Moving soon...ideas?

jubbin2001

jubbin2001

Member
So come to find out it was time for the wife and I to get a house, and now I gotta move. I really would like to know what my best options for successfully moving my corals would be.
Right now I am thinking about getting as much aquarium water as I can into 5 gal jugs (29g aquarium...sooo glad I didn't get a 120
) and transporting that to fill the aquarium back up as far as I can, then doing a top off.
Forget the fish I could care less about them...though I think the wife might be upset if I let them die
. I am most concerned about the many inverts populating the tiny cracks and crevices, and all the coral that has seemed to attach itself to the rock work (except my very confused xenia....apparently it feels at home attached to the glass...I move it and it keeps going back
....almost as stubborn as the wife
)
I guess I don't want to cut them off the rocks...if I don't have to, and really it would only be about a 10 min. drive to the house...so all in all I am planning about them being without water for 30 min or so. Should I just secure the LR with the coral on it in rubbermaid tubs, and soak them down with water with some kind of tissue paper or something? Or do i need to cut each piece off, and hope they make it, and maybe get some frags outta it?
I guess I should mention I have a mix of zoos, mushrooms, hairy mushrooms, xenia, green star, colt, and a kenya tree.
Those that are not attached to anything that will be bagged are the 2 open brains, and the candy cane. I am just looking for advice as not to have to start over...cuz believe it or not, I think I have over $700 invested with these corals (hard to get in the frozen north of Minnesota...they tend to be spendy
) and I really don't want them to die. Thanks all
!!
 
rcoultas

rcoultas

Member
those are all pretty hardy corals - assuming the rocks they are attached to are not very large - I would use a five gallon bucket or two (like the buckets that the salt comes in) and fill them with water, rock, corals and fish.
I have had to do this several times when purchasing other setups and / or moving my own and never had any problems. HTH
 
socal57che

socal57che

Active Member
I moved ours in 10gal rubbermaids.
Add water to cover the coral.
The next step is relatively important...
Drive as if you had rubbermaid containers filled with live coral in your vehicle.
Take the tank down last and set it up first.
Be ready for a water change. You may experience water quality issues after stirring everything up.
It's easier than it seems.

ps...congrats on the house!
 
yearofthenick

yearofthenick

Active Member
I use a 20gal syrofoam container which I got from my LFS... I add a heater, powerhead, and airstone and transfer both my coral and my fish in it. As for the coral, I just bought a $2 nuts/bolts container from home depot and laid the corals in there. I've never had a fatalitly and I've moved my smaller tanks twice now. The larger ones are far more tricky. I have rubbermaid 32 gallon garbage cans for those. They get REALLY heavy.
As for the live rock in my smaller tanks, I put them in anything I've got - 5 gallon buckets double lined with 4mil garbage bags. never had a problem or a nitrate spike. As for the tanks themselves, I've always kept the sand in the tank. It's just easier that way, and it's not really going to cause damage to the tank... if it's used to having 30 gallons of water and 30 pounds of rock in it IN ADDITION to the 30 pounds of live sand, it can handle being transported with just the live sand in the bottom.
Again, for the larger tanks, it's VERY different. I never transport anything inside of my larger tanks.
I agree with socal57 - you're going to want at least 10 gallons of new saltwater for a big water change.
 
teresaq

teresaq

Active Member
Thats what I did, rubbermaid tubs, and buckets. We had to move twice in less 6 mo (our new house wasnt finished and we sold the old one)
I had most everything living in those tubs for months. I just attached filters and kept up with water changes. I left the sand in the tank and just refilled it with old and new water once we were in our new house. I kept corals and fish in tubs until tank settled. then put everything back a little at a time.
Good luck
 
luca brasi

luca brasi

Member
One of the big factor is how far will you be moving?
If you're staying local, buckets and Rubbermaid containers are the way to go.
 
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