Tank Relocation Thread

Keep most of the water as possible. Leave the substrate in the display covered by about 20mm water.
Oh yeah, that do depends on the size of the system, manpower available and thickness of the substrate. If there is a 100mm sand level, in a 700L tank, rather remove it as it will just then be too heavy to get enough guys around the tank to lift it. Especially where you need to go through a narrow doorway.

So yes, these are all guidelines, but adjustments needs to be taken depending on your circumstances.
 
Someone stole my Hyundai bakkie last night. So no big tank moving until I get it back from the police.

They disconnected the battery at 04h16. Wife went to let the dogs out at 6h15 and noticed the gate open. Phoned the tracking company and they recovered the vehicle 15 minuets later. I am very impressed. Whilst I was reporting the theft they told me where the vehicle was. Thokoza of course. They tried to find the tracking device by dismantling the dash,hood lining, door padding, etc.
 
Good thread. I have learnt to be any good at this wonderful hobby one needs to have lots of patience. It took me two years of in and out to perky pets, speaking to David and Dane before I took the plunge. It has been a year now since my tank first got wet. It has been awesome seeing my fish and coral grow. I have had some losses and I can tell you, i am always disapointed if I loose a fish. But for the most part i think I have been rather lucky. I get to the point. At the end of this year i am faced with a move, from Cape Town to Rustenburg in the NW. For the last six months I have been looking and thinking of options of how to do this, but it seems as though the best option is to start from scratch, sell livestock and go from there. What do you guys think?
 
Getting the tank there and the hardware there is not the problem. Here is the one option I had thought of, Cooler boxes, i can get different sizes for free, so that is a bonus. Modify them to take a heater through the lid and small pump to circulate. Take half of my water, about 300-350 liters with me, chuck the rest, take the other half from two oceans (Yes I use two oceans water) with me. So I have my water and fish and corals. But it will be at least two days before my tank is up and running. And here is my question, With a move of this nature will my tank not have to cycle for six weeks again before i can add livestock? I could see if a lfs would be helpful enough to house my livestock for six weeks and then ship to me. Man these fish grow on a person so I would rather make sure they go to good homes than risk losing any of them.
 
they can be transported, remember they travel 24hrs to SA in a small plastic bag etc, if you planned it well, there should be no loss, use a plastic coleman cooler box, add a small 50w heater using an inverter, battery airpump and dose special blend
 
speak to @Andreas
He did a move from Durban to Centurion.
Can be done, but he had a pump failure the day after the move and due to that had a lot of losses. But the move itself was fine.
 
How do I move the sump with a DSB in without cracking the base?
there is no safe way, unless your sump is on a frame etc...

but the minute you disturb the dsb to much, its "dead" and toxic
 
but the minute you disturb the dsb to much, its "dead" and toxic
yes and no.

I moved, transplanted, relocated, dug out and ripped out plus whatever a DSB from one sump to another without issues. Most important is to keep the layers.

And keep the sump on its own circulation until everything settles for a day or three. Siphon the sand clean and test parameters.

It is not a touch me and I die thing. It will recover quickly. But test the parameters.

But check
 
What's more vulnerable to lossage? Corals or fish? Or shrimps and so on?

I'd imagine snails are pretty robust?
 
corals i find more hardy, then inverts then fish

you still posting, thought your wife would have crucified you... lol
 
What's more vulnerable to lossage? Corals or fish? Or shrimps and so on?
Corals are robust. Softies especially. Not that effected by incorrect acclimatization. Can move frags from system to system and they are OK the next day.

Inverts, need double the time to acclimatize and get used to the new tank parameters than fish. That is your shrimps, hermits, snails and anemones. They all die easily. And from low salinity to normal salinity, need to take your time. Unless it is some unwanted hitchhiker, they can withstand RO dips and whatever rapid parameter changes. But not the inverts you paid for.... It is just like that.
 
Good info! Is it recommended to try and loosely arrange the lr and corals the way they were before the move (so it's more familiar for the critters) or does that just waste precious time?
 
Thanks Riaan! This thread is good, don't wanna spoil it with "domestic issues" :)

(Although that probably has a lot to do with tank relocation!)
 
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