[WILLIAM1]

Okay heres the deal!!!! I live in Wisconsin and am moving to Atlanta in Oct. I'm trying to figure out how to transport my livestock:

90 gallons

2 Peculas
1 Tomatoe clown
1 Yellow Tang
1 Midas Blenny
4 Green Chromis
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~
1 Seaba anemone
1 Frogspawn
1 Small yellow polyp colony
2 Small red and green polyp colony
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~
125lbs LR

60lbs Live sand

Red and Blue Hermits (8)

Pretty much its the whole tank . Its been running for about 8 months. I had an Idea about moving everything. If I took half the water and put it into 5 gallon pales with lids. Then took the live rock and put it into 5 gallon pales with some more of the tank water with some lids. Then I would have enough water to restart my tank so I wouldnt have to cycle it. I could set it back up add the water from the buckets and some more RO water to top off the tank. My live rock is full of corrilan algae I dont want to lose it. The seaba will be in his own bucket as is the frogspawn. The polyps I think I'm going to apoxy to the bottom of the bucket so they wont get hurt same as the frogspawn. Add some of the tank water to each bucket. I have about 950 miles to drive probly a day and a half. At the end of my first day when I get my hotel I thought about taking the livestock into the hotel with my lights and set it up in the room with the lights on all night. So they get that needed light. Just place the light over the buckets. I know this sounds CRAZY but I dont want to start over. Any ideas out there come on I'm all ears..... thanks everyone

[SaveTheChupacabras]

water has nothing to do with cycling a tank first off...you can totally change out all yur water and not have a cycle...its the rocks and sand that holds the bacteria..

best way to do it...

go buy yurself a bunch of battery operated air pumps...

buckets with live rock and water...
styrofoam coolers for livestock...use your judgement here...dont cram them all together...put a air pump in each cooler/bucket...simple as that

no need to worry about getting anything light while at the hotel...it will all be fine for a couple days...actually i give my whole tank 3 days without light every month...it seems everytime i do this, my corals and anemones appear more lively then before...many others do his although it IS a highly debated topic...i see benefits first hand though...

feel free to ask questions....moving is a pain in the a$$ but you will get through it...its seems a lot harder to move a fish tank then it actually is...you just have to have a gameplan...oh...and make sure you tape the lids on so they dont spill or if they tip over when you drive over train tracks or something...

[SaveTheChupacabras]

oh and keep yur temps close to normal...atlanta in october shouldnt be too cold or hot so you should be ok...

[rlcline76]

I plan on moving every 3 years (my stay here will end in 13 months) and instead of worrying about hauling my little aquatic friends, I am selling my stuff and will be starting over. I do not have the space to drag it all around. Our nearest Post is about 300 miles from here, not as far as 900, but Im still not doing it. Good luck!

[Cela Vie]

Originally Posted by rlcline76

I plan on moving every 3 years (my stay here will end in 13 months) and instead of worrying about hauling my little aquatic friends, I am selling my stuff and will be starting over. I do not have the space to drag it all around. Our nearest Post is about 300 miles from here, not as far as 900, but Im still not doing it. Good luck!

If I was to move, that's what I would do as well. Plus it would give me a chance to do it better than before (there are always somethings that can be done better from the beginning).

[WILLIAM1]

So I should get some air pumps to keep the ozygen in the water with the livestock and LR. Thats all I should still take at least 20% of the water though right. Come on guys keep em comin more info please if anyone else has an oppifamy let me know!

[SaveTheChupacabras]

yup...just air pumps is all thats needed...you dont need any water really...just gotta make sure your perameters are the same from the buckets to the tank...like i said, its the lack of bacteria that makes a cycle occur...the bacteria is on the rock and the sand...not in the watrer column..if they (water perameters) are the same, then your good to go no matter how much water from the move you are using...

realize, if it gets hot, your gonna heat the water up a bit...park your truck in the shade always...although in october you prob wont have a problem with this

the fish will have no problems making the trip...this is a cakewalk for them...

the sand and rock wont be affected at all...

the only thing i would be at all concerned about is the anemone...maybe put that in the cab in its own styro cooler with thermometer air pump...

other then that...dont rack yur brain over it...it will go smoother then you think...

[jvharding]

I would use Rubbermaid Tubs you can store more water in these Figure about Half way filled, also a DC/AC converter will allow you to run a powerhead with aeration in it. This is how I would move the live stock. A Rubbermaid Tub for live rock with very little water enough to cover the bottom a few inches. The ride will keep the water spashing around enough to keep the rock wet These Tubs Have great locking lids to keep moisture in or out. Also a spray bottle can be used to spray the rock on top to keep it wet. Rock can also be easily rotated. The rock only needs to stay wet to stay alive. As for your frogspawn Rubberband two big pieces of Styrofoam to it and float it upside down in your main shipping Tub this will protect it. Upon the setup of your newly established system acclimate the fishes and corals By dripping into the tub new system water.

Here is a link to Tub Recommended for Live Stock

Rubbermaid® ActionPacker® Storage Containers - US Plastic Corporation

These also provide some insulation


Here is Tub Recommended for LR:

Rubbermaid® Roughneck® Boxes with Lids - US Plastic Corporation

Hope these Ideas help

[Tonz of fun]

I disagree with some of the things Brandon said. Yes lots of bacteria lives in the rock and sand. Keep the sand covered with water and the rocks wraped in wet newspapers or in your water in a rubbermaid. I would try to keep as much water as you can. If the water didnt matter we could do 100 percent water changes and not hurt a thing in our tanks. Save as much as you can.

