Whatever the reason the need arose to move an aquarium, and the sump if there is one, it is an action aquarists would mostly prefer to avoid. Avoidance unfortunately is usually not an option.

Some aquarists take the opportunity to start again. They sell the aquarium system in entirety, and use the money obtained towards a new one. A good idea maybe, but the move still needs to take place. The advantage is the buyer usually collects and the buyer has the headache of putting it all back together again. Other aquarists will set up a new system in the desired location dry, and then move the contents of the old system directly to the new home, which does make things somewhat easier. Then the old system is sold.

The majority of aquarists are faced with the move and do not wish to sell their system. They sit head in hands and gaze at their beautiful reef, knowing that it is to be destroyed, or at least temporarily.

There will be some problems with the move, it is inevitable. There are two things that are going to assist the aquarist above all else - patience and planning.

If the aquarium is being moved because of a change of house, the date of move should be known. Giving plenty of time to plan before the big day, say two weeks, try and arrange with the occupant of the new house a date that the aquarium can be moved in advance of the furniture move. If this cannot be done, try and arrange a date with the new occupant of the current house a date after the move when the aquarium will go.

If the aquarium move is to a location within the same house, give say, two weeks planning time before moving it.

The first check for all aquariums but particularly with a large one, is to ensure that the floor in the new location is capable of supporting the aquarium. Seawater is heavy, about 10lbs per gallon, and then there are the rocks and sand plus the aquarium itself.

A list should be made:

Large containers

The aquarist should know the net gallonage of the system. There will need to be containers to contain as much of this seawater as possible. It is mature and a total fill of fresh raw mix should be avoided. The fish and other livestock can go in one or more of these containers if they are large enough.

Live rock

If the aquarium is a reef system, then it is probable that corals will be attached to the rocks. It is best to get these into large containers also so that the corals are not overly stressed.

System set-up

It may be a while since the system was put together. A drawing of what attaches to where, and how, can be of great help in re-assembly.

Load size

It will be more than stressful if the amount that needs to be carried is excessive to that possible. Calculate as near as can be the size of vehicle needed. Of course, more than one journey could be made if this is practical.

Help

This may well be the aquarists cry in due course, but at this moment consider who can be asked to assist in carrying heavy items, such as containers, aquarium, sump etc.

Course of action

There has to be a commonsense train of actions. Obviously the aquarium cannot be moved until it has been emptied of rock and much of the seawater.

Before the aquarium is even looked at, and having decided on the number of seawater containers that can be used, estimate the amount of newly mixed seawater that will be needed to top up the aquarium at the new location. Have a container for this, plus the salt, and mix it a day before the move so that it is ready and waiting.

1. Switch off and remove the lighting system (beware of any hot bulbs).
2. Remove seawater from the aquarium until the level is near the top of the reef. This seawater goes into the waiting containers, but do not fill them fully.
3. With great care (corals), remove rocks from the reef and place them carefully in containers so that the corals face minimum damage. Try and put base rocks in one container and face rocks with corals in another.
4. When as much of the reef has been moved as possible, the fish (and shrimps if any) need to be moved. These have been left until the rocks were out of the way. Catching fish etc with a reef or partial reef present is very difficult. Patience will certainly be needed for this event, the fish are likely to escape the net many times. It is recommended to use two nets. Get them into a container as quickly as possible ready for transportation.
5. Remove as much of the remaining seawater as possible, so that as much as possible can be transported to the new location in the containers. Seawater does not cool very rapidly, but on a journey of any length insulation may be a requirement. When removing seawater remember to switch off heaters, and not remove them from the water when hot. Discard seawater that cannot be transported, do not leave it in the aquarium in a large amount as the extra weight when the aquarium is moved may cause overstress and put the aquarium integrity in doubt.
6. Now is the time for the acquired muscle to really help. Move the nearly empty aquarium (having disconnected pipework etc) to the transport. Also any sump. Caution is required as these may well be glass.
7. Avoid stressing them and put them in the transport on a supportive base such as a thick foam sheet.
8. Put remaining items of equipment in the transport.

On arrival at the new location go into reverse. Put the display aquarium into position first, and put as much seawater from the containers in without exposing the corals to air. As the seawater rises place the rockwork in, add more water, then more rockwork etc. Keep below any overflows. Try and get all the rockwork in and covered in seawater. The rocks can be placed where the aquarist thinks they go, but do not spend too much time, this can be adjusted later. Use some of the pre-mixed seawater to bring the level up if necessary. Put the circulating pumps in the display aquarium and also the heaters. Turn them on. Now the fish etc can go back in, attempt to stress them the least possible.

At this point take a breather. The aquarium has heaters, circulation and filtration.

