Moving long distance.

[Verbalkint]

Whats the best option for transporting a 30g tank with the following:


1: 10 lbs liverock with various /things/ growing on it.
2: 1 Brittle Star
3: 4 Hermit Crabs (Appx 1 inch exposed body length)
4: 3 turbo snails.
5: 12 tiny crabs (1/4 inch and smaller)
6: 15 lbs of livesand.

I am moving appx 1,000 miles.. From Northeast Arkansas, to Delaware.
I don't want to leave the tank down here, as my wife will have little time to care for them while I get things situated up there for moving the whole family

This is my current plan.

1: Put the liverock in a tupperware or similar container so that it can be covered with water at all times.
2: Drain the 30 gallon to its bare minimum (Enough to cover the sand)
3: Crabs, snails, and brittlestar in the container with the liverock.


Hows that sound?

 

[RogerMcAllen]

By tupperware do you mean one of those large rubbermaid tubs? You could easily fit all of your water into one, but make sure you put a piece of plywood and perhaps a couple of 2x4's under they plywood for easy lifting. I would think that you would want the LR separate from the rest, you wouldn't want a shifting piece to crush something.

 

[h2omike]

moving long or short

Since you are travelling long distances, the main thing I would worry about are:

-water temp
-oxygenation

fortunately, you're not moving fish, so the solution is pretty simple

grab an igloo cooler big enough to hold the LR and keep it covered with water (and prevent too much shifting)

go to your local bait/tackle/boat supply store, and buy a small bait pump. either a battery powered OR 12-volt

if you choose the 12-volt, then go to radio shack and buy a cigarette lighter adapter and some speaker wire. wire up the bait pump, set it in the bottom of the cooler, close the lid and plug it in. VIOLA! circulation and temp control. you can keep your LR and inhabitants in there for a pretty long time. At least a week

if the cooler wil be in a moving truck you can use a car battery and an adapter also sold at Radio Shack that combines a cigarette lighter with alligator clips

I just moved a fully stocked 180-gallon reef tank (rock, fish, corals) 40 miles, and it took me 3 days to complete the setup to put the fish back in. 8O but, because I had water curculation and everything sensitive in a cooler-- No casualties at all, incl the corals and inverts

 

[bigreddastud]

The glass aquarium probably shouldn't be moved with any significant weight in it. I wouldn't move it with the sand/water on the bottom. You'd probably either crack the glass or seals quite easily if you didn't support it well.