Travelling far with the reef

[SOGavity]

At the end of September I am moving 1600+km away. It's a 16hr drive in total. I would love to bring my reef setup and creatures with me. I won't if I can't but I am hoping for advice or maybe someone who's gone through something like this before successfully. 16+ hours (probably more like 24hrs) is a very long time for corals and fish to sit and stew in untemped, uncirculated water. Seems almost impossible. But I really really want them to come with me, especially since the place I am moving to doesn't have marine anything. So, what are my chances that everyone will arrive safely? What should I do for the best out come? It's not going to be so cold that I'm that worried about water temperatures and I'll have spare tank water with me. Any advice of how to pull this off would be greatly appreciated.

 

[JayM]

It can be done if packed properly, and you have something set up to transfer them into when you get there. Many, if not most aquarium fish have spent 24 hours in a bag at least once before.

 

[SOGavity]

It can be done if packed properly, and you have something set up to transfer them into when you get there. Many, if not most aquarium fish have spent 24 hours in a bag at least once before.

Yeah, nothing will be set up until I get there and actually set it up.

 

[Dread Pirate Dave]

At the end of September I am moving 1600+km away. It's a 16hr drive in total. I would love to bring my reef setup and creatures with me. I won't if I can't but I am hoping for advice or maybe someone who's gone through something like this before successfully. 16+ hours (probably more like 24hrs) is a very long time for corals and fish to sit and stew in untemped, uncirculated water. Seems almost impossible. But I really really want them to come with me, especially since the place I am moving to doesn't have marine anything. So, what are my chances that everyone will arrive safely? What should I do for the best out come? It's not going to be so cold that I'm that worried about water temperatures and I'll have spare tank water with me. Any advice of how to pull this off would be greatly appreciated.

How big is your tank? How much room do you have in your vehicle? If it was me I'd be looking at rigging something together with insulated coolers, a 120v inverter, 12v lithium battery + car charger, a heater and wave makers. Spread the live rock and livestock out between containers as space requires.

https://www.fleetfarm.com/detail/igloo-54-qt-white-marine-ultra-cooler/0000101775572
Some battery powered air pumps pushing air into the coolers to keep things oxygenated too.

Should work?

 

[smitten with ocean life]

how big is your set up?

 

[SOGavity]

How big is your tank? How much room do you have in your vehicle? If it was me I'd be looking at rigging something together with insulated coolers, a 120v inverter, 12v lithium battery + car charger, a heater and wave makers. Spread the live rock and livestock out between containers as space requires.

https://www.fleetfarm.com/detail/igloo-54-qt-white-marine-ultra-cooler/0000101775572
Some battery powered air pumps pushing air into the coolers to keep things oxygenated too.

Should work?

It's 90 gallons. It'll be on a trailer. I'm not really bringing anything with me but my computer and fish tank, so the trailer will be small. I'm basically starting life over, to get personal. I did think about getting something like that... a large battery pack of some sort. I've already been to websites looking at it. I also thought of traveling with them in the tank with about 2 inches of water at the bottom of the tank with a bare bottom and rocks removed. That way I only have to worry about heating up one body of water instead of 15 different buckets.

 

[SOGavity]

how big is your set up?

90 gallon display and 30 gallon sump.

 

[BryanM]

Critters get bagged and shipped all the time, and I've had delays where they were bagged for nearly 48 hrs, most survived that.

Careful planning, packaging, and prompt setup at new location I think would be very doable. Considering the length of the trip I'd think about putting them in a yeti cooler with a few airstones to keep the water moving and aerated.

 

[rhitee93]

Corals will be fine in buckets/totes for that long. Fish would do fine with a battery powered bubbler and some of your live rock. I think this is pretty doable.

Once you get there you can plug in light and pumps to keep everything alive in totes for a long time so you don't have to rush to get the next system setup.

 

[Dread Pirate Dave]

It's 90 gallons. It'll be on a trailer. I'm not really bringing anything with me but my computer and fish tank, so the trailer will be small. I'm basically starting life over, to get personal. I did think about getting something like that... a large battery pack of some sort. I've already been to websites looking at it. I also thought of traveling with them in the tank with about 2 inches of water at the bottom of the tank with a bare bottom and rocks removed. That way I only have to worry about heating up one body of water instead of 15 different buckets.

My concern with an "in tank" move is that the glass can break. The coolers will help keep the heat steady and you wont have to worry about them breaking. I think it can be done.

But maybe it would be better with a fresh start, all things considered?

 

[Indiana Reefin]

I have made a move like this before. But nothing more than a 30-40 gallon setup. In a perfect world, it would be awesome if you could get a stock tank and take your aquarium with live rock and set it up. Then you would make a 2nd trip and bring all of your corals and fish.

If you do it all in one trip, take your time. Don’t rush anything.

Might be a good time to upgrade your aquarium as well. Keep all of your equipment and livestock, but sell your tank and stand.

 

[UnnamedReef]

This is definitely do-able if you plan it out. I moved 1200 miles recently and moved my 55 gallon + 20 gallon sump with fish and coral with me.

I used two Yeti coolers with holes drilled in the top. Each had a 50W heater, digital thermometer and a bubble stone. Egg crate stacked on the bottom to zip tie rocks and coral in place. 21 hour drive with ~6 hours on each end to tear down the tank and set it up and it went fine.

If you keep the fish and coral coolers in the vehicle with you the above runs off a single power inverter 15A circuit. Good luck to you in the move, it can be done.