What's the fartherst you've moved your tank, and how big was it?

[phaedraeos]

We might be moving back to Ithaca, NY and I'm debating whether to break down my reef, or attempt the move. It's a 50g . . .

The thing is, even if I just sell all the livestock and LR, it'll be ridiculously expensive to set it up again, and it probably wouldn't happen for a number of years. I've only had the tank 5 months at this point Ithaca, NY isn't the best place to buy saltwater products. Most stuff would have to be online.

Then again, it's a 6 hour drive. My 90g goldfish tank would definitely come with us, so we'd be moving at least one tank complete with livestock. Two, if we decide to keep my husbands 125g freshwater as well.

Ugh.

Thoughts?

 

[dad300]

moved my 30 gal 4 Hours north from southern NH to Bangor, Maine... no losses...
moved my 75 gal 15 minutes.. from Bangor to Hampden.

it can be done.. buckets with lids.. seperate buckets for the fish, coral and rock. airpumps in each and everyone... battery powered. drill a hole for the airline.. don't worry about light for a while.
if you have a sand bed.. save a little but replace most of it.

things got a little cool but not too bad.

 

[JPags]

I moved a 46 gal tank in the middle of last winter over 1 hour away (Not quite as far as you have to go).

We bagged the fish and then I put them in a 5 gal bucket with those hand warmers they sell at home depot to keep the temp up. I took at least 35 Gals of water in 5 Gal buckets. We covered all the live rock with wet news paper in a Rubbermaid bucket and we left a small amount of water in the tank to keep the crabs and snails and anything else in the sand bed happy. Wrapped the top with plastic wrap just in case the water splashed around.

I had the SUV really heated up and I was sweating the entire trip.

Once the tank was re-setup and heated enough we put the fish in, even though the water was not clear. Next day the tank was clear, all the fish survived and the tank is doing well now.

John

 

[DawnOctopus]

I moved a 55 FOWLR from Wilmington, North Carolina to Somerville, Mass. 829 miles. I lost a brittle star, everything else lived, thanks to the battery air pumps.

 

[APISTOBORELLI]

For a 50, I'd say take it with you.

 

[alpha0r]

I moved my 29g approximately 982 miles over a 3 day period. Everything made it and did quite well.

 

[phaedraeos]

The good thing is that we already have a ton of rubbermaid bins and battery operated air pumps. We also have a couple of large coolers that we could put temperature-sensitive livestock in.

When we moved then freshwater fish here, we hit up the Petsmart close to us (they were a decent store and they knew me reeeeeeally well at that point), and leeched off the 100% oxygen that they use to bag their fish. I bagged every single fish except the huge plecos and such, and ended up losing just one baby pleco and a zebrafish. It was a hugely successful move - I think we moved close to 80 fish!

If we do move it will be around 2 months from now, but I'll keep everyone updated.

Thanks for all the responses so far!