Moving help?

[nikkifro8994]

I will be moving 6 hours away in August and I need advice for moving my tanks. Sadly, I can only take one tank with me. My sister will be taking my male betta, a friend is taking my girls, and the tetras are going to my uncle's 100 gallon community tank. My 10 gallon saltwater tank is coming with me.
I'm trying to find a way to move without messing up my system. My tank is very small, only 10 gallons. I have one clown fish, a red hermit crab, and some turbo snails. Also 5 large pieces of live rock, about an inch of sand, a 40 gallon filter, and a 10 gallon heater. This would be a great time to do a 30% water change which I'll do when I get to the new house.
The plan:
Mix 10 gallons of water 2-3 days before the move
Fast fish for 2 days before move
Place an airstone in the tank for 24 hours before the move (More oxygen in the water = less stress on the fish, right?)
Get 2 5 gallon buckets and lids from the hardware store
Leave the sand in the tank with enough water to cover it
Put the live rock and filter media in the first bucket with enough tank water to cover it
Put the fish/inverts in the second bucket with the rest of the water
Drive to the new house
Set up the tank
Add LR and water from first bucket
Add 3 gallons of new water to tank
Drip acclimate fish/inverts
Add fish/inverts after minimum of 2 hours of dripping
Feed fish
The tank would be the last thing in the car and the first thing in the new house. That way the fish/inverts are in the buckets for the least amount of time possible.
Does this sound like a good plan? Is there anything I need to change?

 

[bang guy]

If it were me:
1 - place an air driven sponge filter in my sump or tank 1 week in advance to get a good bacteria colony.
2 - buy a couple battery driven air pumps with airline and diffusers.
3 - Right before moving drain some water into a big bucket (IO salt buckets are 7 gallons but a 5 gallon is fine) and add the sponge filter connected to one of the air pumps, the rock, and all livestock leaving just the sand.
4 - Drain the rest of the water except about 1 inch over the sand. Leave the sand in the tank.
5 - carry the tank and the bucket to the vehicle.
6 - put the other battery driven airstone in the tank with the sand to keep the water circulating.
You should be able to go several days with this until you setup the display tank again.

 

[nikkifro8994]

I have a couple air pumps and a few airstones laying around, and I have a power strip that plugs into the cigarette lighter in my car. I can use the sponge filter that's in the tetra tank once I break it down and give the tetras to my uncle. My only concern with putting the livestock in with the LR is having someone get squished if the rocks shift.

 

[bang guy]

Have you ever used any antibiotics or copper in the tetra tank?

 

[nikkifro8994]

If I did it would have been over 6 months ago. 12 water changes later, it's definitely gone.

 

[rhythm9]

I am going to try and do the same kind of thing in about 3 weeks with my 14g nano (7 hour move). Your plan sounds similar to what I have planned, my only question that still remains is what to do about keeping the water in the buckets with the livestock heated? Surely after 6-7 hours the temperature would drop fairly drastically if not being heated some way. I am currently stumped on what to do... any suggestions?

 

[nikkifro8994]

I have an ac car adapter that plugs a wall outlet into the cigarette lighter. I'm going to plug in a heater and a few air pumps. The heater will go in the livestock bucket with an air driven sponge filter and the other air pulp will go into the water only bucket.