Moving a tank cross country

[TravelinLight]

I am interested in hearing success stories of fellow reefers packing up and moving across country. I will be moving to Boulder Co. from Pensacola this fall and have been trying to come up with the best plan. Has anyone shipped their own fish? I don't have a problem throwing all my rock and coral into 55 gallon drums and putting it into a Uhaul for two days but I couldn't imagine my fish would fair well?

 

[mbingha]

I moved my tank and fish 800 miles with only one casualty (kept a few rocks with the fish thinking it would reduce stress, rocks shifted and crushed my royal gramma). Rocks in one tub, fish/coral in another would be better. Get a car battery and inverter and hook up a small pump and heater to each tub. As long as you maintain temps above 70 you should be fine. You may have to recharge the battery at Some point depending how big it is and how much draw.

 

[TravelinLight]

Yeah I have thought about that- only problem is it is a 1600 mile trip with a Uhaul. It would be 2-3 days before tank would be set up so that's my concern.

 

[d2mini]

Even a move across town can be tough.
In your case I'd be really tempted to sell off the live stock and rebuild from scratch, moving just the dry stuff.
Maybe you have a friend in the hobby you can trust to babysit any prized coral/fish? They could then ship to you when you are ready.

 

[Riglin]

I moved 180 gallon tank & everything in it a few towns over once. We used Rubbermaid tubs. Anything free swimming went in one tub. Everything else was packed the best we could, single layer, coral side up, into a few other tubs.

I think if I was going a long distance w/ a large bunch of stuff I would have a dedicated vehicle to moving it (like a uhaul van.) I would use multiple Rubbermaid containers w/ a heater & air stone for each unit. Maybe a power head also. I would attempt this move when I knew the ambient temperature wouldn't be too high, or too low. I would use a small generator to power everything up when I could like a little dewalt (make sure to vent this to the outside as to not pollute the air quality of your container.)

If you shipped your own fish timing could be an issue, supposed you where delayed somehow?

I think the best bet here, seeing as we are talking in the 2 days range, is to create some semi stable environment in a rental van. That would be my thought process.

 

[JoelA7]

Not exactly on point but perhaps this will provide you with some ideas.

A friend and I finagled a LEGAL way to collect live rock in the Florida Keys, Marathon to be precise - back in the 1990's. Basically we signed on as crew with a licensed collector. We did this as I was building up a 150 and my friend a 1,000g tank to go in his new addition. We needed a lot of rock.

We collected it and staged it in an undisclosed location. ;-) The day we were to start the drive back to Cambridge, MA we woke early, rented a big A** GMC Allison diesel truck - 24' box - then drove to Home Depot. BTW - It was summer and a refrigerator truck was too expensive for us to rent. At HD we purchased many styrofoam 4 x 8 panels. I think they were 1" thick. We had brought a few powerful air pumps, air stones and plenty of tubing, 3/16" I think, with us, plus a number of clamps so that we could balance out the air flow.

The floor and sidewalls of the truck got double layers of styrofoam, we put our fresh liverock in giant barrels we picked up at a local food distributor. Pickles had been shipped in them. No matter how much we washed with water and rinsed they still smelled like pickles, which, since we had no other barrels, we were also in. (OY!! That's terrible. HAH) But we plowed forward. 12 barrels were filled with rock and natural sea water nearly to the top and went into the truck in the shape of an Iron Cross. 4 more barrels filled to the brim with ice went in the corners.

Then we installed the airstones and cranked the pumps (driven by some sort of converter off the truck's power supply - my friend was frickin brilliant at this stuff,) put on the barrel covers, and capped them all with more double layer sheets of styrofoam. So we had live rock in a giant cooler in a truck.

Day one: We managed to do all that and hit the road at 2:00 pm. Got to a motel in GA at 2:00 am and managed to convince the night clerk to let us power the pumps with an extension cord out our window. Day 2 -- driving by 9:00 am and arrived Cambridge about 20 hours later. Unloaded the rock next day. All but 2 barrels made it perfectly, the other two were FOUL! The temperature which had been 80ish when packed had been brought down by the ice to 70. We were very surprised.

