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Moving from Terre Haute to Greenwood


dcoar

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I am moving in three weeks from Terre Haute, IN to Greenwood, IN. Upgrade, I know lol. I have two tanks that I am moving in the process. I have a 75 and 29g biocube. I'm not worried about the biocube at all that should be a breeze. The 75 though I moved once across town in Terre Haute and it was a pain and I lost a lot of stuff in the process.

 

My 75 currently isn't in the best shape. It crashed about 4 months ago and I haven't been able to keep any coral alive in it since. I bought two led fixtures and put over it, and a vortex protein skimmer rated for a 250g tank. When I move I plan to replace all plumbing and put a new return pump on it too.

 

My question is will I cause problems if I replace the whole sand bed too. My current sand bed is 3 years old and is 3-4 inches deep. I want to replace it because I think is sucking all of the nutrients out of the tank which would explain my Calcium and alk never being stable. Thoughts?

 

Lastly, any advice on moving a tank 100 miles? I was thinking about tearing it down the night before, but I didn't know about having the fish and coral in buckets that long. Thanks in advance.

 

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The best thing to do is to have a container such as a stock tank at the new place, full of fresh heated saltwater so you can acclimate right away. If you use a stock tank or tub to hold stuff, that will give you a chance to get everything plumbed and set up without needing to worry about your livestock. Except for the most delicate livestock, most things should be fine in buckets for that long as long as you slowly bring the temp back up.

 

I would definitely ditch the sand. If it's full of nutrients, you'll likely have a massive algae bloom on your hands.

 

Oh, and move your tanks on a different weekend than the weekend you move everything else.

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I would agree with Katrina. I would for sure ditch the sand, just remember you can't just add new sand to the tank as that would probably be a disaster. You could slowly add sand after you have really washed it well, but it sounds like for the time being just run bare bottom. As far as your alk and calc not being stable, that is not due to your sand bed. Have you checked your magnesium? Something must be out of wack. Your alk and calc should be depleting from coralline algae and coral growth but not from your sandbed, unless your sandbed is covered in coralline.

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The problem with having a tank set up there already is I only have the uhaul for the weekend and I have to turn my keys in at my old place on the 1st.

 

How would you suggest the new sand bed. I was going to just put one in there and go. Is that bad?

 

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I have a 150g stock tank you could borrow and setup at the new place for temp housing while you setup the 75. I'd personally take the opportunity to start anew on that 75 if it's giving you trouble. There's no reason to bring old problems to your new place. Get new sand...4" of sand over a few years has a ton of nasty in it most likely and unless you want to spend half an afternoon in the cold washing it out or risk plugging up a bathtub drain to do it inside you'll be better off. I've moved a sand bed over 1 time and that's because it was very clean, only about 1.5" deep and under a year old.

 

Don't try and move all of your stuff and the tanks in one day. You're asking for trouble. Dedicate an entire day if not a weekend to the tank moves so if anything is to not go as planned you have the ability to deal with it rather than lose everything you have.

 

Like Luke said, your sand isn't the issue regarding alk/cal. It's either lack of water changes, not enough dosing to keep up with consumption or your salt mix is off. Have you tested a fresh batch compared to your tank water?

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Good luck with move, sorry to c u leaving Terre haute. If there's something I can help with let me know. As far as sand goes, when I moved, I kept an estimate of 10% of my old sand and put it my tank with all brand new sand and it did fine. So I think I seeded my new sand with my old sand. I did wash out my old sand just a little where there was no muddy looking water coming out of it. Good luck!

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