Long Haul Moving Tips?
- Thread starter bdhough
- Start date
yosemite sam
Active Member
I had to do this not very long ago and it was a really pain. I've had my liverock for a long time, and it's covered in polyps, mushrooms, etc, so I put it all in a 35 gallon rubbermaid tub and filled it with tank water. The rock made it just fine. I packed the tub (with lid on, obviously) in my car and piled a bunch of blankets around it to keep it warm. I think just about everything on the rock made it. The fish and corals I packed up into bags with tank water and oxygen and put them in styrofoam coolers. All the fish and most of the snails, starfish, hermit crabs etc. made it, but some of the corals and clams did not. I think they may have gotten too cold, my SPS corals took the biggest hit. I'm pretty sure the heaters I used were not strong enough, or maybe didn't last long enough. It was probably 30 hours from bagging up to acclimating back into the tank. I did take them into the hotel when I stopped for the night, but for whatever reason, I didn't pack them well enough Anyway, if you pack them up well, and drive like heck, you should do OK. If you've ever ordered from on online store follow their lead (SWF has always done a good job for me -shameless plug, I know!) HTH
dad
Active Member
The list goes on forever but; Have plenty of storage for the move. By storage I mean rubbermaid starage containers, trash cans, etc to hold everything.
The next thing I can think of is having your new home setup for this; place ready:electrical outlets etc etc etc.
Be sure to have plenty of help waiting.
Also it is a good idea of knowing where the nearest LFS is?
I would also recomend not feeding right before the move. Without a filtration system going the waste might be harmful.
I was going to do a move a year ago and these are a few things that might help you out,
Good luck
The next thing I can think of is having your new home setup for this; place ready:electrical outlets etc etc etc.
Be sure to have plenty of help waiting.
Also it is a good idea of knowing where the nearest LFS is?
I would also recomend not feeding right before the move. Without a filtration system going the waste might be harmful.
I was going to do a move a year ago and these are a few things that might help you out,
Good luck
bdhough
Active Member
all ideas i had. what did you do with the sand? Im thinking of just keeping a little water in the bottom of the tanks so it just stays wet. Not sure how to keep it warm other than straping heat pads to the bottom of the tank. I guess the good thing is i have all my corals on small pieces of rock easily attatchable to styrofoam. Did you oxygenate the coral bags? I dont have a clue where i can do that around here. Non of the stores i've been to have anything like that to my knowledge.
yosemite sam
Active Member
The sand you should be OK with if you are moving the small tanks in you sig. I had to dig up my sand be as 5 1/2 inches of sand in a 75 gallon tank makes the tank really heavy. Get a friend to help you with the tanks, that wet sand is heavy! Call around for the O2. The LFS I always went to where I lived did not regularly use O2 for customers, but they had it available for people who were making long trips.
yosemite sam
Active Member
To be honest, I'm not sure what all got O2 Some of the inverts got O2 and some didn't. The owner of the LFS did the O2 filling and rubber-banding while I put things in bags. I lost track after a while. He said the O2 burns some inverts, but I'm not sure which he was talking about. Hopefully someone else on the board has the answer.