Calling all Veterans....House move - Advice

[Curehead]

Moving house in 10 days.
Will be a full pack up into a truck and a five hour journey from door to door.

Want to try to save my current set up.....
The guys left in my tank have endured hell on a trike already so we can safely assume that they are hardy....

Current tenants of my 32 gallon tank.

Pink spotted goby
3 Blue green Crons
6 Tiger Conche
3 Turbo snails

Flower pot coral
Cherry Nem
Unidentified hard coral

6 inch established sand bed
40lb live rock


My plan

1) Drain tank to leave 3 inches of water above the sand.
2) transfer live rock & corals to old red sea salt buckets with old water and lids.
3) put fish in plastic bucket with lid and some de-stresser chemical.
4) travel
5) set up tank ASAP (first job on moving in) (may add support filter for first few days)
6) Add rock and travel water and start up electrics etc...
7) Add livestock.
8) next day 20 percent water change.
9) Pray...

Any advice from anybody?

Seriously these guys have already been through some major trauma and are the survivors. I think that they will make it. if they don't they don't but I don't want them to suffer any.

 

[Eric]

I would consider adding a battery powered air pump with air stone to each of the buckets this will help keep livestock and bacteria alive.

 

[corrado007]

Sounds like you've got it under control. The air stone's as mentioned by Eric aren't a bad idea. How far is the move, how many hours? If it's very long at all, what about the water temp for the fish and inverts?

 

[Curehead]

Maximum of 5 hours. Temp is going to have to be relying on the car temp.

 

[jrhaughey]

You should bag the fish if you can. This way you can float them in the tank when it is set up to get to the right temperature. Also, I have been told that traveling in a bag is less stress on the fish. You can get bags from your LFS. Remember that most fish are shipped this way and are in the bags 24 hours or more.

Wrap the live rock in newspaper and wet it. Then just keep it in a plastic lined box or what ever container you have. It does not need to be submerged in water.

I would also bag the corals and/or rubberband them to a piece of styrofoam so they float upside-down. This will also help protect them from damage.

Your sand just needs to stay wet. Carrying a tank with water in it can be a challange and not necessary.

Take at least 50% of your water if you can.

I have moved tanks several times and never had any problem. It is just a lot of work. Once you have it set up, test the water and test is again the next couple of days until you feel comfortable.