The tank move

When it came to planning the house move, I think the two things we worried most about was our daughter and then the fish tank. Never mind us having to pack up a house and figure out those logistics, that was the easy part - get a removal company. Now most people would say that I could have got the removal company to move the tank for me, but those people most likely dont know how much effort and affection goes into keeping marines. I may as well have asked them to take my daughter as well with that thinking.

So we spent a couple of weeks planning the move. The big concerns we had was stressing the fish out to much and the effects of die off from the the gravel and rock. That meant we would keep the rock and gravel under water for the journey. As for the effects of stress, we asked the LFS and they told us to treat the fish as if purchased from a shop. Bag them up and tape them with some news paper to keep it dark. Also ensure there was sufficient air in the bag as it cushions it from getting to damaged and air exchange.

We figured that we would need some new marine water on the other side and therefore ensured we had 2 water buts of freshly picked up marine water. Another would be used for RO. We also managed to get 2 polystyrene boxes from a fish shop for free (I most probably paid for them through my many purchases) and these would be used to hold the fish and coral. The fish and corals would each be put into separate bags as if purchased from the fish shop. As the fish and corals would only be bagged for max 2.5 hours, we weren't to worried about filling the bag with oxygen. We did however ensure that the bag was only half full with water, so there was air in the bag for exchange to occur. For transporting the live rock, we bought 2 25l plastic containers that we could put the rocks in and some water. The lids weren't water tight so we ended up taping the lids shut. As for the gravel, we left about 3 inches of water in the tank to ensure that we didn't let the life in the sand die off to much.

on D-day plus 1, a friend with a people carrier was designated to be the mule as our little car would never have been able to pick it all up. We started early in the morning for 2 reasons, avoid traffic and the heat of day. It took 3 of us to completely break the tank down into its bits and have the fish and corals bagged as well as the rock placed into the Tupperware. The trip went off without a hitch and all the inhabitants arrived safely on the other side.

Setting the tank up went really well and we were able to redo our aquascape. I must say that the scaping has been a major improvement from what it was. And the fish and inverts seem to enjoy it as well. We set up the tank using 50% old water and 50% new water. Once this was up to temp, we started acclimating the corals first. Thought it would be easier on us to place and stick the corals and the less stressful on the fish if we started with them. Once we got a space for all the corals, we started acclimating the fish in the normal way. The result was a very successful tank move and a very relieved aquarist.