I need advice on moving!

[Trucker84]

Ok, so my landlord stopped paying the mortgage and I have to move. This blows, but life goes on... however i am hoping you guys can give me some advice...

WHAT I GOT:
125gal- 8" common wolf fish, 11" Xingu I pike, 7" silver arowana, 12" Pleco, 10" Ornate bichir, 6" S. American bumblebee Cat, Electric blue crayfish

150ga- 5 5-6" Red belly Piranha, 2 3-4"gold piranhal... FULLY PLANTED

40gal- 8 4" peacock bass, 1 3" Green phantom pleco

40gal- Saltwater Reeftank, about 3-4months old

25gal- 2"cichla pinima, 2 2" flagtail prochilodus, 1 4" bushy nose pleco, 9 1/2" convicts (soon to be my brreding project)

240gal Empty all filters bought just waiting for my new house to set it up.


Now i need to know what you guys think my best strategy for moving all these monsters is.
Originally i thought i would move all the fish from the 125gal to my 240gal, Clean the 125, and set it up for my Pbass to move into. Obviously i will still need to buy a larger tank for the Pbass down the road. Or, I could keep those fish in the 125, and put the Pbass strait in the 240. But that is only 24" wide and i will still have to move the Pbass again one day, just not for much longer. The 125 is only 18" wide and will still hold those Pbass for the next year.
Now the piranha... the tank they are in is 150gal with 1/2" glass on the sides, it's heavy as hell and has 140lbs of substarate in it... How am i gonna move this thing??? It has over a dozen plants in it, and 7 piranha. Do i:
A: Bag all the fish, bag all the plants, drain all the water... replant and hope for the best
B: Bag the fish drain all but 5-10gal and move it with the plants still planted?
How much water should i move to keep my biological filter intact? 50gallons? what a chore...
Saltwater tank... i dont even know what to do.. my live rock isnt the most stable, should i bag all my corals and fish, put half the water in buckets, move it, and re-place all my corals?


I am so lost i have never move a single fish tank and now i have hundreds of gallons of fish and water to move... please help me

 

[chesterthehero]

none of this applys to the salt tank.. ill let someone who knows salt better than i do help you there

for the fresh water stuff.. this is prettymuch what ive done

pick up some rubbermaid tubs.. if i read that right your biggest fish is about 12".. so the 18 gallon tubs should work great (dont forget the lids).. also depending on how far you are moving you might want to pick up a few battery powered air pumps.. a pickup or van works best cuz theres a 99.9999% chance that yer going to splash some water around at some point..
lifting the tubs when they are full of water was something that i could do.. but im a big guy.. you could get the fish in the tubs with a few gallons of water then use a bucket/syphon hose to fill them up a bit more.. they do not need to be all the way full.. i found the 1/2 way mark to be best..

try and move the tanks and fish at the same time if they are going any real distance.. however do not put the tubs IN the tank to save space.. you will end up with broken tanks..
take all the substarate out of the tanks and put it in buckets.. theres BB living on the substrate.. i dont know how much but the more you keep alive the better.. same goes for filter media.. keep it in tubs with tank water.. it will live be ok for a few hours (dont leave it sitting in the sun for a few hours though)
depending on what plants you have (delicate need to be moved in a delicate way) either toss them in a tub with water or bag them up like they are when you buy them

if you were planning on moving fish to different tanks now is the time to do it.. moving them to a new house will stress them enough.. they dont need to be moved to a new house and then a few days later to a new tank..

as for moving the tanks.. move them empty and remember its all about weight distribution.. keep them level and fully supported.. towels and blankets work well to keep them from bouncing and smashing

good luck

 

[kydsexy]

yeah the freshwater is pretty basic, bag everything with tank water, put the substrate in to a rubbermaid container with tank water, add in a air stone/powerhead to keep flow high. the faster you set the tank back up, the better.


saltwater is a little bit more tricky but not as difficult as you may think. make sure that you have containers for the live rock to remain in until you can set the tank back up. if not, the lr will die and you will have to buy more to seed your old rock, DO NOT THROW IT AWAY! put it in a large unused, rinsed, trash can with a powerhead, let hte water flow, it will be fine. any corals can be placed properly in the tub also, but be sure that you provide adequate light for them. next be sure to add a heater to the trash can to keep water temp proper. fish can be stored in another rubbermaid container also. fill the tank up and let it recycle while you wait for all the levels to balance out! im at work and headed out, i'll leave more info when i get home later. dont panic tho, just try to not stress out the fish too much, that'll be your greatest problem and be sure to keep as many parameters the same!

 

[Bderick67]

I would start as you though setup the 240 and move the 125 fish and filters.

Then use the 125 to temp. house the piranha and plants while you get the 150g moved and set up.

Now you can move and setup the 125 for the pbass the rest of the tank should go easy since you will always have an open tank.

No advise that I can give on the salt though.

 

[Trucker84]

This is my issue with the 240... it has never been set up and the filters for it are still in the box... i have no established BB colony so i fear parameter spikes... I have 2 FX5s for it, should i start running one on my 150 and one on my 125 to establish the BB in the filter media before the move?

 

[Bderick67]

Yes it would be wise to run the new filters to establish them. You can also just move the current 125g filters to the 240g, they are already matched to the bioload.

 

[Toodleypops]

wow i really have no advice to add.. good luck with your move though you've got quite a load.