Connect up the sump (if used) referring to the pre-prepared diagram as necessary. All other equipment can be connected, protein skimmers, return pumps etc. When this is all done, add the pre-prepared seawater to bring everything to the correct level. If there is too much pre-prepared seawater, it will do for the next routine water change, if too little, provided it is not that short, the system will not suffer until another batch is ready. Turn on all remaining equipment apart from the lights. Only one action remains, and that is to check for leaks.

The lights can be fixed in place the next day. It is recommended that the lights remain off for at least one full day after the move, this should help with the stress the fish (and corals) have suffered.

A check can be made that all equipment is functioning correctly and seawater levels are as they should be.

The above is a skeleton guideline to moving an aquarium. An aquarist may wonder ‘but what about the’?’ This is why pre-planning is so important.

All things being equal, after a while, when the livestock have settled and the reef rocks have been adjusted, the aquarist will once more have time to gaze at a wonderful display.

The marine aquarium hobby was once viewed as very hard, very expensive, and needing a touch of magic. The first two were correct, but not the latter, that simply being how it probably appeared to anyone not in the hobby but perhaps with a spattering of knowledge. There was little knowledge of the needs of captive marine life, and for the most part (the biggest most part) only very hardy life in very small numbers survived for any length of time, and that was usually measured in months.

I can just see those pioneer marine aquarists sitting arguing over the possibly best way to proceed. If they could see us now, their flabber would certainly be gasted.

The first real breakthrough in filtration came with the under-gravel filter. I hang my head in shame as I forget the aquarist who did it, but a plate was put under the sand and water pumped through it to keep the sand clean. Keep it clean physically that is. However, after a while it was noticed that life was surviving for quite a while, much longer than usual. So experimentation ensued, with the same results. Eventually the reason was obtained for the extended life of the livestock (from a scientist maybe?) and of course the reason was that an army of ammonia and nitrite destroying bacteria had been established. Despite my lean knowledge of the event (I’m not that old!), I do recall that the aquarist didn’t believe that the answer to keeping marine life could be that simple, he continued to believe that it was because the sand was clean.

Anyway, the door was open. Filtration capable of supporting marine life had arrived, or at least capable of supporting fish on the whole. This must have caused a leap in the desire to keep marines, and indeed the hobby from that time did open up and expand considerably.

Jumping forward a decade or so (great when you can time travel), look at us now! The under-gravel filter continued in great popularity for quite a while, but now that marine aquarium keeping was much more popular there were higher numbers of innovative minds wondering if they could ‘do it better’, and, of course, the commercial manufacturers started taking an interest, first in under-gravel equipment, and then in canister filter equipment and media suitable for marines. From there the hobby has leapt forward. There are now highly efficient protein skimmers (what an aid to water quality they are), biological trickle towers, denitrators, anti-phosphate reactors, water level top-up systems, calcium reactors etc. Seawater quality in the modern saltwater aquarium is unbelievably good compared to how it was not that long ago.

The very latest move has been to natural filtration techniques. Modern marine aquarists consider this to be the best, this is what nature does so it is considered that lead should be followed. The obvious example is ‘live’ rock, with all its bacteria, doing the work that the old under-gravel filter used to do but doing it so much better - used properly it even gets rid of the nitrate. Then there is the DSB (deep sand bed), the plenum (a raised DSB), further examples of nature’s way. Very good and successful they are too.

Looking at all the above it can be seen why filtration is such a hot topic, though it depends which angle the aquarist is coming from.

There are aquarists who may or may not have tried different filtration techniques, but now have one which has worked very well for them. Their fish and corals are a sight to marvel at. Water quality is very high, and without doubt they have done well. They will often argue vehemently that their filtration or filtration combination is best. Well, so it seems to them. Truth is, there could be another aquarist who uses different methods and gets just as good results. They’re not going to agree, more discussion!

Then there are the more serious aquarists. They too have marvellous aquariums, usually filtered by live rock and often linked to a sump with a DSB etc in. Maybe they use algae (Caulerpa) to enhance filtration. Maybe they use other means. What they do is keep up to date with new ideas and emerging technology that they may be able to use to enhance their systems. Of course, they will discuss and argue over the potential benefits or otherwise of new filtration equipment etc.

Then there are those leading aquarists who are not really content just to achieve a great captive reef display. They wonder if there is any new way to enhance their systems. There already is a display aquarium, of course, and an attached sump with a DSB and probably Caulerpa. Some attach another area that is in total darkness permanently, so that some sponges and other filtering life forms can develop. There are other experiments being done. One leading aquarist even pondered the possible beneficial qualities of Aiptasia anemones. These anemones usually make the average aquarist go on the offensive. But what is being considered is their filtration ability if they are allowed to multiply and grow. Any spread out of the designated area would be controlled. However, spread within the designated area would presumably be controlled by the supply of food. I can see aquarists arguing about that one!

