Moving

dr. todd · 01/17/2014, 01:53 PM

Hey everyone, Ive been thinking alot about our soon move. I have a 100 gal sps tank moving from new mexico to mississippi. I dont want to loose everything ive grown over the past year. I have eight fish about 300 different sps and a lrg colony of pumping and elongata xenia. So suggestions on moving this with the least loss as possible. I will be driving a small uhaul. I will make the trip in one day. Thanks for all your help Todd

HumbleFish · 01/17/2014, 03:22 PM

The biggest challenge you're going to face is preventing all the little "colored sticks" from breaking during the move. The ones that aren't attached to rocks you can use zipties to secure them to something like eggcrate. Build eggcrate compartments for protection, and affix your SPS inside each compartment.

Last time I moved I used 30 gal sterilite containers from Walmart. Rock, corals and fish all need to go in separate containers to minimize damage/injury. You don't want a rock rolling over on a fish or slamming into a coral. The rock/corals should get enough O2 from just the water sloshing around, but it's a good idea to run an air pump & air stone using a power inverter for the fish. Temp is the other concern. I didn't worry about it for the rock. But the corals I made sure were inside my wife's car, and for the fish I ran a small heater using the power inverter.

As soon as you get to the new place, make sure each sterilite container gets a powerhead and a heater. Or at least an airstone. You are now on the clock to get the tank set back up. I can tell you how to turn the sterilite containers into semi-permanent tanks if you need more time to setup your tank, but that's a bit more involved. Also, make sure the tank & all the livestock are the very last things you load onto the truck. Breaking down the tank is the very last thing you want do before you depart, and setting it back up takes top priority once you arrive at the new location. Time is of the essence.

dr. todd · 01/17/2014, 08:25 PM

thanks so much, most of that Ive thought of but its good to get another opinion

FuGu2 · 01/17/2014, 08:40 PM

Im kinda curious about the outcome beause I might be moving soon as well. Please post your experience afterwards. BTW, what are you doing about water? Are you packing up the tank water?

dr. todd · 01/17/2014, 11:24 PM

thats my plan is to use the water in my 40 gal barrels put the rock in those leave the sand in place with small water over the top, separate as many corals as possible. battery operated air pumps put my ecotechs with the battery backup on tubs place the fish in 5 gal buckets with air stones and hope for the best

01/17/2014, 01:53 PM	#1
dr. todd Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Las Cruces Posts: 143	Moving Hey everyone, Ive been thinking alot about our soon move. I have a 100 gal sps tank moving from new mexico to mississippi. I dont want to loose everything ive grown over the past year. I have eight fish about 300 different sps and a lrg colony of pumping and elongata xenia. So suggestions on moving this with the least loss as possible. I will be driving a small uhaul. I will make the trip in one day. Thanks for all your help Todd

01/17/2014, 03:22 PM	#2
HumbleFish Moved On Join Date: Feb 2013 Posts: 4,757	The biggest challenge you're going to face is preventing all the little "colored sticks" from breaking during the move. The ones that aren't attached to rocks you can use zipties to secure them to something like eggcrate. Build eggcrate compartments for protection, and affix your SPS inside each compartment. Last time I moved I used 30 gal sterilite containers from Walmart. Rock, corals and fish all need to go in separate containers to minimize damage/injury. You don't want a rock rolling over on a fish or slamming into a coral. The rock/corals should get enough O2 from just the water sloshing around, but it's a good idea to run an air pump & air stone using a power inverter for the fish. Temp is the other concern. I didn't worry about it for the rock. But the corals I made sure were inside my wife's car, and for the fish I ran a small heater using the power inverter. As soon as you get to the new place, make sure each sterilite container gets a powerhead and a heater. Or at least an airstone. You are now on the clock to get the tank set back up. I can tell you how to turn the sterilite containers into semi-permanent tanks if you need more time to setup your tank, but that's a bit more involved. Also, make sure the tank & all the livestock are the very last things you load onto the truck. Breaking down the tank is the very last thing you want do before you depart, and setting it back up takes top priority once you arrive at the new location. Time is of the essence.

01/17/2014, 08:25 PM	#3
dr. todd Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Las Cruces Posts: 143	thanks so much, most of that Ive thought of but its good to get another opinion

01/17/2014, 08:40 PM	#4
FuGu2 Registered Member Join Date: May 2011 Location: Vernon Hills, IL Posts: 88	Im kinda curious about the outcome beause I might be moving soon as well. Please post your experience afterwards. BTW, what are you doing about water? Are you packing up the tank water?

01/17/2014, 11:24 PM	#5
dr. todd Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Las Cruces Posts: 143	thats my plan is to use the water in my 40 gal barrels put the rock in those leave the sand in place with small water over the top, separate as many corals as possible. battery operated air pumps put my ecotechs with the battery backup on tubs place the fish in 5 gal buckets with air stones and hope for the best