Moving tanks

[fonduecat]

I was hoping to get some helpful hints for tank moving. I'm selling one house and buying another this Friday the 7th. My issue is that I need to be completely out of the house I'm selling by closing at 11am, and can't move into the next until after I close on it at 2:30pm. That leaves a decent time span where I get to take my tanks for a car ride. I have 3 tanks to pack up and load in my car before heading to closing so some of my corals and fish may be sitting for 6+ hours before they get back into their tank. Will an insulated cooler be enough to prevent them from getting too cold while sitting in the car? Where can I get some nice cheap coolers? I was also curious where a good place to get some bags and rubber bands might be. Lots of corals and fish to bag up! Should I keep some of the water from the tanks, or will the live rock and live sand be enough to kick start everything back up?

One thing I was really curious about was the best way to transport the live rock. I think the hardest piece may be the 20" shelf I have with a clam fastened on. May have to find a way to convince the clam to move. The other thing was how long I should acclimate everything.

Otherwise any general tips or tricks anyone has would be greatly appreciated! I've had a few bags of corals sitting in my purse during shows and while shopping, but there is something overwhelming about the 3 tanks. Thank you!

 

[opakapaka]

I have a few coolers that you could borrow.

 

[jda123]

How big are the tanks?

I would be more worried about some microfauna death and a mini-cycle than keeping stuff alive for 12 hours, or so.

 

[TheRealChrisBrown]

I wonder if it would be easier for you to take your corals and fish to someones house for a few days, maybe one of the members close to you can hold them in a sump for a few days or something?

 

[Balz3352]

I wonder if it would be easier for you to take your corals and fish to someones house for a few days, maybe one of the members close to you can hold them in a sump for a few days or something?

+1 I bet someone on here has a qt or sump you could use I have a 20l set up if you're in aurora


Edit: But im also stupid busy on Friday... Hopefully someone can help out

 

[fonduecat]

How big are the tanks?

I would be more worried about some microfauna death and a mini-cycle than keeping stuff alive for 12 hours, or so.

One tank is a 20 gallon the other a 28 gallon nano cube. I'm not horribly worried about the 10 gallon. It's a freshwater tank and those fish are so hardy I think they would outlive a ****roach.

For live stock there are 2 clowns, a yellow watchman goby with his pistol shrimp friend, a blue hippo tang (calm down tang police, he's in the 28 gallon but it's temporary till after the move and I can reset up a larger tank), scarlet skunk cleaner shrimp, BTA, and a maxima clam.

I see what you mean, a mini-cycle would be pretty nasty, the tanks are small and with how stressed I'll be about moving, I won't be able to spend the time babysitting the tanks to monitor the levels.

 

[fonduecat]

+1 I bet someone on here has a qt or sump you could use I have a 20l set up if you're in aurora


Edit: But im also stupid busy on Friday... Hopefully someone can help out

Thanks for the offer! (even though you are busy!)

I'm going to be moving from Thornton out to Arvada. Aurora may be a bit far.

 

[jda123]

See if you can find somebody to fish/coral sit. I have room, but am way out of the way.

 

[Skrappy]

When I moved my tank I just put all the rock in my 55 gal water drum and filled it up with the tank water then floated some of my coral with foam in that barrel and the others i bagged and put in a 5 gal bucket, fish unbagged in a 5 gal bucket. This way I didn't have a million containers or bags, and I didnt have to mix a bunch of new water. Still had a mini cycle, and my whole move took only 6 hours, so plan for it to happen if I had to do it again, I would change out my sand, only reason I didn't was my mandarin, but a bottle or 2 of pods and that would have solved that problem.

 

[JoshHill83]

Hey man I can sit for everything if you want. My 80G coral farming tub is almost empty of corals and has quite a bit of live rock and a couple damsels keeping it nice, running metal halides and blue LEDs. I also have 3 40 gallon breeder quarantine tanks that are free of fish and have been up for month and could keep anything you need. Would be more than happy to help.

 

[JoshHill83]

... off of 58th and Ward Rd in Arvada.

 

[JoshHill83]

Up for months I meant... I'm off all day tomorrow and not heading in to work until 1:30pm on Thursday. Just let me know. Congrats on the new place.

 

[fonduecat]

Hey man I can sit for everything if you want. My 80G coral farming tub is almost empty of corals and has quite a bit of live rock and a couple damsels keeping it nice, running metal halides and blue LEDs. I also have 3 40 gallon breeder quarantine tanks that are free of fish and have been up for month and could keep anything you need. Would be more than happy to help.

That would be amazing! It would take a lot of stress off on moving day. It sounds like you have more than enough room to hold everything. I'll send you a pm.

 

[fonduecat]

It looks like livestock is going to be babysat at another location during the move. So hopefully not having everything sit in the car all day will lower the chance of a mini-cycle. I'll keep everyone posted!

Lesson - if you are moving in town, have someone watch your livestock and plan to pick it up after to move in to lessen the stress on moving day.

 

[mrssaltwater]

I just moved from Phoenix to Broomfield with a 150 gallon tank and 65 gallon sump...it was a crazy experience. To say the least

 

[fonduecat]

I just moved from Phoenix to Broomfield with a 150 gallon tank and 65 gallon sump...it was a crazy experience. To say the least

I don't even want to imagine that move. Holy cow. Thankfully when I moved from Phoenix to Denver all I had was a cat, and she just looked out the window the whole ride.

Update on the move. Everything was moved and the only casualty was the anemone. He was not happy with being moved so much. Otherwise everything else is alive. Some things are already fully open but a few are still adjusting. The hardest part was the Maxima clam that attached himself on a huge shelf rock. I ended up putting the rock in a plastic tub, submerging it in water, and putting a heater in the water (It's nice to have an outlet in the car!). The clam rode around with me all day. He's still alive!


Thanks everyone for the suggestions and help! Also, HUGE thank you to Elite Reef. I went there on Friday night to get some water for the tank with the clam after he rode around all day. They were out of water containers but hooked me up with 2 that had been given to them by someone. That saved my behind and allowed me to get the water I needed to set the tank back up that night.