[holiday]

I just moved a 55 gal tank last weekend 350 miles with success in the Florida heat. My husband took his truck with a cab on it and we took the back door off for ventilation. So everything was in the shade.I took buckets and put the liverock in it that had anemones on it and put an aerotor in each one. The fish went into a bucket with an aerator also. All the liverock got wrapped in 2 peices of wet newspaper and place one row high in a plastic tub and then spritz with more tank water. I saved half of the tank water so when I got back it was like I did a really good cleaning on the tank. I kept the live sand in the tank with only enough water to keep the sand wet. I wanted to avoid sloshing around with too much water. I lost 2 small brittle stars during my move. I put the tank back together with the water and rock that I brought back and let it run over night. I did a 10 gallon water change the next morning to bring the ammonia level down and again in the late evening. The critters went into a small qt tank for 2 days while I got the levels correct in the tank. Then everyone was back to normal and doing great. I put the fish and anemones in a cooler that we had cooled down with 3 inches of ice for the ride over and then dumped the ice and put the buckets in so they would stay cool and it worked great. Just my two cents. I was told that the live rock would be fine - think about how it is shipped to your LFS. They said sometimes it takes 2 weeks to get to the store from Fiji.

Anyhoo, my 2nd experience moving a tank this way. The first time everyone survived. I was happy that I only lost 2 baby brittlestars this last time since the distance was much larger.

Good luck. I had to share my 2 cents on the matter.

Noel

[thelastmucci]

Originally Posted by rlcline76

I plan on moving every 3 years (my stay here will end in 13 months) and instead of worrying about hauling my little aquatic friends, I am selling my stuff and will be starting over. I do not have the space to drag it all around. Our nearest Post is about 300 miles from here, not as far as 900, but Im still not doing it. Good luck!

Becky you don't have to answer this if you don't want to but are you a military family. Knowing when your going to move and the fact that you constantly move just put the idea in my head. Reason I ask is I'm a former Marine and know the life is difficult.

[SaveTheChupacabras]

Originally Posted by Tonz of fun

I disagree with some of the things Brandon said. Yes lots of bacteria lives in the rock and sand. Keep the sand covered with water and the rocks wraped in wet newspapers or in your water in a rubbermaid. I would try to keep as much water as you can. If the water didnt matter we could do 100 percent water changes and not hurt a thing in our tanks. Save as much as you can.

yes, you CAN do 100% waterchanges...actually this would be better then doing 20% waterchanges...the reason its not recommended is becasue your change water has to be identical to not F everything up...if you made 100% change and all parameters were exactly the same, it would work better then anything else...probably would only have to do it once a month too...maybe longer...

why do you htink you cant do 100% water changes? cuz if yur diligent, you can...

[thelastmucci]

I respectfully disagree. While changing 100% of the water once a month would be allot easier it would be very stressful to the livestock in the tank. Also everything I've read says the MOST you can do is a 50% water change...and that's if there's some serious shananigans going on in your tank. Your best bet is to do between a 10-20% water change twice a month.

[sanjaypawar]

The principle in making the move successfully is to maintain the tank conditions as close to normal as possible.

Therefore save as much water as you can. Wraping liverock in newspaper will result in at least some die off. Use rubber maid tubs with tank water.

Don't worry about providing lighting at the hotel. It will stress (freak out) your livestock and kill some of it.

Do you have corals? If so unless they are SPS they should be fine without the light for a day or two. Even SPS should be fine. Make sure you have fed the corals because they will not open up for a day or two after setting up the tank in the new place. Hence they will be starving for 4 -5 days.

You are lucky that its a 90 G tank. Could've been worse (like 180G).

I agree with Tonz and Lastmucci, a 100% water change is a disaster waiting to happen. Keeping the water parameters the same is not as easy as it may sound. The chemistry is much more than ph, spg and dkh. Besides why would you do that.

Also, I think there are oxygen pills or something that is used by petstores during shipping. You could use that.

Just a thought.

Also a disclosure, I haven't moved a tank in my life and I am only going by common sense.

Goodluck!

[Lowej82]

anything to get rid of? im in central il and you may be coming through this area IL-55 @SPRINGFIELD.

[WILLIAM1]

Keep the ideas comming there all good ideas. Even thow theres a little dissagreement just remember there ideas and oppinions. I will listen to everyones ideas and maybe combine then together to come up with the best situation for the move.

[SweeTang22]

i would keep as much water as possible too. i would also consider having two extra buckets of tank water without any fish in, this way when you make it to the hotel you can take the fish from old water and move them to fresh. this will help keep the ammonia down. its a method that ive been doing for a while. its a lot more to haul but with 130lbs of rock and 60lbs of sand your going to be hauling alot anyways. this move will be hard and it may take an extra u-haul lol, but i think it can be done. im glad to see you planning ahead!! i wish you the best of luck and i hope all goes as planned!

[WILLIAM1]

okay no more opinions from anyonecome on lets get a couple more going!!!

[jselrahc]

Hey, thanks for all the input! not looking forward to the looong drive, but should be able to get there in 12-13 hours. But, will have to set the system up again before transferring all the kids back into it. I'm figuring 18-20 hours total.

Thanks again for your input. Any more suggestions out there?

[WILLIAM1]

Heres a picture from the move! This is the back of the Uhaul truck 26'. We had it packed so tight this is the back of the truck with the tank stand with six of the twenty 5 gallon buckets. These are the buckets with my LR and water... Also another picture of thr tank set back up again at my new house. I guess the real problems were regulating the heat to all the fish and inverts. In the middle of all the moving just didnt have enough time to really do my best.