Austinvines Posted April 13, 2006 Share Posted April 13, 2006 Hey. John (the Dude) suggested I ask the group for some advice about transporting a two year old tank from Texas City to my home in Oak Hill. If I get the tank, I will have my wife's suburban assault vehicle (minivan) to transport everything in a climate controlled space. I am going to a restaurant supply store at lunch today to check out the 20 gallon heavy duty totes that are made by Rubbermaid which will handle the 120#'s of LR, water and corals (large bubble coral colony and multiple GSP colonies). There are six fish (purple tang, flame angel, two blennies and a pair of clowns) which I will put into a cooler with a battery powered bubbler from the moment we start until I get them to my house. The sump it comes with is from Ecosystems (miracle mud) and it currently has a HOT skimmer on the sump. I am a total beginner in this hobby so I do not want to mess with something that works at this point so I will need to keep this going. The owner had it running for two years and it cured the PT of HLLE when he got it 8 months ago. Once I get the tank home, it is going to take me awhile to get the tank reaquascaped and refilled with as much old clean water as I can keep and topped off with new SW (he uses Kent- should I stick with this for now or begin changing over to IO or a different salt?). I will have to refit the plumbing/sump/powerheads back together and question whether I should start a QT tank for the fish, or get the tank up and running as soon as possible and get them back into their home (although it will look completely different since the rockwork will change-possibly substantially). I am worried about the PT flipping out and killing his neighbors in the QT but worry that if I put him in the large tank first, he won't let anyone else in... Anyone in south Austin want to help a newb out one Saturday afternoon within the next month? It was suggested to me that I get a consultation from either a LFS or some private company that keeps tanks but maybe I could trade that PT for your assistance (or as much GSP as you want ) Glad I found you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hammondegge Posted April 14, 2006 Share Posted April 14, 2006 i'll help you fellow south austinite. i will be out of town tomorrow - wednesday so pm me later in the week and i will give you my number. robert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GKarshens Posted April 15, 2006 Share Posted April 15, 2006 Your method sounds pretty good. You might want to check out this thread on RC if you haven't already on Kent salt. http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.p...threadid=807046 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loans_n_fishes Posted April 20, 2006 Share Posted April 20, 2006 I live in Oak Hill and can help you move. I am a newbie too (had my 75 gallon since Sept). I would like to make a deal with you for the purple tang. Certainly don't expect you to "hand him over" for the help though. Have you already moved? Angela Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Austinvines Posted April 20, 2006 Author Share Posted April 20, 2006 All these South Austin reefers! How cool. Thanks for the offers, really. As it comes together next week I will drop more lines for help and shore up the schedule. I think I am going to rent some tank space if I can so if I get a cycle from reaquascaping, I won't have to worry. I would think I will have GSP to give away although I haven't seen the tank in person (crazy I know). The PT is small right now but will eventually outgrow my tank I would think. It will all depend on how they re-integrate once the cycle is complete, if there is one. For you South Austin reefers, where are you getting topoff water? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Austinvines Posted April 24, 2006 Author Share Posted April 24, 2006 Hey South Austin reefers... Before the move this weekend, could I borrow one a nearby refractometer or hydrometer? I have a batch of SW mixed but my old homebrewing hydro is showing 1.022 which seems a low, temp corrected. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hammondegge Posted April 24, 2006 Share Posted April 24, 2006 oh, btw - i have a refractometer that you may borrow laughing9.gif Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thedude Posted April 25, 2006 Share Posted April 25, 2006 I do as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Austinvines Posted April 25, 2006 Author Share Posted April 25, 2006 You guys are great and both have PM's/email blob7.gif Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xcreonx Posted April 26, 2006 Share Posted April 26, 2006 Let me describe what I just did to move my corals 1200 miles from SW Florida to Austin, which took 18hours straight of driving: 1. I packed each coral or fish separately into a bag (triple bagged), with 1/3 tank water and 2/3 Nitrox (I couldn't get Oxygen). 