If you keep any kind of aquarium for long enough you will inevitably come across the need to hold orphaned livestock in a pinch. A couple fish or a few corals can usually fit into existing setups but if you have a tank leak, break or if you’re planning to move or replace the tank for a larger one you’ll have to come up with a way to hold the majority of the setup in temporary holding, sometimes without much planning or warning.
We recently found ourselves in this precise predicament when during a tank move the 15 year old acrylic stand gave out while just sitting out in the cold and it threw a wrench into our plan to rebuild the tank exactly as it existed a few hours prior. Thankfully the aquarium hobby has a lot of prior experience with translocating a full tank setup into large pools and tubs with agricultural water troughs being particularly popular for this application.
Ranging in size from 50 to 300 gallons these large grey molded troughs are widespread, very durable, and usually have a very wide footprint affording reefers a large surface area in which to place lots of displaced aquarium livestock. Relocating lots of fish, corals and live rock into one of these troughs (or any suitably large tank) is even easier than setting up a new tank in a single day as the live rock is the biological filtration and you only have to ensure that all the usual functions of an aquarium are being satisfied.
Number one is aeration, a tank full of critters will endure most other environmental swings as long as there’s plenty of aeration and oxygenation to the water, and to help the corals and rock ‘breathe’ properly a small powerhead will provide the required water flow. The second most important detail is to make sure and use a heater to maintain proper temperature which is even more important during cooler weather such as what we’re currently experiencing in Colorado.
The protein skimmer is optional depending on how much livestock you plan to cram in your temporary tank and how long you plan to keep them in their impermanent quarters, even a small skimmer will suffice for short periods of time. Finally, we always keep some Seachem Ammo Alerts in our toolbox as this small chemo-sensitive strip can notify you of any spikes of ammonia even before it reaches critical levels although a small rise is to be expected after disturbing and relocating a full aquarium setup.
It won’t hurt to boost your bacteria population with a pre-made colonizing solution, we’ve used Brightwell Aquatics Fast Start XLM in the past and added a small amount just in case and finally, definitely be stingy with your feedings of the fish and corals while they are in their transient digs and aren’t afforded the level of filtration of a fully fledged aquarium. We know that this is kind of a niche topic in the aquarium hobby which doesn’t get much discussion but it can be critical to know how to do this kind of temporary setup in the event of a tank or stand failure.
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