new sand and prep it. Pick up the aragonite-based sand of your choice from your Local Fish Store.

If you prefer live, wet bagged sand, it's job over at this point, just get it home and keep it a moderate temperature. If you prefer dry sand, take it home and wash it thoroughly by mixing it in a bucket with clean, non-chlorinated water. Agitate the sand with your hand and when the sand settles, but the dirt didn't, pour off the dirty water. Repeat this until the water isn't dirty anymore, which may take several rinses. (For more, see primer on sand washing as part of our tank set up articles). On the last rinse, use clean saltwater from your aquarium and after mixing it, pour off the excess down to where the water just covers the sand. Take a healthy scoop of clean sand from your aquarium and mix it into the new sand, and you're done. This sand is now live, and to keep it this way, and to distribute the bacteria throughout it, turn the sand over by hand at least twice a day to prevent it from going anaerobic. When it comes to set up day, you'll be glad you have this job out of the way, and your critters will appreciate the bio-filter you've helped establish in the display!

The last step in prep is prepping the actual aquarium for the move. We suggest using a couple different products as you build toward moving day. A week before you move, you should dose your tank with Dr. Tim's Waste Away product after a very thorough, large volume water change. Make sure you siphon the sand bed as well as possible and try to get the rocks as clean as possible. The day before the move, add some Dr. Tim's First Defense / Stress Relief, (a product we suggest for the moving bags/vessels and the new tank as well).

Check back with us next week for part three of our series on moving tanks, “Moving Day”!