2. I rubberbanded tightly and placed the bags into styrofoam coolers. 3. Into the car, and on the road. 4. Arrived 18 hours later. I had a small holding tank (trash can) waiting with new water. 5. Careful, but swift acclimation: 20 minutes or so and into the holding tank. 6. New tank setup with live sand, live rock and ro/di saltwater. 7. Water change in the holding tank the next day or so. 8. Once the water in the new tank was looking good, I carefully moved everyone in. 9. Done! Long process, and a lot of work, but ulitmately worth it! Hope that helps. -Joe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishypets Posted April 26, 2006 Share Posted April 26, 2006 Let me describe what I just did to move my corals 1200 miles from SW Florida to Austin, which took 18hours straight of driving:1. I packed each coral or fish separately into a bag (triple bagged), with 1/3 tank water and 2/3 Nitrox (I couldn't get Oxygen). 2. I rubberbanded tightly and placed the bags into styrofoam coolers. 3. Into the car, and on the road. 4. Arrived 18 hours later. I had a small holding tank (trash can) waiting with new water. 5. Careful, but swift acclimation: 20 minutes or so and into the holding tank. 6. New tank setup with live sand, live rock and ro/di saltwater. 7. Water change in the holding tank the next day or so. 8. Once the water in the new tank was looking good, I carefully moved everyone in. 9. Done! Long process, and a lot of work, but ulitmately worth it! Hope that helps. -Joe Joe glad to see you made it. Did you loose any coral? Hope to see you at the first meeting. Clint Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xcreonx Posted April 26, 2006 Share Posted April 26, 2006 Hi Clint. Thanks for the kind words. I did lose one coral.... a bubble coral.... which was one of my favorites. I was concerned about moving it in the first place, as it is such a delicate coral. Unfortunately, my fears were realized. My other LPS did make it though. a torch, a frogspawn, a hammer, a fox and a red open brain came through fine. Overall, it was successful. Yes, I would love to come to the first meeting. -Joe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Austinvines Posted April 26, 2006 Author Share Posted April 26, 2006 Let me describe what I just did to move my corals 1200 miles from SW Florida to Austin, which took 18hours straight of driving:1. I packed each coral or fish separately into a bag (triple bagged), with 1/3 tank water and 2/3 Nitrox (I couldn't get Oxygen). 2. I rubberbanded tightly and placed the bags into styrofoam coolers. 3. Into the car, and on the road. 4. Arrived 18 hours later. I had a small holding tank (trash can) waiting with new water. 5. Careful, but swift acclimation: 20 minutes or so and into the holding tank. 6. New tank setup with live sand, live rock and ro/di saltwater. 7. Water change in the holding tank the next day or so. 8. Once the water in the new tank was looking good, I carefully moved everyone in. 9. Done! Long process, and a lot of work, but ulitmately worth it! Hope that helps. -Joe Nitrox, eh? That seems like quite the process. I am going to try a little more low-tech by moving the fish into a 96 qt cooler with two battery powered airstones. The large bubble coral colony will go into a smaller cooler with another bubblerand I will try to wedge it in a bit so that it doesn't get rolled around on the trek. The live rock will go into trash bags with damp newspaper in layers and I will do the same with the large GSP colonies as I understand that they are next to impossible to kill anyway. I will try to save as much of the oold tank water as possible but will be ditching the sand. I have 30g of SW ready to go at my house and may add another 10g just to be sure. The Dude has agreed to help me with setting it up so as I am getting back into town I will get him headed toward my house where we will hopefully get the tank in place, with rock and water in a hour or so and be able to add the fish and corals back in at that point. Thanks for the advice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xcreonx Posted April 28, 2006 Share Posted April 28, 2006 It actually wasn't that much work, just a little patience and some planning. Really wasn't difficult at all. A little nerve-wracking, but that comes with the territory Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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