Stock Tanks

[GregC]

Ok thought I would give this a try, I have a friend who is getting out of the hobby, and is basically giving me all of his equipment and live stock. Only problem is, the stuff is in Hustion TX. I am going to attempt to transport all of the stuff back to OKC. I have a plan, but need to see if anyone has any of the Rubbermaid stock tanks, that I could borrow for the weekend of the 21st. My plan is to head down on friday break down the system and haul straight back to OKC, w/ the plan to be back on Sunday. I am talking about tanks, like the one's Paul used when his mishap occured. At this point it looks like I am going to need in the Neighborhood of 200 gal's or so.

I would be more than happy to leave you a deposit or whatever you would need for comfort in knowing you will get them back in a short timeframe.

Any assistance would be greatly appriciated.

 

[pwhitby]

The club owns a 150g. You are more than welcome to borrow that if you want.

Just come get it.

P.

 

[GregC]

Paul YOU are the man!! Thank you COMAS I didn't know the club had stuff like that. This is definatly going to be an adventure, but if everything is there that is said to be there, it will be worth the work to make this happen. I will send you a PM.

 

[TulsaReefer]

I don't have a stock tank, but thought I'd share a little of what I learned while moving my 110 from Edmond to Tulsa (10 years ago now). I used multiple 30 gallon trash cans, only about half or less filled with water for the rock and some water, and then I duct taped the lids on to keep the water from sloshing out. Then I tied all the handled together to make one big unit, and tied them all down in my van. It's amazing how much inertia water has when moving down the highway and you have to come to a quick stop for some reason (i.e. Dallas traffic). Then I used coolers for the fish, which were bagged with oxygen. You may be able to find a local fish store down there that would be willing to bag them with oxygen for a little added insurance. Then pack them all up in a nice cooler(s) and they should be fine (and no sloshing around). Corals do better when separated so they don't rub together and damage each other. You can do this by bagging smaller ones just like fish, and I put a few of my larger corals in the containers on top of the rock, but made sure they wouldn't get pushed around too much by the sloshing of the water.

What I'd use the stock tank for (and you may already be planning this) is to have the water all ready and waiting when you get back. I was lucky and my tank was shipped ahead and all my livestock was kept in an extra tank I had at Aquariums in Edmond while I got the main tank all plumbed back up, filled with water, and back up to temperature. Having water on hand, aged, and at the right temp is really key to being able to get things set back up quickly. And temperature is important, it's difficult to heat/cool a really large amount of water quickly if you don't have it where you want it to be. And you don't want to have to wait around when you get back for water while you have everything waiting to get back in the tank.

 

[GregC]

Excellent tips, Its late, I will fill you in with my plan tomorrow, I could definately use all the advice I can get, this is going to be a job for sure.

 

[GregC]

Well here are some specifics of what I am getting, and the basics of my plan. The tank is a custom built 140 with a 50 gal sump. 2, 250 watt metal halide lights, cal reactor, chiller and several pumps, controller, skimmer and RODI unit and probably a ton of other stuff that I will find when I get there. At the moment I'm not throwing out alot of questions to him, due to his time constraints w/ work and whatnot.

Some of the tips you gave me have made me rethink a couple of things on my original plan. Thanks! At the moment I am going to use the stock tanks to haul the Rock, sand, and coral. I am going to wire in a 1500 watt inverter, to hook up a pump for circulation and the heater to maintain a warm enough water temp to help with the rock, sand and corals that have to go into the stock tank for the trip home. After looking at your suggestions, I will probably call the LFS that he has used and have them bag the fish, and smaller corals as necessary.
Our plan is to break down the tank, put it in the trailer and head directly back to OKC, so the fish will probably be bagged 10 to 12 hrs. At the moment the tank is infested with aptasia, so when we arrive back in OKC, I plan on putting the fish in my 80 gal tank, on a temp basis and setting up the 140 in the Garage w/ no livestock, other than what will be needed to take care of the aptasia and any other problems I find. Our 80 gal at the moment only has 3 fish so there should be plenty of room for what he has; if not Doug (DG) has offered to hold a couple for me. (Thanks Doug!) After the aptasia problem is under control, and everything has been verified operational, I will switch out the tanks in the house, probably two to three weeks after we return.
I want to attempt to bring the L.R. and Sand back alive so if the tank goes thru a cycle it will not be as long as usual.

