I got a job in Houston and was curious if anyone had any tips on moving the tank such a long distance. (5 hrs) It has been cold outside and I am worried about my livestock making the trip. Does anyone have any experience????
depending on your set up and what you have you may want to move your livestock to a temporay tank or holding tub, then move the tank get it set up and then move the livestock
if you have sand I'd get rid of it - or at least rinse it real well before using it again - save some for reseeding the tank
the live rock will probably have some die off and cycle some even if you move it in water
once set up without the livestock and even with it check for amonia and nitrite, you may want to have some of that amonia and nitrite block product on hand to handle any spikes
as long as the livestock is in something with circulation and heat it should be okay for a couple days without feeding or light - but really depends on what you have
to hold the livestock you may want to see if anyone has a large holding tank (not glass) that you could borrow
I recommend you get one of those battery operated air pump from walmart. You should be able to take your live stocks long distance. If the live goods are going to be in a car where the ac/heat, then the live stocks will be fine.
Before you pack everything, the fish tank should be last to be pack and broken down.
I moved mine from Colorado to Ft. Worth this summer. I put everthing in buckets of water, and used the battery powered air pump. Left the lifestock in Midland in my brother in laws tank. Set the tank up, put in the rock, and bought small clean up crew. Let set for 2 weeks, then restocked. I did not loose a single fish....All of the suggestions above are good ideas...
I moved from New Orleans this pass summer, I sold my livestock being that I wasn't going set it back up right away. But, it depends on your livestock, softies or SPS. If you could your best bet would be to go down and set a holding tank at the new place or have a friend keep your livestock until your ready.
All the above advise and the link Marc posted is good stuff. One suggestion on the battery operated air pumps. The little $5.00 hang on models that run on flashlight batteries are practically worthless for a long move. Look in the Bait & Tacle Dept. at Wallmarts and pick up one of those heavy duty Live Well pumps. It’s a nice RULE bilge pump with a PVC tube that comes up to the top of the water, and suction cups to hold the pump down to the bottom of the bucket. They also have larger cable clips to hook up to a 12 volt car battery This will be over kill in a bucket, but will be perfect in one of those 30 gallon Rubbermaid tubs. I think they are about $20.00 at Wally World, but would probably keep your fish alive on the trip. I used to use these bringing fish back from the Keys in a Van. Just remember to keep an eye on PH with that much Aeration in a small volume of water. I'd keep PH test kit and buffer handy on the road.
