Moving time is upon us

[Anonymous]

I will be moving my tank from New Orleans to Houson next weekend and here is the plan.

Purchase a drum from the LFS for $20
Make 20 gal fresh SW an put in drum in my van
Add power head to drum
Take 5 gal out of tank
remove rocks w/o corals and rinse in 5 g bucket
after rinsing place in drum
once rock are removed drain tank to temp continer(s)
move corals and fish to temp holding container(s)
dismantel tank and load in van
bag corals and fish
Place bagged critters in a container and top off the container with SW (incase I get a leak in a bag)
Place bagged critters in van
Drive
Set up temp containers with power heads
unbag corals and fish useing water from bags
Reset up tank
set in rocks and fill using water in drum
turn on pumps
add fish and corals back
get a beer
Sit back and survey
repeat last two step until drunk

Comments? I hope to have a helper on the NO side, but in Houston I plan to be on my own.

 

[Anonymous]

Sounds ok. But how long is that drive?

If its long ( I think it is) Maybe you can look into getting a 12v-110V power inverter. This way you can run a powerhead/airpump during the drive. Keep the air cranked up.

I will start drinking with you this afternoon.
_________________
Religion Board
_________________
Ferrari 328

 

[ChrisRD]

Bagging stuff up might work, but I don't think I'd be too comfortable with that. I'd prefer them in containers that I could aerate the whole time considering they'll probably be out of the tank for at least 8 hours (assuming a 6 hour car ride + breakdown/setup time at either end).

I like the inverter idea too. You could use it to run a large airpump that could handle lots of outputs. That gives you the option of running lines to the different holding containers to provide constant aeration during the trip.

That van has A/C, right?

 

[Anonymous]

Are you going to move the rocks with any water on them? I might worry about some die off if you don't. Maybe just a few inches to keep the humidity at 100%. (edit, sorry, I didn't realize this was only 8 hours, been a long time since I was in that part of the country)

When we moved to Iowa (18 hour drive) we put the fish and the rocks with corals in rubbermaid tubs filled half way (if you fill them all the way they either collapse or you can't pick them up). Punched a hole in the top and stuck an airstone in run on one of those battery powered pumps. I bet salt buckets would work too and not be as prone to crushing. Everyone made it, even my two large tangs. My assessor had the only injury I saw, he looked like he spent the whole drive trying to jump out and hitting the wall of the tub, but he recovered.

 

[Anonymous]

Drive is 6-8 hours depending on traffic. I figured they would be OK since that is how they are shipped from overseas and from online retailers. In these cases they are in bags atleast 12 hours if not closer to 24. The ideas with the bages is to keep things from getting to banged up during transit. Last time I moved the tank it was only 40 miles and I just put things in rubbermaids and the corals took a beating. The rocks will be shipped in water. Yes my van has AC. It is not a moving van, but my minivan. If I decided to not bag I have some battery powered air pumps I could use.

 

[Anonymous]

Cool. Well let us all know how it works out.

 

[Anonymous]

I'll have to let you know around the 15th. This is planning on happening 13th-14th.

 

[dadstank]

i wish you the best of luck.

having just moved a samllish tank from central jersey to NYC, i found it easier than i expected. granted i had three peolple in total to do the actual moving of the equipment (read misc stuff), the breakdown of the tank was actually quite enjoyable. now don't laugh i have always been one to enjoy taking things apart. putting it back together is a different story...

the only advice i offer is before you take a single thing out of the tank, or even move anything within the tank, take out the water you wish to save. i remember i began taking things out of the water and saying "i wanted that!" it was to late.

all in all i started at 7:00am had three people help me load the vehical at about 12:30pm, once i was unloaded and began erecting i spent from about 2:00-7:00pm putting everything back together. suprisingly it all went really really soomthly. with the execption of self inflicted wounds, namely a "falty" RO/DI system.