The 55 gallon move.

[JWarren]

Due to the price of gas and working 35 miles from my home I have run into the need to move a little to where I do a lot of my work. Moving from Vero Beach to Port Saint Lucie Florida, was a move I was not looking forward to making because of my love for Vero Beach but, it was absolutely necessary. I thought I would take a few photos and post a little bit about how I moved the 55 gallon tank.

I knew I would need quite a few containers of different sizes to haul the water and the inhabitants, most of which I already had on hand. A lot of the live rock in my tank has soft corals growing on them and need to be transported so each rock is separate as not to do harm to the corals by rocks being bumped together during the ride. So, I used deep Rubbermaid containers that had a large base to them so things could be spread out in the bottom a bit. Any of the base rock that had no corals on them went into 5 gallon buckets. All the water went into 6 gallon liquid totes. I used the pump and return line to pump the water into the totes.

I basically looked at the move as a ten gallon water change. I knew I would be getting rid of at least 2 1/2 gallons of water, so I had my RO/DI unit setup at the new house the day before and had run off 12 gallons of water for the tank. I mixed the salt with the water and let a pump run in it all night. My salt stays at 1.025 and I always weigh out my salt with a 5 pound postal scale. 650 grams per 5 gallons of water. I use Instant Ocean salt and have since starting in saltwater 25 years ago.

I created a page on my website with a lot of photos so everyone could see. I tried to get as many shots as time would allow and really didn't get as many as I would have liked but I knew I would have an hour travel time and would need quite a bit of time setting the tank back up as well as what time had been used in breaking it down. I would say all totaled it took about 3 hours with travel.



Everything went well except for the loss of one cleaner shrimp, which bumbed me out a bit because he was the male of a breading pair. I do have a really nice recessed space for my 90 gallon tank in the living room though!



I put up a web page of the move on my site at:

The move of the 55 gallon saltwater tank.

If you would like to see the pics and a bit more info.

If you have any questions just ask! When I find the box that has my D50's battery charger I will get some nicer pictures to post.

[lcstorc]

Glad things went so well for you.
Congrats

[vdituri]

Thats almost exactly how I moved my 55 freshwater tank last time.
Drained the water right down to the gravel.
I'm not sure I have strong enough friends to do it with the 55 salt though.
Might be too much sand in there.
I need stronger friends. lol

[JWarren]

Thanks Lynn! I am happy. The water is crystal clear today and everyone is happy and eating.

Victor, strong friends are always nice to have around! I don't think my girl could have crabbed the 90 up if it had been setup though, moving was the reason I waited to set it back up.

[KimPossible]

Checked out your site. Good job on the move, and I think your girlfriend did a good job on the scape too. Great documentation.

I started looking at your photographs too, very nice work. I went to the Bug photo's and after the pictures finished loading and after I admired the big bug photo, I placed my curser over the bottom thumbnail images and your bug sound effects just about made me jump outta my skin!
(hehehe...it's late and I'm sitting in the dark looking at bug photos... not a good combination)

[JWarren]

Hi Kim,

The 55 has been moved 4 times over the last 14 years, but I always seem to forget just how much work it tends to be. It's just the weight of all that water that wears you out. I'm glad I held off on setting the 90 back up and will be working on the plumbing for it more when I get everything unpacked. The 120 is still in storage and will be moving it when I get some room made for it; too many boxes in the way right now. Lisa is a great aqua scaper! She's got a great eye for it! I will be adding more to the web page when I can, just thought I would put up some pics and a little info while I had a minute.

Glad you got a kick out of the bug photos. They really are fascinating creatures on a micro level. I did not know that wasps eyes will follow you until I took those photos of it sitting on it nest. I've been contacted by quite a few schools asking to use them as teaching aids and I always let them at no charge. If they help to teach, I keep on taking them.

[Dentoid]

John, congratulations on the big move! Tanks looking sweet! Sorry to hear about the cleaner shrimp! BTW, how does one sex cleaner shrimps?

[JWarren]

It's all in the tail Scott!

A mated pair of Cleaner Shrimp.

[Dentoid]

Ah, I see! Thank you!