Moving Biocube 29

[hesus321]

Hello all. This May, I will be setting up a biocube 29. Around early September, I will be moving back to college. I was wondering what would be the best way to move the tank (its a 4-5 hour drive from my house to my college). Also, we have about a month break over December-January, what do you suggest I do then?

p.s. The tank will contain clown pair, Frogspawn, Hammer, zoas, shrimp/goby pair. Maybe some other basic nano fish/coral.

 

[hesus321]

Hello all. This May, I will be setting up a biocube 29. Around early September, I will be moving back to college. I was wondering what would be the best way to move the tank (its a 4-5 hour drive from my house to my college). Also, we have about a month break over December-January, what do you suggest I do then?

p.s. The tank will contain clown pair, Frogspawn, Hammer, zoas, shrimp/goby pair. Maybe some other basic nano fish/coral.

 

[shadow6]

The best thing you can do is "DONT."

Just wait till you get there. You will hate yourself for getting it set up and making her all pretty just to tear apart, bag up, move fast, set up again, wait for it to settle, in addition the stress on the livestock...

Assemble all your parts, build your supplies, then do it when you get tere.

 

[hesus321]

Would there be a problem in just unplugging it and keeping it stable in the car?

Also, even if I wait till September, I will still have to do something about it over December break. We have to leave the dorms for a month over the break. I will have to move it back then, or maybe leave it at a local reef store.

 

[shadow6]

At about 9 pounds per gallon it would be pretty hard to get loaded in the car. As soon as you did, and managed to get it seatbelted in, some hockey puck will decide to stop short at a red light, and you'll never get the smell out of your car.

I'm not saying it could not be done, just would require a lot of planning, and a few guys to get it in the car.

You could start by designing an elevated base that the cube fits neatly onto and into, that can be picked up from the corners, that just happens to fit into a wide shallow tub to catch any turn spillage.

I'm thinking like a civil war coehorn mortar carriage.

 

[mvm]

Moving a tank that small is not that big of a deal. I would take 5-10 gallons of tank water in a bucket. Put the LR in another bucket and cover w/ water. Trash the sand. When you transport, use the 1-2 5 gallon buckets w/ tank water, and get rid of the water the lr, corals were in. Fill the tank with new sand, lr corals, old tank water and fill the rest with "new" water. The fish/inverts should be in their own bucket/bag. If you do it this way, chances are you won't get another cycle. I hope this is clear. good luck.

 

[weaglereefer]

Maybe go smaller like something in the 8-12g , or even 3g range? You could also make friends with someone who lives off campus, and just set it up at their house over the break.

 

[kirru]

MvM;468023 wrote: Moving a tank that small is not that big of a deal. I would take 5-10 gallons of tank water in a bucket. Put the LR in another bucket and cover w/ water. Trash the sand. When you transport, use the 1-2 5 gallon buckets w/ tank water, and get rid of the water the lr, corals were in. Fill the tank with new sand, lr corals, old tank water and fill the rest with "new" water. The fish/inverts should be in their own bucket/bag. If you do it this way, chances are you won't get another cycle. I hope this is clear. good luck.

I did something like this when I moved my 10g from Savannah to Conyers and it was a 5 hour ride cause I went to a members house anyway, i did all that, put corals and fish and hermits it to their own buckets (small little half gallon buckets are what I used, then I drained the water and put it in to a 5 gallon bucket one contained liverock, tho, I left a 1" - 1.5" of water covering the sand on the bottom and drove all the way here, set everything back up and didnt have a single sign of a cycle, and everything lived, even have the corals still that i brought up, two SPS in fact. Small tanks are way easier to move. Good Luck

 

[weaglereefer]

Kirru;468029 wrote: Small tanks are way easier to move.

I moved my 10g all over the house before I finally took it down. Very easy to move.

I'm absolutely dreading moving my 90 in a few months here...

 

[kirru]

O i bet. There is talk about moving BACK to Savannah, I was there for school and came home, so I will be in a world of hurt to move my 40br down there.... THOUGH on the upside I could/can go bigger

 

[skriz]

duplicate threads merged.

Please stop posting duplicate threads; one is enough.

 

[hesus321]

Sorry, I did to get more replies. Lots of people probably do not check the nano forum so I posted it in general as well.

 

[ga_daisy]

Rubbermaid containers work really well also for putting equipment or rocks with water in them. You get the 22 gal size, and only fill it part way. You can also take newspapers, wet them with tank water and put over the top of the rock to help keep them wet without them being completely submerged in water. They have the little handle things on the side and the lids help keep fish water from splashing out and great for stacking if you are moving alot of stuff.

I have bought fish from pre-existing systems and kept them in 5 gal buckets for a couple of days (long story but had stupid happen and it prevented me from being able to deal with introducing the new fish into my system). The fish were fine, no signs of stress. The biggest thing would be making sure that you don't leave them sitting where it would be extremely cold or extremely hot, because with 3 gal of water the temp swings would be a huge issue. Only put a couple of fish per bucket.....you don't want an overcrowding situation. .... no this isn't ideal, but it gives you a little peace of mind knowing that moving fish in the car to and from school can be done.....4 or 5 hours isn't a big deal.

 

[hesus321]

Thank you all for the help! The splitting it up into rubbermaid containers is a good idea and will hopefully work well. Also, leaving "1" - 1.5" of water covering the sand on the bottom in the tank" is a really good idea! Thanks.