possible move coming

As hinted to in the title, there may be a move in the near future. I’m talking four states away type move, so it won’t be an easy task. what i’m trying to figure out is the best way to go about doing it to ensure the successful transition of all my super fantabulous coral. What confuses me is that i’ve heard many people say that you should cycle a tank for several months before even considering putting coral in. and yet all the time i see people sticking coral into brand new or upgraded tanks. What’re the chances of survival under these circumstances? My plan of attack is this. I’ll have a week, maybe two max of transition period between locations, and I have a back up tank so I’m thinking set up the backup tank immediately, try and get it up and running, then make the switch at the last possible minute. Anyone got any tips or tricks in order to make the journey a successful one for my livestock? oh and it’s a 50 gal setup with some zoas, mushrooms, frogspawn palys, a pretty durable duncan, a cleaning crew and a few fishies, none too tempermental. Just want to make things go as smooth as possible IF the situation presents itself. Figured I’d start my research now.

I moved my entire 180 gal setup from NY to MD @300 miles.

I first setup a tank in my old home to hold some live rock and the corals and fish, using water from the main tank. The extra rocks were placed in containers for the trip down.
Then we moved the entire setup to MD. After getting it setup in MD, I filled it with RO/DI water and salt mix and placed some of my old rocks in it. I let it cycle out with some additives for a week. Then went back to NY and bagged each coral in a plastic bag and same for the fish and placed them all in styrofoam boxes I got from the LFS. The rocks were placed in plastic containers. Upon arrival, I put all the rocks in the tank and then added the fish and corals.

I did not lose anything.

If the move should happen, Good Luck with it!!

I like Johns plan. it got the stuff out of the main tank into temp holding tanks/tubs. then do the move. but if you have a tank set up first at the new place, that would be a plus . a place to dump everything after a little adjustment for chemistry and salinity. if you leave the tank running there for a week, keep a cover on it to cut down evaporation. and an air stone to keep it alive, along with pumps or whatever filter you can set up. plus carbon, phos zorb, and bacteria.

when you get there , add lots more bacteria for the new load.

For the trip, you could get a small car DC/AC inverter and power an air pump and maybe 25 watt heaters for the buckets or barrels you transport in. just plug into the cigarrette lighter. but its the summer season. it should be warm enough out in the car. or just use those $10 bait bubblers from walmart. 2D battery operated.

Think about how the LFS gets a shipment of fish and corals. What are they in when they are at the store after being shipped for many hours?

plastic bags and styrofoam boxes.

[quote=“houndsbayman, post:4, topic:5477”]
Think about how the LFS gets a shipment of fish and corals. What are they in when they are at the store after being shipped for many hours?

plastic bags and styrofoam boxes.[/quote]

It’s the going into a newly set up tank that i’m worried about, not the trip down.

[quote=“houndsbayman, post:2, topic:5477”]
I first setup a tank in my old home to hold some live rock and the corals and fish, using water from the main tank. The extra rocks were placed in containers for the trip down.
Then we moved the entire setup to MD. After getting it setup in MD, I filled it with RO/DI water and salt mix and placed some of my old rocks in it. I let it cycle out with some additives for a week. Then went back to NY and bagged each coral in a plastic bag and same for the fish and placed them all in styrofoam boxes I got from the LFS. The rocks were placed in plastic containers. Upon arrival, I put all the rocks in the tank and then added the fish and corals.[/quote]

I like that plan. Temp holding tank to already prepared main setup. That’s most likely the way i’ll end up doing it, along with the carbon, phos zorb and bacteria. ::thumbsup::