I decided I would build a thread to talk about moving my reef tank from Austin Texas to Raleigh North Carolina.
Before I did the move I search the web for everything. Success stories to failures. I wanted to ensure I would have the highest success rate possible.
this is the list of items I would keep on hand while moving!
14 gallon brute square containers
Seachem ammonia alerts
Battery pack bubblers (lots) of them
D batteries (again I would get a bunch)
Power inverters
NSW
prime.
The night before the move I unplugged/packaged up everything I wouldn’t need for the tank.
Ie apex, dos, trident, basically the automation stuff.
the morning of the move I unplugged everything else packaged it up.
as I was prepping at the buckets for the move, I wanted to ensure that I got as much clean water as possible. This was to ensure nothing would build up during the drive.
After training the tank down to about 4 inches of water left. I put the coral in buckets with like type species.
all of my smaller fish went in one 14 gallon brute
while I split my bigger fish between two of them.
the last brute was for my live rock I wanted to make sure it stayed submerged to prevent die off.
once everyone was in I put all the containers in our suv. I Put all the lids on started the bubblers, and threw in ammonia alerts to make sure die off wasn’t starting to happen.
“little note” I used power inverters on all my fish buckets and plugged my mp10s up to keep the water moving. I’m sure you could do this with any power head.
Every 6 hours or so I’d stop and check on the livestock.
after about 12 hours of the 24 hour ride I had to do a water change on the large fish buckets as ammonia was starting to creep just a bit.
once we arrived at our destination I plumbed the tank together added new sand. Put the rocks back in and filled her up! I didn’t lose a single fish or coral.
I know people are going to think why didn’t you sell everything and start over? But finding a replacement black, gem, and Achilles to put back in was going to be next to impossible.
I hope this helps you guys if you ever need to move.
also another note we drove straight there.
Before I did the move I search the web for everything. Success stories to failures. I wanted to ensure I would have the highest success rate possible.
this is the list of items I would keep on hand while moving!
14 gallon brute square containers
Seachem ammonia alerts
Battery pack bubblers (lots) of them
D batteries (again I would get a bunch)
Power inverters
NSW
prime.
The night before the move I unplugged/packaged up everything I wouldn’t need for the tank.
Ie apex, dos, trident, basically the automation stuff.
the morning of the move I unplugged everything else packaged it up.
as I was prepping at the buckets for the move, I wanted to ensure that I got as much clean water as possible. This was to ensure nothing would build up during the drive.
After training the tank down to about 4 inches of water left. I put the coral in buckets with like type species.
all of my smaller fish went in one 14 gallon brute
while I split my bigger fish between two of them.
the last brute was for my live rock I wanted to make sure it stayed submerged to prevent die off.
once everyone was in I put all the containers in our suv. I Put all the lids on started the bubblers, and threw in ammonia alerts to make sure die off wasn’t starting to happen.
“little note” I used power inverters on all my fish buckets and plugged my mp10s up to keep the water moving. I’m sure you could do this with any power head.
Every 6 hours or so I’d stop and check on the livestock.
after about 12 hours of the 24 hour ride I had to do a water change on the large fish buckets as ammonia was starting to creep just a bit.
once we arrived at our destination I plumbed the tank together added new sand. Put the rocks back in and filled her up! I didn’t lose a single fish or coral.
I know people are going to think why didn’t you sell everything and start over? But finding a replacement black, gem, and Achilles to put back in was going to be next to impossible.
I hope this helps you guys if you ever need to move.
also another note we drove straight there.