Long Distance Move-Reef

[FishFrenzy]

Hi Everyone...
In advance I appreciate any help and responses.

I am going to be moving in a month from Tulsa, OK to Rhode Island, as you can imagine a very long trip.

I have a 75 Reef tank with several corals. It has 1 clown fish, 1 yellow tang and 1 lawnmower blenny and several inverts.

My plan is to put most of the live rock and water into a moveable storage container...something along the lines of a big plastic tote from Walmart, etc. I am contemplating purchasing a battery operated pump or buying an AC adapter for my car to run an air pump for circulation. Depending on the climate I may also add a submersible heater to run out of my car as well.
I do plan on keep most of the water to re-setup the tank upon arrival.
One of my biggest questions is for my LS and if I keep it or just get new. I'm not sure how much of a cycle I will get with moving the sand and it stirring up...or if I should just replace the sand with new. I know this will destroy the good bacteria, but now sure which is better. I will also try to preserve my filter material for bacterial reasons.

As for my fish I am planning on floating them in bags from my LFS and making sure there is plenty of air in the bags. Can the inverts also be bagged?

As for my corals..should those be bagged? I do have some xenia attached to a good sized piece of live rock, as well as my sebae anemone attached to live rock. Will they survive without being bagged and just placed in the container..as long as I can make sure the rocks to not move too much during transport?

Thank you all again for the great information found on this forum and I look forward to your responses.

 

[austinsdad]

You talking about nearly 2 to 4 days driving, right? I'm just guessing, but how long is it? I don't believe the fish will survive in bags. Then again, I've never done mail order livestock, so I guess it could be done. Everything, from your rock, to sand, to coral, and fish of course will need a supply of air

Also, you'll probably have more issues with trying to cool everything than heat stuff.

I just recently emptied a 75g to begin a 155g setup. When I removed the sand - the very ugly sand under the rocks, I did lightly rinse it w/SW and just left the ugliest sand behind and didn't use it. I'd try to keep it if I were you. Keep it with the rock for transport if you can. You may have at least 3 containers to move. One for rock and sand, another for fish and anenome, and depending on how much water you'll need after those first 2 containers, maybe a third for water.

Gonna have to keep stuff aireated while in the hotels/motels along the way also I'm sure. Other than this site's advice, I'd also do some googling (is that a word? ) on long distance tank moves and read other's experiences. I ain't never done that, but sounds like you got work and serious coordination and planning ahead of you.

How long a trip is that?

 

[tecwzrd]

Is that Rhode Island, NY (1300+ miles) or Rhode Island, TX (300+ miles) If TX then it shouldn’t be too hard, if NY then it’s going to be considerably more difficult.

Two main things are aeration and temp to contend with. That means a partial topless storage container with a decent 300 gph low watt ph rippling the surface at all times.

To keep water from splashing everywhere keep a lid on it and cut a hole about 1/3 the size of the container lid directly in the center so water just moves up against the sides and goes back in. Getting a round more shallow container will help keep splashing down and provide better oxygen exchange. I would get a container that is at least 40% the size of your 75 (30 gal) or larger if possible. I would also avoid long containers since water can move greatly when stopping/starting.

As far as heating is concerned you probably could use a lower watt heater to keep the temp stable at 76-78. I’m more concerned about night time temps and lack of aeration with the car off if not tag team driving 24 hours straight. (if going to NY)

IMO I would keep the sand separate from the lr/fish/inverts. Depending on how old the tank is and the depth of the sand you could have dead spots that contain detrimental bacteria that could lead to infections. To be safe scooping the top 50% of the sand for transfer and replacing the rest with new sand is what I would do.

The lr stored with the fish/inverts with a ph/heater should provide enough biological bacterial to keep the water parameters in line for the short trip. Luckily you have a small fish load.

I would not bag anything and keep the coral/inverts attached to the rock.

I would also have enough premixed aged SW to fill the tank once you reach your destination in a separate container.

 

[FishFrenzy]

Thanks for the replies. The move is to Rhode Island, the state itself(1500 + miles)
Being as I will be needing to get there quick for a new job I am hoping to do the drive in about 2 days which will hopefully be less stressful on everything.
The container I'm planning on getting is 40 Gal and more tall than long to hold my live rock with water...and the attached corals.

During the drive I am hoping to have a PH running from the car as well as the heater if need be. For hopefully the no more than one night I can get a couple of battery operated pumps.

This is not going to be an easy move by any stretch. Just want to make it as quick as possible while trying to preserve all my livestock.

 

[tecwzrd]

Sounds good, the battery air pumps should be ok for overnight and luckily the weather isn’t too cold/hot right now. Best of luck to you.

 

[angelscrx]

I have experience on this one can give you some tips. I moved from Arkansas to Washington State and it took four days due to having to drive 60 MPH with a tow behind the car. Also got caught in a Snow storm in Nebraska!!!

I had the battery operated air pump, and a heater connected to a power converter. The air pump caused a lot of saltcreep so keep fresh top off water on hand. keep your salinity meter handy. I had the fish and some rock in a cooler and when the roads were nice and straight I would open the lid for them to get some light the rocks are for the fish to hide since the move will be very stressful. The salt spray in the car was not a good thing though. I would place saran wrap over the top of the cooler so you can keep it open with a small hole for air to get out. If you can't get a power head in the container take some fresh SW and do a small water change half way through the trip.

Best advice is to contact someone you know there with a tank or a LFS ahead of time and ask them if you can ship your stuff to them to hold until you get there. You will still need to set the tank up again and it will definitely cycle. it's best to have a holding tank so your tank get settled before you put your livestock back in. Get rid of the sand and start with fresh sand. If you have your rock on the bottom of the tank and not on top of your sand then when you remove your rock you will disturb the SB anyway so IMO it's not worth the headache.

I have another fantastic move to make and this time its from Washington State to Virginia State and I am going to ship the live stock but not the rock. I have LFS that will hold them for me until my tank is settled. And I have 150g tank so wish me luck. Good luck with your move.

 

[Melissamustang]

FishFrenzy
Good luck on this. It sounds like you are gonna be busy for a long time. I hope it all goes well.