Achieving a Near Impossible Move Across the Country with Huge Colonies!

[ScottB]

iggy, I agree I would definitely not do this again. But similar to your pieces you wanted to keep alive I had some pieces That are harder to find. Unfortunately some of the harder to find pieces died on me after the move such as: Pink Panther, BC Joker, CC Kraken, Matt V Orange Envy, Purple Monster, OG Ice Fire, and many more.

Ouch. Those hurt. Sorry.

@FarmerTy has some Pink Panther available.

Build Thread - FarmerTy's 215-gallon SPS Tank

I appreciate it! Mine should be pretty consistent normally as I take it under the same custom white balance and light settings every time. The post processing would be my only hitch for variation in consistency. My editing setup is upstairs away from my tank so I can’t do the side my side...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[HB AL]

Yes this was a very exhausting and long process. When we talk about patience in this hobby this would be right up there for me.

Upgrading tanks should be no problem within the same house, it can be done successfully. I’m sure you have a plan already, if you have any questions through that process just PM me.

I definitely will, it's the little things I might not think about that make a big difference. Although I have a killer resource from the lfs I bought it from a few minutes from my house and ive been going to since 1985 when it opened.

 

[Koigula]

Its ok. I knew risks

I have bc joker too taking off. I really do not know names anymore. I learned 150 to 250 gallons is way big enough.

I does give you a chance to restart. I would do 150lb kp aquatics live rock and ati sunpower modules.

 

[JayinToronto]

Can you elaborate on why you would never do this again. What was the most difficult part? What were the biggest obstacles?

 

[James_O]

Insane man! Good work, seriously, not easy to do...

 

[Gup]

Pretty incredible honestly. You sir are definitely way more dedicated than I haha. I would have given away or sold off what I could and started fresh at the new place lol

I too would have started anew.

 

[goodtogo]

Can you elaborate on why you would never do this again. What was the most difficult part? What were the biggest obstacles?

The main reason I would never do this again is the amount of money and strain it took to pull off. I had to run two operations at the same time in different states in order to transfer my coral over. This entailed creating a self-sufficient system that could run while I was living away from it. The new system had a booster pump on a timer in conjunction with a sprinkler timer. I also relied on my brother who lived in the area to check on the system weekly. Freshwater was replaced by a Smart ATO for months, it is still operating now. The ATO kept the salinity stable. All other parameters were not affected until I put lights on after 4 months. Not until coralline algae was growing was when the tank slowly consumed Alk and Calcium. This was a very small drop, but by the time I put tester pieces in the new system I added an auto doser for Alk and Calcium. Once the tanks were ready for the coral, this meant that my wife and kids needed to permanently tend to the corals in the new location. They were in one state receiving the corals and keeping the tanks going while was in another state shipping the coral and slowly breaking down my old tanks.
It was a laborious process that required my family to be apart in order for the transfer of corals to happen.
It was also hard seeing about 15% of my pieces die during the move and 25% die two months later.

There are other obstacles I am missing but these are the ones that come to the top of my head. But I was well aware of all these obstacles, that’s why planning was so important.

 

[ScottB]

The main reason I would never do this again is the amount of money and strain it took to pull off. I had to run two operations at the same time in different states in order to transfer my coral over. This entailed creating a self-sufficient system that could run while I was living away from it. The new system had a booster pump on a timer in conjunction with a sprinkler timer. I also relied on my brother who lived in the area to check on the system weekly. Freshwater was replaced by a Smart ATO for months, it is still operating now. The ATO kept the salinity stable. All other parameters were not affected until I put lights on after 4 months. Not until coralline algae was growing was when the tank slowly consumed Alk and Calcium. This was a very small drop, but by the time I put tester pieces in the new system I added an auto doser for Alk and Calcium. Once the tanks were ready for the coral, this meant that my wife and kids needed to permanently tend to the corals in the new location. They were in one state receiving the corals and keeping the tanks going while was in another state shipping the coral and slowly breaking down my old tanks.
It was a laborious process that required my family to be apart in order for the transfer of corals to happen.
It was also hard seeing about 15% of my pieces die during the move and 25% die two months later.

There are other obstacles I am missing but these are the ones that come to the top of my head. But I was well aware of all these obstacles, that’s why planning was so important.

The sheer scale of the problem you were solving was mind blowing. Multiple air cargo shipments, complete, redundant, real time systems. Large colonies. Glad you are done.

 

[Bpb]

Well done. I was so afraid to lose everything in my 90 gallon moving 2 miles down the road I sold them all lol

 

[FactoryKTMmotocross46]

Just came back from SA, TX reef fest. Amazing corals with great color!

 

[Softhammer]

That’s no joke, a move like that. I have done it several times. Longest was Utah to Chicago. Then Chicago to Tampa, and a couple 700-1000 mile moves in between. Most successful was the longest mileage but the corals were smaller. To anyone considering doing it I have one or two major suggestions that saved everything for me. 1, probably obvious never transfer fish and corals in the same container, and 2. Make a frag of everything you have and bag separately in a cooler of foamie or 2 or 3. Big colonies need big oxygen in transit but just to have a frag, you can regrow everything. Because of this I have monster colonies of frags I bought close to 20 years ago.

 

[goodtogo]

That’s no joke, a move like that. I have done it several times. Longest was Utah to Chicago. Then Chicago to Tampa, and a couple 700-1000 mile moves in between. Most successful was the longest mileage but the corals were smaller. To anyone considering doing it I have one or two major suggestions that saved everything for me. 1, probably obvious never transfer fish and corals in the same container, and 2. Make a frag of everything you have and bag separately in a cooler of foamie or 2 or 3. Big colonies need big oxygen in transit but just to have a frag, you can regrow everything. Because of this I have monster colonies of frags I bought close to 20 years ago.

Wow, good job on the success. You are right on what you said about breaking them up and big colonies need a lot of water/oxygen.

 

[bobnicaragua]

I really enjoyed seeing your setup today. It's hard to believe you just moved that system across the country.

I found it quite inspirational seeing such a variety of thriving acros!