SPS and Moving, looking for advice and experience

[cody6766]

I'll be moving in January and am hesitant to stock up on any SPS before I do. There are some locals that have some wonderful pieces and would give me more than fair prices. I have done the SPS thing before and I was very successful. I had some acro frags growing nicely, as well as some montis and a few others. I lost them in a tank crash, not due to poor husbandry.

So, about the move:
I'll be moving from Oklahoma to Pensacola, Florida and doing it all in one haul. I'll have room for my tank, buckets, extra water, etc. in the truck, so that's no too big of a concern. I will currently be moving the normal mix of zoas and shrooms, some LPS, a monti cap and some small fish. These all belong to a 20 long (right now the 33g in my sig).

Would acros be any harder to move than any of the above coral? I know they tend to me more sensitive, but would that show in a 24hr move?

I'm really tempted to pick up a few great corals while i'm in town, but don't want to kill them off when I hit the road.

[PogoMonogo]

I'd love to hear some advice on this myself. Unfortunately, I am a little farther along in that I have large colonies of SPS already, and know I will have to move in about a year or so out of state.

[dmorel]

It stands to reason that you taking the SPS frags in buckets, presumably with heaters and airpumps etc has at the very least the potential to be a better gig for the coral than being shipped Fed Ex overnight But what happens on the other side? Are you going to fire up a new tank as soon as you hit FLA? That's where I would be concerned, dropping those SPS pieces into a tank that is not stable after making that move... I'd be more concerned about that then 24 hours of actually moving them.

[burton14e7]

I would get an ac/dc adapter for your cig lighter and get something small like a koralia nano and something to regulate temperature and drive like that. I moved from CA to Texas and lost almost everything but LPS and an engineer goby. I didn't get something for flow or temp though. :(

[cody6766]

The plan is to move everything in buckets. I was considering moving the frags in individual bags placed in an ice chest to keep the temp stable. If I need flow then I could rig something in a bucket or container where the frags are glued down and a powerhead (K-nano or K1, I have both) keeps things circulating.

I do plan on setting the tank up as soon as I get there. I can always take a spare 10g and set up a bare bones tank with a frag rack to let the 20L balance out over a few days. I can take old water and new water, keep the rock wet and the sand soaked.

anything else I'm missing or suggestions?

I'd also like some more experience from those that have moved SPS corals over several hours.

Thanks all!

[Boyman]

With a big move like that I'd sell half and move half to minimize losses, financial wise

[panic]

I would bag them up in a little water, make large boxes out of blue styrofoam with some heat packs and take them with you. The corals will get too cold in the buckets. There are couple of links of how to make the boxes and ship below, except that you will be the next day carrier.

Go to:
http://www.shadowramysreef.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=30:how-to-pack-and-ship-corals&catid=13:propigation&Itemid=38

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1239871

[cody6766]

good deal!

Selling half won't be a big deal because I'm working with frag size pieces. The only things I have larger than frags are zoas, yumas and candycane corals. Everything else is more or less frag rack stuff, including anything I might buy.

[flyyyguy]

i recently moved hundreds of corals 6 hours away in the middle of an oregon winter

I did bag up everything seperately besies thae larger stuff which went into buckets and had a competent helper for the bagging as it was quite a chore

parts-

2- 400 w inverters wired directly into the truck battery
a 150 gallon rubbermaid trough
300w heater on a ranco
mag 12 with a venturi attachement-to keep the water spinning and alive
heat packs, buckets, and coolers

part of my goal was to have mostly familiar water waiting for them at their new home for the slam dunk, so I brought 100 gallons or so along with me in the trough along with a bunch of rock. all of the smaller corals were actually floated in the rubbermaid so they were perfectly temp controlled the whole way floating. all of the larger corals I kept in coolers and buckets that I had heat packed appropriately for the trip. The buckets with larger corals I kept in the back of the cab as they of ocurse wouldnt have held temp

I already had a temp tank set up and waiting with another hundred gallons that had been cycling with rock from the tank for a week, and i preplukbmed everything from the old system that would need redone

got there, slam dunked all the corals along with the familiar water. Only loss I had was my large chevron who i brainfarted ona nd didnt give enough air int he bag. He was the last thing I bagged up. He was doa. :( but all in all it was a very successful move

That was a quick explanation but that was the nuts and bolts of it

[JAustin]

Take as much water as you can with you and keep the rock in the water with a heater and pump like stated above. When you set up you new tank put everything in and add sand later on a litle at a time. It would be a good time to go barebottom or a good time to swich sand size.

[flyyyguy]

I missed touching on a key element jaustin just brought up.....All of my tanks are BB. IF I had sand I would not use any of the old, and I would want a tank with new dry sand(not live) that had been sitting there waitng and running for at least a few days. I wouls still do the familiar water transfer for sure.

Or better yet, just take the opportunity to off the sand altogether. If you have a very mature tank at all be prepared for some cycling in the rock for no othdr reason than moving it out of the sanded. i assure you it will happen, to what extent depoends on the cleanliness of your current sandbed and rock. maybe not much issue at all but think about it

GL

[cody6766]

Well, the tank will be about 2 years old at the time of the move. The rock has been moved around multiple times and the tank has been moved (successfully) once before. It was over a short distance though. The sand is pretty clean and the rock is in great shape. I won't be going bare bottom as I enjoy the look of a tank with a sand bed, but I do and will keep it shallow.

how about this for a moving set up
Build frag racks to fit, stacked, in a bucket. I'm thinking a 3g would do just fine. I'd just use Egg Crate cut to fit snugly in the bucket with legs to keep a good 4-6" of separation between the two or three layers. I could place a heater on the bottom of the tank along with a powerhead to keep the water moving.
The rock will fit in another 5g bucket or 2, each with a powerhead. One rock bucket, or both, could hold the sand bed.
I have three 5g water jugs to move salt water and I'll bring my RO/DI filter in the truck with me for more water when i get there. I'm probably looking at 25g total volume with the sump after rock displacement, so I should be damned close with the 15g in jugs and the water in the rock/coral buckets.

The coral not stuck on frag racks (zoas, plate, lobo and yumas) could go in zip loc containers full of holes and sit on the upper-most frag rack layer.