Any other suggestions anyone? Also would the fish be fine bagged in a cooler for 10 to 12 hours?

 

[papagimp]

fwiw, I have a couple of 20g totes, not brute strength or anything, but they're what I've used for storing rock when doing tank rearanging or moving them around the house. And doing larger water changes. if ya think you can use em, more than welcome to borrow em for this project. Just let me know.

 

[mskohl]

How do you plan on keeping the water in the stock tank from splashing out? I have tried garbage bags duct taped down and that helped, but water still splashed out.

You might look at getting/borrowing a couple of really large coolers - 100g size and using those as well.

 

[happysak]

Leigh at Aquariums has 55 gal and 100 gal tubs and many barrels.
Give her a call, she gladly will let you to borrow them

 

[GregC]

My plan to secure the water is to use tarps, duct tape and zip ties, I know I will probably lose some water but hopefully we can get it tight enough not to lose too much. Yes I also have two coolers, I plan on using for the livestock.

 

[GregC]

Anybody here formally from the Houston area? I am looking for a reputable, LFS in the Houston Hobby area that can bag some fish for me, for the return trip home.

 

[Lightsluvr]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12118900#post12118900 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by GregC
Anybody here formally from the Houston area? I am looking for a reputable, LFS in the Houston Hobby area that can bag some fish for me, for the return trip home.

Maybe ask your friend who he did business with?

LL

 

[GregC]

Alot of the stuff he got was online. The LFS he worked with several years ago has since shut down.

 

[Reef Happy]

Greg, When you get back from Houston and have you tank set up and going you will have tell us everything. Look forward to hearing about all the goodies you picked up with you steal of a deal.

 

[GregC]

Got home about 4:30 this morning, long drive. Got lots of stuff thou, I will take some pictures in a bit and put them up. It was definatly worth my time.

 

[GregC]

Well, its done, thank goodness that was a long trip in a short time frame. The tank is pretty good, it was custom, its a 140 that is very tall, very wide not that long thou, its different because there is no center brace on the top of the tank like usual. When he had it built he didn't want one because he wanted the top as another viewing point. When we arrived at the house to pick it up on Sat, my friend was there to meet us, and warned that it had been awhile since he had been over to check on the tank, we believed him when we walked in and couldn't see inside because of the algae buildup all over the walls and such. After cleaning the walls a bit and letting the water settle we were able to see the tang, and another fish that is half purple and half yellow, that was about it. It was bascally a huge mess. Most of the coral was dead only thing left that I could find was a rock with a few mushrooms on it. While we were breaking down the plumbing in the garage my friend came out and stated that about 5 months or so ago 4 fish were left in the tank, and 2 disappeared . I didnt think much of that at the time because after seeing the shape the tank was in it didn't suprise me at all. During the breakdown I looked in the overflow and low and behold there was a clown fish swimming around in there, lol She's pretty big but, has lost alot of its color from being in the dark for such a long time, otherwise is in really good shape for what it has gone thru in the last few months. What I mean by color is basically what used to be orange on the fish is now yellow, so hopefully after a bit its orange will return. Also living in the overflow that we found a bit late (due to all the crud in there) was a bi-color blenny. That fish was alive and swimming, but didnt look very good at all. I ended up leaving that fish at the LFS that oxygenated our bags. He is now living in there QT tank till he heals and will find a new home at that point.

I will write a bit more tomorrow, with some more pictures and a basic rundown of what was there equipment wise. There is still a couple of boxes I have not gone thru. Good stuff so far thou.


Here are some pic's

<table style="width:194px;"><tr><td align="center" style="height:194px;background:url(http://picasaweb.google.com/f/img/transparent_album_background.gif) no-repeat left"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/Gchilder/Skimmer?authkey=Ir5GacqHA5U"><img src="http://lh6.google.com/Gchilder/R-exnQa-OhE/AAAAAAAAAPQ/KufdXVtPIN4/s160-c/Skimmer.jpg" width="160" height="160" style="margin:1px 0 0 4px;"></a></td></tr><tr><td style="text-align:center;font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:11px"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/Gchilder/Skimmer?authkey=Ir5GacqHA5U" style="color:#4D4D4D;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:none;">Skimmer</a></td></tr></table>

It took in the neighborhood of 3 1/2 hrs to break the tank down and load it up and get back on the road if anyone wants to know.