How long can they last?

[Turbovr3six]

I have a LFS that sells very cheap Zoa frags($2.99-$9.99) and I was wondering how long(or if) they would last if I were to transport them. I'm moving cross country soon so I had an Idea to get a cooler and put them in it. At night when I stop at hotels, I would bring the cooler inside the room and hook up a light and do a small water change.

In short my plan is:
-Get cooler big enough for about 30 beers
-Fill it with about 5-7G of water
-Use a power inverter for a small heater
-Use a battery powered thermometer to keep an eye on the temp
-At night bring the cooler inside the room and place a small light and K-Nano for circulation
-Change 1G of water per night
-Once I get arrive at my new place, set up a 3G pico until my BC29 is cycled


Are there any concerns/problems with this? I plan on a travel time of 2-4 days(5 being only is something goes wrong during the trip)

 

[Friday Night]

Justin

Plan looks good to me... Just keep the temp in check. Everything else is a plus. Znp's are sooooo hardy im sure you will be good. Take care of the beers too :beer:

 

[XSharkboyX]

You can probably make this work. I have brought things back to michigan from florida, with one stop in the middle. They were brought inside at the stop for the night, but this was also in the summer and i didnt have to worry about heat. The ambient temp was sufficent for the entire trip.

The other option would be to give your stuff to a local buddy you trust, and have him mail them same day or overnight to you when you arrive at your destination. Would cost more to so this, but it would be alot safer bet.

 

[flyyyguy]

I would save the water changes altogether. Take your inverter, a small air pump and a small powerhead and simply keep the water alive the entire time vs, repeatedly diluting dead water with good water. Get some 40 hour heat packs or a small heater and monitor the temp a little, and it should be a walk in the park. You could keep it alive indefinitely until the lack of light killed it like this

 

[Turbovr3six]

Nice! Time to go coral shopping! :dance:

Thanks for the feedback fella's!:beer:

 

[MUCHO REEF]

I would not change the water. If in bags open them up when you stop. Ambient temp stability and circulation are vital if placed in the cooler, but everything looks good. BTW, I would not feed them anything during the journey and don't flood them with light the first day they are placed in the tank. Sun light only on the first day is fine or actinics only.


Mucho Reef

 

[Turbovr3six]

I don't plan on bagging them or feeding them during the trip, just placing them in the cooler wih water. I'm not going to change the water, but I plan on bringing and extra gallon or two just in case.

 

[Turbovr3six]

Got my $2.99 frags yesterday! :dance: Let's see how they do. I'll update how they did once I arrive home.

 

[XSharkboyX]

Good luck brother.

 

[Turbovr3six]

Good luck brother.

Thank you sirr!

 

[reeferdale]

you shouls have no problem withe the zoas - I have mistreated them much worse in the past. Unless they dry out, they are usually pretty tolerant of temp and water quality

 

[MAVX]

Got my $2.99 frags yesterday! :dance: Let's see how they do. I'll update how they did once I arrive home.

$3 frags? the F.

 

[Mike321]

^ True true, those would be 20 bucks each at my LFS

 

[Fr3nChy]

nothing like a good deal on bargain bin corals!

 

[salt0727]

Got my $2.99 frags yesterday! :dance: Let's see how they do. I'll update how they did once I arrive home.

WOW! what a steal! mind saying where you got them? :fun2:

 

[cody6766]

If you're only looking at 24'ish hours, just bag them and stuff them in a good cooler. I kept everything from zoas and shrooms to clams and SPS in bags this way when i moved from OK to FL. I had them in bags for about 27 hrs. The cooler kept the temp stable and I used an O2 tank to fill the bags with O2 instead of air. I had no losses. I bagged like soft coral together too. Meaning, zoas went into a bag until full, not individually bagged.

 

[Turbovr3six]

All but one frag mad it over!:celeb1:

I also brought a green shroom, orange ric, blue clove polyps, and a large colony of ReefFarmers Blue & Red Digita. The Digi had a little die off, but it looks like it will recover.

Total time in cooler- 6 days with only a K-Nano, and a 50W heater.

 

[XSharkboyX]

Sweet!! :beer: