HoneysReef Posted December 22, 2012 Share Posted December 22, 2012 Hi all, I am writing in to see if anyone has some tips on moving a large established reef. I am moving out to Austin from San Diego. The total system volume is about 300 gallons. My thought was to load everything up in my truck and have the livestock in bins with heaters and power heads and drive straight through from San Diego and then have someone local with the water ready when I get there. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. Jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted December 22, 2012 Share Posted December 22, 2012 On a move that long most people would tell you to sell your livestock :/ Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+brian.srock Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 There should be a vid on mrsaltwatertank.com about moving. One of our members here has a huge water container on a trailer but you have a good plan. I would see if you can get someone to get it set up for you beforehand since its enough to break down the tankl and make the drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 I moved from SoCal to Austin with my nanocube. Granted it was tiny and all I had were softies and a monti or two but it came out fine after a 24hr drive. I figured at the time if you can ship corals overnight and they are fine, no different then driving them overnight. The main issue would be to have a ready and cycled tank in Austin for the corals. Maybe you can pay a LFS to hold corals for you once you arrive and can cycle a tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoneysReef Posted December 23, 2012 Author Share Posted December 23, 2012 Thanks for the tips guys. I know its not going to be easy but I really would like to keep my livestock. I have one acro that is the size of a basketball and a bellus angel that is 5 years old among other stuff that I wouldn't be able to replace. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wesreyn Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 Thanks for the tips guys. I know its not going to be easy but I really would like to keep my livestock. I have one acro that is the size of a basketball and a bellus angel that is 5 years old among other stuff that I wouldn't be able to replace. Awesome!!! Pics of the basketball acro please. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 Lots of buckets. The corals should do fine without circultaion but it won't hurt. Can you have a holding system already setup and running? That would give you more time to setup your 300 the way you want without being rushed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+brian.srock Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 What part of austin are you moving to? Date your expecting to arrive? I'm sure as a club we can all pitch in and help out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoneysReef Posted December 23, 2012 Author Share Posted December 23, 2012 We are not exactly sure yet. We have family in the Cedar Park area, so we will most likely rent there for a little while until we can find a nice house. Family are looking for a place to rent now. As far as the date, it will be really soon. We just accepted an offer on our house in california and only have a 30 day escrow. Provided everything went smooth, we would need to have it out by Jan 21. Any help would be great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 Kind of depends on where you'll be working. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 Yeah, just let us know what you have to bring down (coral/fish-wise... pictures would be great) and we can try to make the move as smooth as possible for your tank inhabitants. -Ty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+brian.srock Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 I would also have your family pick up some 40 gallon plus bins such as these http://www.tractorsupply.com/tuff-stuff-products-heavy-duty-oval-tank-40-gal--2229846 )1 And get them filled if they have garage space Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoneysReef Posted December 24, 2012 Author Share Posted December 24, 2012 I would also have your family pick up some 40 gallon plus bins such as these http://www.tractorsupply.com/tuff-stuff-products-heavy-duty-oval-tank-40-gal--2229846 )1 And get them filled if they have garage space Those are a great idea. I think I will get some and fill them. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoneysReef Posted January 28, 2013 Author Share Posted January 28, 2013 Well, the move is complete and it looks like there were no casualties so far. Knock on wood. Our bellus angel and one of our clarkii clowns are still acting weird but hopefully they will pull through. We ended up bagging each individual coral, frag and fish (about 300 bags) and putting pure oxygen in the bags. We then put the bags in Styrofoam shipping boxes with packing peanuts and loaded them in our trailer. A word of advice for anyone who might try to do this is to make sure each fish has a large bag with plenty of water. It seemed that the fish that were in the medium bags didn't travel as well as the ones in large bags As far as moving the tank, we ended up just transporting it as a single unit with the tank and stand together. We removed the doors and used 2x4s through the front and back to lift it with 4 guys, which worked like a charm. After a 9 hours of packing and loading and a straight thru drive that took exactly 24 hours we arrived in Texas and spent the next 12 hours setting everything back up. We ended up using the large troth from tractor supply company to have water made and ready when we got here. Thanks to everyone for their suggestions. I will try to post some pictures when I can. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nwehrman Posted January 28, 2013 Share Posted January 28, 2013 Glad you made it! Looking forward to some pictures! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+olaggie01 Posted January 28, 2013 Share Posted January 28, 2013 Nice work. I bet that was quite a nervous drive. I remember moving from Dallas to Austin with my fish and I was a nervous wreck and that was only a 3 hr drive, not 24 hrs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoneysReef Posted January 29, 2013 Author Share Posted January 29, 2013 Nice work. I bet that was quite a nervous drive. I remember moving from Dallas to Austin with my fish and I was a nervous wreck and that was only a 3 hr drive, not 24 hrs. It was crazy. I wouldn't want to have to do it again. Luckily we are staying in Texas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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