takin my tank home

[bigwiz]

so i am goin home for spring break in 2 weeks but my tank is here at college with me. None of my roomates are goin to be around and i dont trust anyone else with my 12 g aquapod. so i think my only option is to bring it home with me for the week and try to have faith in my mom to take care of it for the 3 of those days that i am in Las Vegas
If anybody has any suggestions about how i can take my tank home ( only an hour and a half drive) without everything dying that would be great!
I have LR, LS, a clownfish, a firefish, a pink haitian anemone, and 5 crabs
thanks

 

[bs21]

i have the same problem you do but i won't have to take it home till end of the semester. any way here is my plan so far (feel free to tell me somethin is a crap idea becuse it is still in the planning stages)
* get bags from LFS and put fish in like when they were purchased
* could do the same with crabs
*empty some of the water into 1 gallon jugs or whatever can have watertight lid
* use press and seal wrap over the rest of the tank to make sure no water sloshes over the edge when you break etc...
* have someone help you to the car with it b/c its still gonna be heavy
*if need be take down rockwork and lay all pieces on the bottom so they dont fall over
tell me what you think or if you have a better idea
with your mom taking care of tank just show her how to test water and if there is a problem make sure you have enough fresh saltwater made up so she can do emergency water change if needed ( extra water might be a good idea for move also incase you start a mini cycle if to much stuff gets mixed up)

 

[freshreeftj]

Well i think
you should get one of those styrofoam
boxes that they ship fish in, ask the fish shop for one,
Bag up the fish best as you can, tripple bag them and
same for the crabs, put the rock in the styrofoam
and the fish in one too, but not the same, and the
coral in another bag, but i think you canm leave the sand in
the tank and the water, in old jugs or washed out soda bottles

 

[bs21]

those are good ideas

 

[ifirefight]

IF..... you are able to lift the whole tank,,,,or drain some water so you can move it to your vehicle,then you can buy an INVERTER from wally world. COst about 30-40 bucks...plug it in to your lighter outlet in the car ...and you can run up to 400 volts A/C. Should be more than enough for your set up.( meaning you can plug in your pump etc.... up to 400 watts. just like at home) If you are able to keep the water from sloshing out and drive like an old lady.... you should be fine. Good luck. P.S. I think its wonderful the lengths people will go through to make sure their fish are taken care of

 

[bs21]

yea i allready have an inverter....never thought of using it.

 

[ifirefight]

Originally Posted by bs21
yea i allready have an inverter....never thought of using it.
Yeah,shouldnt be a problem,depending on how much aquascaping you have..you may have to re-arrange it so as not to cause an avalanche...but other than that I dont really se a big problem.. I moved my 130 gallon tank across town with NO problems.

 

[bigwiz]

Thanks for ideas
here were my thoughts before anyone posted anything....tell me how wrong it can be
get some 5 gallon buckets.....transfer enough water from the tank to one of the buckets so my 2 fish and crabs have enough water so the shifts in direction from the car wont toss them around too much.....and then put my anemone in a bag floating in another 5 gallon bucket with some more water......and then a 3rd 5 gallon bucket for my LR and the rest of my water....and then hopefully i can pick up my 12g tank with my sand still in it
?????????????????????
oh yea and good idea bs21 i never thought of makin extra water just in case there is some mishap in transferring so i have water ready to go to add if need be when setting it back up or if there is a problem when i am gone
another problem is that i live in Chicago and its cold as hell outside and i know my water temp is gonna drop no matter how i bring water back home.....(my distilled water i go get from walmart sometimes freezes in my trunk bringing it back)....obviously nothin will be in the trunk of my car bringing everything home though ...........but when i finally get home with everything do i add the water to the tank with a heater right away and wait for the temp to get up before i put the fish in? or do i just add everything at once since all the water should be about the same temp???????????

 

[ifirefight]

....and then hopefully i can pick up my 12g tank with my sand still in it
?????????????????????
How much sand you got??

Like I said,use your inverter.If you cant use the main tank move your fish,crab,anemone into a container that you can atleast put a power head in to circulate the water. Only going an hour and a half.. not a big deal,you will be fine.

 

[ifirefight]

As far as the frezzin water... I dont know I live in Florida. But I would say keep as much water as possible(preflabaly all of it) in the car with you. I am assumeing you have heat in the car. Keep the heat on the desired temp you want your water to be at. Upon arrival at said location..move everything inside climate controled residence, (Moms house)

 

[lbaskball]

Have your friend top off and feed your fish every other day, its only 1 week. How much does your water evap?? If its too much i'd take the tank home myself, but if you only have to top off every 4days or so, then have some ro/di water in a cup that your friend could top off and have him feed every other day. Your fish actually can go without food for couple of days. Not to mention, the food (copepods) thats already in the tank.
If you transport it, try your best not to sift the sand as this can cause a mini cyle.

 

[zanoshanox]

i wouldnt bother...it would do more damage than good. two weeks isn't very long. write out specific directions for your friends. Just put a jug of top off and tell him to fill it up everyday, turn on the lights, and give the fish a little food. It's not rocket science, they'll figure it out ;D

 

[agent-x]

fish will be fine for two weeks. as long as you don't have a lot of evaporation the I wouldn't worry about it. Put the lights on a timer and all should be good. you'll risk more by trying to move it set it back up then move it back again two weeks later.