All of this is an effort to make the display aquarium part of as natural a system as possible, where interference from the aquarist is minimised. It is my opinion that there will always need to be some interference and action by the aquarist as, no matter how big the aquarium system, compared to its wild counterpart it is very tiny.

So the marine aquarium hobby is advancing. From the inexperienced newcomer who is simply researching the systems and methods available right through to the pioneer who is adding another experimental area to an advanced system, there is discussion and argument. The absolute beginner can puzzle over and discuss filtration when one system appears, at least theoretically, to be ‘better’ than another. The very advanced aquarist or pioneer can argue in great technical depth about the merits of the latest potential advancement in filtration techniques. All those in the middle, the majority, can discuss and argue about just about any type of filtration in general.

It is a hot subject, filtration. It should be. It is an essential part of a successful, healthy, and vibrant aquarium. It is also the way forward, all this discussion, argument, and experimentation. It is also one of the things that make this hobby of ours so fascinating.

This is not an attempt to lay down railway lines for a converting aquarist to religiously follow, but hopefully a thought provoker that indicates some of what lies ahead.

Quite a number of freshwater aquarists are tempted to keep marines because they see a stunning aquarium somewhere, or they realize that keeping marines is not as difficult as they first thought, or they feel they have accumulated enough experience to make the change. Not all freshwater aquarists are the same of course. There are some really beautiful decorated freshwater aquariums about, and keeping one of these is as difficult as a reef aquarium.

Once the decision to change has been made, then the aquarist gets down to brass tacks. What next? What do I need? What can I use from the freshwater system?

The first owned item is, of course, the aquarium. The second the heater(s). The third, the canister filter.

The aquarium should be emptied and stripped. Once empty, it should be thoroughly rinsed in clean fresh water (tap water will do). Then it should be generally dried with clean cloths. There isn’t a need to use a sterilising agent as the aquarium is going to remain empty, dry and penetrated by air for a period, until the marine system is ready for assembly and use. If a sump has been in use this should receive the same treatment. If a sump has not been in use, then consideration should be given to having one. If it is decided to have one, have the aquarium drilled to receive the overflow plumbing.

The equipment needs to be obtained. A protein skimmer should be rated at around twice the net capacity of the aquarium system. The heaters are already available - if there is any doubt, or they have been in use for a long time, obtain new ones (two are best, rated at one half each of the required wattage). Circulation creation needs to be considered, by purchasing power heads, or an internal wave-maker, or both. A canister filter is already available, but it should be noted that this will be used for chemical and solids filtration only (bio-filtration is by other means).

Aquarium lighting needs some careful consideration. What does the aquarist intend to keep? It is likely that a fluorescent system is already owned, and this could be used on the marine system. However, the fluorescent tubes will need to be changed as the light spectrum will be incorrect. Actinic tubes combined with daylight types are required. Again, if the aquarist has a quite deep aquarium, and/or hard corals are to be kept, consideration should be given to metal halide lighting of the correct wattage and Kelvin rating.

It has already been stated that filtration will be other than a canister filter (it can be by canister filter(s) but these are not the modern recommended way). The filtration of choice is live rock. Live rock can be obtained as ‘base’ which is cheaper, and ‘premium’ or surface which costs more. The amount of rock is generally 1½ lbs for each gallon in the system. The rock can deal with ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate (provided it is not abused, it has limits). Further enhancing filtration can be placed in the aquarium, such as a deep sand bed (DSB). This DSB can also be placed in the sump. A Plenum (a raised DSB) is another alternative, particularly in the sump. Algae (Caulerpa) filtration can also be put to use in the sump.

If a DSB is to be put in the sump, then decorative sand in a fairly thin layer can be placed in the aquarium.

If there is to be a high calcium demand (hard corals) consideration can be given to a calcium reactor. In the larger aquarium additives can prove expensive and impractical.

An automatic top-up system could be put to use, again a good addition to the larger system. A small aquarium can use these devices but they are more of a luxury.

Now what of the seawater. The first need is sufficient dry sea salt. The second, at least after the initial mix, is a saltwater safe container for routine water changes.

Actually considering fish and/or corals hasn’t been undertaken yet, apart from the lighting requirement for corals.

So the freshwater aquarist has some equipment. He/she also has the experience of keeping an aquarium, and has no doubt done research on it. On the change to saltwater it is evident that a lot more research is required, not because the saltwater hobby is particularly difficult, but because it is particularly different.

One thing the freshwater aquarist probably has is patience. This patience will prove to be of immense value.