How's This for Transporting?

[lefty]

Hello everyone,
I am moving soon and, of course, my tank is coming with me. The tank is a 20g long and the city I'm moving to is about 2.5 hours away. I have two clownfish, two cleaner shrimp, 20 lbs of LR, and a little over an inch's worth of LS. What I had in mind for transporting it was this (please feel free to tell me what's wrong with this or if you have better ideas):
1. Siphon 3 or so gallons of the tank's water into a 5 gallon bucket with a heater and a powerhead and put the two clownfish in there. I'd put a lid on top but poke a few holes in it and cut out a little section of it so the cords can go through to the outlet in the back of the car.
2. Do the same with my two shrimp in another bucket (I already have two heaters and two powerheads so that works out)
3. Put the LR in a rubbermaid container and siphon some or all of the water into it (depending on how much is left)
4. If there's a good amount of water left, I'll enlist another container for transporting it.
5. I figured I could leave the sand in the bottom of the tank since there's not much of it, along with a little bit of water so it doesn't dry out.
6. Take everything out to the car, make the journey, put the tank in it's place, add the LR and water, get the filter running again and heat the water back to 82 and add the buckets of livestock.
7. I'll have some saltwater already made should I lose a little water anywhere.
How's that sound?

-lefty

 

[dmjordan]

Sounds good to me.
I would also cover the LR with white papertowels or an old towel soaked in tank saltwater just to make sure the LR stays wet.
You still might want to have some amquel plus on hand in case of an ammonia spike....JMO

 

[lefty]

Heyyy, you helped me in my other thread too :joy:
I'll have some amquel plus on hand already since you recommended I get some for moving my sandbed over. =)
What do you think would cause the ammonia spike? I don't expect there to be much or any die off over a 2.5 hour period. And I might not need the papertowels since the rock will most likely be submerged in the water. I don't have much and the pieces are smaller so that shouldn't be a problem. If not though, I'll definitely go the paper towel route.
Thanks once again for your help! It is very much appreciated.
-lefty

 

[dmjordan]

As long as the LR stays wet you don't need the papertowels or old towel. Wasn't sure if you would have enough tank water to keep LR covered thats all. Better safe than sorry.
The ammonia can spike just by stirring (disturbing) your sandbed. Since you have a thin sandbed you will probably get away with very little problems but you never know.

 

[lefty]

That's part of the reason why I figured I'd leave the sand in the tank when transporting it. It shouldn't get mixed around hardly at all that way. It is definitely better safe than sorry though. =)
-lefty