nautical_nathaniel
Indecision may or may not be my problem.
Hey everyone,
In a matter of days I will be moving from the Pensacola, FL area to the West Palm Beach, FL area. According to Google, this is an 8-9 hour trip. I have moved my aquarium several times while I was in college and since graduating, but it has never been a move of this scale.
Thankfully, I will only be moving a 20 gallon aquarium and stand as well as all of my equipment and supplies. However, I still have a few things that I need to figure out, so I thought I would share my plans and see if anyone had any additional advice or suggestions that could make my move easier and less stressful.
Note: This is what I normally do for moves and it has worked very well in the past, but for a long move I'm not so sure it will work as well, so if you have a better suggestion, feel free to share it!
Part 1: Teardown
Let me know what you guys think, I was considering packing the fish as if I was shipping them, but I don't know if I will be able to gather the necessary supplies in time but I will make an effort to if enough folks think that's a better idea.
In a matter of days I will be moving from the Pensacola, FL area to the West Palm Beach, FL area. According to Google, this is an 8-9 hour trip. I have moved my aquarium several times while I was in college and since graduating, but it has never been a move of this scale.
Thankfully, I will only be moving a 20 gallon aquarium and stand as well as all of my equipment and supplies. However, I still have a few things that I need to figure out, so I thought I would share my plans and see if anyone had any additional advice or suggestions that could make my move easier and less stressful.
Note: This is what I normally do for moves and it has worked very well in the past, but for a long move I'm not so sure it will work as well, so if you have a better suggestion, feel free to share it!
Part 1: Teardown
- Start by prepping buckets, cooler, and all other containers the night before.
- Prepare 10 gallons of fresh saltwater and store in water jugs.
- Remove and store all dry goods from the stand, as well as any other loose items in the stand.
- Remove all equipment from the tank, leaving the return pump last. Clean, dry and store equipment in a single container. Be sure to protect certain items like the heater from being damaged during the move.
- Start siphoning water from the tank into the cooler.
- Once about half of the water in the tank has been added to the cooler, remove entire aquascape and place it in the cooler in a way so that each piece sits solidly in the cooler. Remove any clean up crew members and place them in a separate bucket.
- Continue filling up the cooler until there is at least 1 inch of water over the entire aquascape.
- Use some of the remaining water in the tank to put approximately 1 gallon of tank water in a five gallon bucket. Add 1 gallon of fresh saltwater.
- Catch all fish and inverts (including clean up crew members) and place them in the previously prepared bucket. Add airstone connected to battery operated air pump and lid.
- Remove any remaining water from the tank until there is just enough to keep the sand wet. Clean off any salt creep, algae, and any other gunk from the glass and exterior of the tank.
- Place tank, and cooler in the back seat of truck (seats are folded down to provide flat surface.
- Livestock bucket will go in the front passenger floorboard.
- Stand, equipment, and anything else for the tank will go in U-haul trailer. The trailer will have been packed the night before with any items not related to the aquarium.
- Truck thermostat set to 76 degrees
- Make very few stops. While at rest stops, keep the truck running so it doesn't heat up inside (remote start).
- Unpack and set the tank back up in reverse order from above, except add aquascape and corals back before livestock. Fresh saltwater will replace approximately 20% of total water volume (same as a normal water change).
- Clean off any sand that got on corals and liverock and watch conditions in the tank.
Let me know what you guys think, I was considering packing the fish as if I was shipping them, but I don't know if I will be able to gather the necessary supplies in time but I will make an effort to if enough folks think that's a better idea.
