Need help ASAP

[TimWald144]

I am buying a tank off of craigslist tommorow for the coral and the live rock. How long will the live rock be able to live in a tub without any bubble or anything? I have to drive 30 miles to get it. What should I come with to do this? Can I reuse the live sand in the bottom of it its been running for over 2 years can I reuse the sand? How should I do this not to cause mayham Please help Also do you all see any Hard corals in this tank?
http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/for/1575915691.html

 

[Daimyo68]

Not sure the size that you are buying, but this is what I do:

Rubbermaid Brute Trash Cans - as many as needed.
5g Buckets - as many as needed.

Drain tank water into 5g buckets and put corals into it, seal the top.
Do the same for fish (if any) in a seperate bucket.
Drain more tank water into Rubbermaid, and put rock into it. Only fill it about 35% of the way with rock and water total. Do again as needed.
Drain the rest of the tank and leave a couple inches of water in the tank so that the sandbed does not dry out.
Load it all up, go home and reverse the procedure.

Depending on your location, temprature may be a factor. If it's cold there, your going to want to keep the rock and livestock warm by way of heaters and a power invertor.

 

[reefer321]

I just bought a 40 breeder tank from a guy that was 4 and a half hours from my house while I was traveling for work... What I did was get a 150 quart rubbermaid cooler and about 7, 5 gallon buckets filled the buckets with the water from the DT and added the corals to the buckets... also added fish and so forth to the buckets.. the water that was left in the tank we siphoned into the cooler and put the rest of the live rock in the cooler.. added two of the buckets into the cooler and closed the lid.. It rode in the back of the truck... I put the rest of the buckets into the cab to keep there temp up.. It got down to 31 F on the trip home... We left about a half inch of water in the DT... I didn't use any heat or air in the buckets...Everything but a small 1 inch goby lived.. Including snails hermits all the corals and fish... I put a thermometer in the water when I got them home and the water had only dropped 5 degrees over 4 hrs...You should be fine using the sand that is in it and the rock if you can keep them in the water is the best way... even if not 30 miles you shouldnt have that much die off.. but in the water is better.. just try not to stir up the sand too much when you take every thing out.. especially if it is a deep sand bed... HTH and good luck!

 

[jackaninny]

Re: Need help ASAP

Don't pull the trigger unless you know what you're getting yourself into.

 

[Flipper62]

If your only going 30 miles, you just need to keep the rock wet. When ever you buy Live Rock from a LFS, they just rap it in wet news paper or wet paper towles.

I have bought Live Rock 5 hours away like this and been fine.

When you buy Live Rock online....it takes 12 to 24 hours to get to you.

 

[Crustman]

Looks like the tank has Hairy mushrooms, Rhodactis, other mushrooms, toadstool leather, Palys and a Condylactis anemone. My tank also had no sps corals when I bought it. Deal looks good. Keep that gravel wet with the tank water. I moved my tank and it was 4 hours away.

 

[TimWald144]

Sand

Sand

Can I remove the sand from the 40 and add it into my 55 gallon or is it not safe to dig it up and then reentrer it into my tank?

 

[Sk8r]

Wash the sand very, very thoroughly in ro/di or discarded salt water. It will retain enough biological activity to jump-start your new tank. You stand a good chance of having any mushrooms etc live through whatever cycle results. If you have a particularly good but fragile specimen rock in that lot, you might want to put it in a tub and keep it under carbon filtration (aka quarantine tank) for the 5-10 days it will take a jump-started tank to do a minicycle.

 

[Amp2020]

I've seen many people try to put fish corals and rocks into the same container. Don't do it. Keep them all seperate. Corals on rocks are ok. Reason is that lots of fish have died from rocks shifting and crushing them during transport. And corals usually release a slimmy mucus that quickly fouls the water killing off fish fast. And remember to keep the fish and corals warm out there. Don't worry about the sand and live rock. And be prepared to have a flat tire or have the car break down. Darwin might be watching you.

 

[jsharp1]

If no heaters, maybe you could try floating ziplock baggies filled with hot water to help maintain temp till you can get home.

 

[wickedfish]

i dont know, but as a read alot of posts. people make it sound very complicated. when its simple. its allready established.. just make sure you know where your going to set it up at as in measurements etc. instead of last min making some changes. rubber maid and buckets keep every thing seperate. l.r. corals, etc. except the sand keep it with the water. i advise to also take as much water as possible for it has alot of bactaeria you need. 40 gals shouldnt be that bad and pretty much easy for you to set up. i would personally get rid of the damsels keep the clown fish and wait a month to see anything else you want to put in there. unless, your into damsels. g-luck. i would just take 300 cash and tell them take it or leave it. most likely they will take it...hahaha.

 

[sedor]

I think that using heaters and airstones would be going a bit overboard, and that this move could easily be done without them. If you want to be extra careful you can get an inverter, that plugs into the cigarette lighter and gives you a couple standard electrical outlets to plug heaters and stuff into. If you do this, keep in mind the rock doesn't really need it. The key is to move quickly, but not to quickly where your cutting corners.

As far as the sand goes, the best thing to do is replace it, it won't do much for you and stirring it all up during the move can release a lot of nasty toxins. If your going to reuse it, what it out good...but you don't need to use RODI or saltwater, the hose will work just fine. Basically just take a bit at a time in a 5G bucket rinse it out while stirring with your arm and keep dumping the water until it becomes clear. Then just put the sand back in the tank, add some water, then the rock, then the animals etc... Don't let the rock sit out of water for any lengthy period of time!

You will also want to make plenty of fresh SW and have it ready and waiting for you when you get home, because you won't have enough to fill the tank back up completely with what you end up taking. Find out what the guy keeps the SG at so you can match it.

 

[Jstdv8]

A few things to know.
The water doesnt hold much bacteria at all. nearly all of your bacteria is in the filtration, live rock and sand, so its not a big deal if you can't get all of the water.
its best to take all of the sand and water out of the tank for transport, 1 little crack and its game over. besides you dont want the sand getting stirred up and then reusing it. SO take all of the sand out and put it in a 5g bucket with water over the top. then scoop the sand out of the bucket when you put it back into the tank at home. DO NOT USE THE EXTRA WATER THAT WAS COVERING THE SAND.

Like the others said, use totes to keep the corals and fish wet. If there is any mechanical filtration on the tank keep that wet some how too.

30 minutes isnt the end of the world, ive driven 1.5 hours with my first setup and everything was just fine, kept the heat on full in the SUV and chgecked the temp when we got home and only lost 2 degrees.

Another sugestion would be to put your base rock in first, then the sand so your rock is firmly against the floor of the tank so it doesnt tip as easily if you have sand moving fish like an engineer goby or an eel