Getting Corals Home Safe From Two Day Expo

[NCsalt]

My first coral show this weekend! I have never had anything aquatic shipped to me and the farthest I have driven with new fish was an 1 and half hours.

The Aquatic Expo is three hours drive from me. Luckily my brother lives 30 minutes from the location and is letting me crash there for the weekend.

So I have a two day show and then a 3 hour drive to my DT.

How am I supposed to get these corals back healthy. I might not even be able to make it to the second day of the show so they are looking at 24 hour transport imo.

Can I make this work?
I am bringing my soft sides yeti cooler.

I had also thought about bringing a 5 gallon bucket with a heater to let the corals float in at his place over night to have a good temp before the sunday drive home. Is that a good idea?

I have a pretty good idea of what im after and where its going in the tank.

 

[Saltyreef]

Yep, bucket heater and pump. Try to get as much water from the seller as you can to have more stability inside the sealed bags.

 

[Nick Steele]

Imo even if not going to the show on Sunday have them hold the corals overnight and pick them up in the morning before driving home. If you don’t have tickets they should still let you in to pick up corals. A 3 hour drive is nothing for corals in a good sealed bag inside a 5 gal bucket imo

 

[snorklr]

brought a cooler, some ice packs and typical top fin digital thermometer and kinda opened or closed the lid to keep bags at a good temp for the 2 hr drive home from last years Raleigh show with no issues at all ....the car was REALLY hot from being parked outside... heat may not be as much of an issue with this years show cause i have a feeling i'll be in a parking garage...whatever you wind up doing will be a lot better than what shipping a coral subjects it to

 

[CoralB]

Have the dealer hold til the day you leave then drive the three hours home .

 

[OrchidMiss]

Have the dealer hold til the day you leave then drive the three hours home .

This.

 

[Rusty_L_Shackleford]

My first coral show this weekend! I have never had anything aquatic shipped to me and the farthest I have driven with new fish was an 1 and half hours.

The Aquatic Expo is three hours drive from me. Luckily my brother lives 30 minutes from the location and is letting me crash there for the weekend.

So I have a two day show and then a 3 hour drive to my DT.

How am I supposed to get these corals back healthy. I might not even be able to make it to the second day of the show so they are looking at 24 hour transport imo.

Can I make this work?
I am bringing my soft sides yeti cooler.

I had also thought about bringing a 5 gallon bucket with a heater to let the corals float in at his place over night to have a good temp before the sunday drive home. Is that a good idea?

I have a pretty good idea of what im after and where its going in the tank.

I'm in the same boat. We're staying at a friend's for the weekend and live in the myrtle Beach area. I bought a 10g tank, heater and a power head at petco and brought a couple jugs of premixed saltwater. With the current sales it only cost me like 40 bucks for everything and I can always use an extra qt tank. I'll rebate everything and transport in a cooler foe the 3 hour trip home.

 

[NCsalt]

All venders held my corals to first thing Sunday morning. All of them traveled well.

The show was a great time.

I was over whelmed. But ended up with pieces I really liked that were fairly priced.

 

[Rusty_L_Shackleford]

All venders held my corals to first thing Sunday morning. All of them traveled well.

The show was a great time.

I was over whelmed. But ended up with pieces I really liked that were fairly priced.

Good to hear, glad to hear everything made it! We had a blast. We went in with a wish list and we're able to get pretty much everything on it (and a few impulse buys) for excellent prices. Ended up coming home with a dozen frags, a clam, 2 fish, and some fw shrimp.