First night I had my rock in my 150 I went downstairs and shined a flashlight and the number of small copepods and such in the tank was astonishing. Caught the mantis shrimp who hitch hiked. Let the gorgeous nudibranch live out its natural lifespan. Kept this tank pretty much as a FOWLR.

My 150 ran for about 8 years before I sold it to a dentist - hope it is still running now. My friend still has his 1,000 up.

 

[nlgill13]

There are a couple of LFS here in Boulder that might be able to store your fish while you move.

Another option is that I might be able to take care of them.

When are you moving?

 

[Veni vidi vici]

1 cooler..... 1 bubble stone and compressor from a bait bucket.... 1100 miles from Chicago,Illinois to Ocala Florida. Approx 20 hrs.No casualties, fish or coral. It was summer so I didnt have to worry about a heater. If you need heat though a simple power converter and a heater would do the trick.
On a side note.. .I got pulled over by a Agriculture inspector/cop and he wanted to know what i had in the UHaul because he said I failed to stop at the Inspection station... that i did "Intentionally". He was amused by my co-pilot crew I had in the passenger seat in the cooler.
Anyway...I had water pre mixed that i brought with in a brute and a small tank that i set up first thing when i got to my destination and then I dealt with my live rock.

 

[TravelinLight]

There are a couple of LFS here in Boulder that might be able to store your fish while you move.

Another option is that I might be able to take care of them.

When are you moving?

Thanks for the offer! I was planning on the end of July but I believe my plan has been postponed until Dec. I am transferring to CU but I need a few more things for their Engineering program and instead of rush it all I think I might wait another semester.
I have a great relationship with a LFS here and also a few buddies that are also in deep with reefing that could ship to me a week later. It's a 24 hour drive straight so I definitely believe that itll be three days before Ill be able to set up the tank- rock and coral will be fine(hopefully) but I don't want to risk it with my fish. I am just trying to get a plan set so that I can be prepared.

 

[Reefer54]

I moved a 25 from Chicago to the rockies, 100 miles west of denver. Tank was the last thing in my apartment. Fish in bags like shipping. corals in bags too. those went in 5 gal buckets seperated by styrofoam in between layers. rocks in 5 gal buckets with tank water. I left the sand in the tank so it wouldnt shift too much. Lights and sump were broken down the same. I had to have the buckets ride in the car with me for my own peace of mind. I used hot hands heat packs taped to the outside of the buckets (bottom, top, and 4 on the sides and then all buckets held together and then wrapped in blackets so as to keep the heat in. 1100 miles non stop.

I did lose my clam, but all corals and 3 fish were fine. i had minimal nutrient spikes, which stablised quickly. I also had temperature loss which i had to get up to running temp prior to temp acclimating the fish. i made new water first thing after setting up the main tank with rocks so i could do water changes as needed too.

Good luck. Welcome to CO.

 

[Texanjordan]

move

move

I am interested in hearing success stories of fellow reefers packing up and moving across country. I will be moving to Boulder Co. from Pensacola this fall and have been trying to come up with the best plan. Has anyone shipped their own fish? I don't have a problem throwing all my rock and coral into 55 gallon drums and putting it into a Uhaul for two days but I couldn't imagine my fish would fair well?

If you are military, which I suspect you might be living in Pensacola, a move cross country will be challenging. Especially with having to set up when you get to your new duty location. I had my reef set up when Stationed in Great Lakes, and had to break down and sell off everything when I transfered back to home in Texas following discharge. You can do the move, but logistically it is a nightmare to move it that far. Especially with overnight stops, and weather conditions. I was able to sell everything thru Craigslist and actually make quite a bit of money doing so. Dont sell to a fish store, they will give you 1/3 of what it is worth and turn around and sell it for alot, especially if it is nice.

 

[TravelinLight]

No born and raised in Pensacola. I am a Marine though, just not active any longer. We have been planning a move to Co for many years. No offense to any one on here but I could never sell one of my fish. I think shipping them will be best- I might talk my better half into letting me upgrade during the move.