Transporting a Reef Tank

Hello 3Reef,

I'm looking to venture into the saltwater hobby as an extension of my freshwater addiction, however, my current situation is rather temporary. I am a Junior physics major in college and attend college that is a six hour drive away from home. I have to pack up my freshwater aquariums four times a year for a trip to and from home (end of summer - beg. of winter and end of winter - beg. of summer). So far it hasn't proven too difficult or stressful on my freshies. I have made the trip multiple times with no casualties.

I've got it down to a science. I group and bag smaller fish/inverts by species (neon tetras go in one bag, RCS go in another, Ammanos and my nerites go in another, etc) and individually bag larger fish. I also bag the filter cartridges to preserve the bacteria colonies. Both my nano freshwater tanks are heavily planted so usually there's a bit of rebuilding after I arrive but the mess isn't too difficult to deal with. I also submerse decorations in a bucket or container. (when I had African Cichlids I had a large plastic container to house all the sandstone I used to build their habitat. It also allowed me to easily store some of my equipment.)

The water level in the tanks is then lowered to just above the substrate line (helps preserve the bacteria living in the substrate) and then placed in their cardboard packaging/boxes they were purchased in. It protects them from scratches, etc.

So far I have not had a casualty caused from transporting my freshwater aquariums but I have a feeling saltwater is VERY different and MUCH more sensitive.

How are saltwater fish transported to the LFS once they are captive bred or wild captured? Are they individually bagged and shipped similarly to how I transport my freshwater fish (replicating how industry achieves this).

If I was to venture into the hobby (which wouldn't be for another couple of months at the MINIMUM) and I needed to move the tank I would be certain I do not have a Deep Sand Bed (DSB) because I know there can be problems with disturbing it too early. Also, my current plot would be to place the saltwater fish together in an insulated container (styrofoam ones you can purchase for picknicks) and provide a portable bubbler to keep oxygen levels up. Would this be adequate?

Also, how would I transport corals. Could I leave them secured to the live rock they are attached to and also place them either in a plastic container or insulated cooler and keep them submerged? Do they require oxygen levels equivalent of a member of the animalia family?

Would a process more similar to what I do with my freshwater specimens be better?

I am trying to research my options here. I will not be an impulse buyer and start this hobby (addiction) prematurely (I hope). If I enter this hobby prior to settling down in graduate school I would be getting a nano tank (25-30g is my absolute limit). I moved a 29g freshwater tank a couple of times and preferred to not have to do that again if possible. I'm a fairly strong person but the 29g was too awkward to carry.

Please provide me with your suggestions/opinions on this topic.

Thanks!

 

I don't think it will be much different really. I tend to just put things in buckets or individual bags, based on whether or not I want them to interact. Fish for example may be better in backs. Rocks are fine in buckets. Corals, can sting each other, so, better in bags, but if you research what can go with what, you may be able to group some together. All animals need O2, some corals more than others though. The biggest issue IMO, may be dieoff of coralline algae on the walls of the aquarium. When it is exposed to air, it will die. This could cause mini-cycles if there is a lot of it. So, I would probably continuously scrape all the coralline, and not allow it to grow on the glass (so, probably better to use glass than acrylic, as you'll scratch the heck out of the acrylic, constantly scraping it). Also, as you said, avoid a dsb. They really aren't needed and will cause issues when moved. Actually, I would probably avoid sand altogether and just go bare-bottom.

 

Based on your situation and the fact you move so often if you were truely attempting to get into the marine side of the hobby, I would stick to a pico tank 10g at most. Just to make things easier on you. With a small tank like this you could even do a glass bottom tank with only live rock and corals, maybe a macro algae. I would also stay at around 2-3 fish at most, with something like a single clown, a cromis, and an anthias or hawk. This type of tank would also be very similar to your current freshwater tank as you would not need to buy a skimmer or a sump/fuge system, although you could, don't need to. All you would need to do is costant water changes and light systems would be very cheap and small. Go smaller than 5g and you can probably treat like a tide pool and go without any circulation pumps.

Personally if this were me I would do a 5g pico reef, with 5lbs of figi live rock. I would do a single skunk or percula clown and a tobacco basslet, with gold coral-banded shrimp and 3-5 hermits. I would also stick with simple to care for corals like mushrooms, I prefer ricordea and yumas, and button polyps of some sort. Maybe a hammer or frogspawn, maybe.

 

Another issue to consider is the water itself. With saltwater, you'll need to be sure you have enough water transported to support your livestock while new water is being mixed. Ideally, I try to have salt mixing and heated for 24 hours before adding to the aquarium in order to mix it throughly (though, I am probably overly critical of it. I'm the type to get it to the perfect salinity, the retest like 10 times over the course of a day just to be sure what I'm adding is exactly where i want it).

 

It looks like you have your routine down pretty good, and shouldn't be much different than moving a saltwater tank. I agree if I knew I was moving my tank soon I would go bare bottom as well, it will be a lot easier to transport.

 

A barebottom tank would be much easier to move. Would I be losing out on the scaping/look though? Would a shallow bed be harmful? I forgot corals can sting so yes it would be a good idea to separate/group them. Good call!

I had a thread started where I wanted to look at some of the options and "plan" out a tank.

14 Biocube or 10g regular would be good sizes. Would this be an appropriate max stock?

1x Oscellaris Clowns
1x Firefish (Purple/Regular)
1x White Banded Possom Wrasse/Tanaka's Pygmy Wrasse

I had a clown pair when i was looking at a 20-25g but i fell like that would not be an option with the downsized aquarium. I absolutely love firefish. I think they are so cool. I also like the activeness of clowns. What other nano fish are like that?

Anyway I wouldn't have access to RO/DI water...tap water would be my only "easy" and financially plausible source. Distilled water jugs may be possible but it's a 20 minute drive to the nearest Wegman's.

I appreciate the hopeful responses. I'm glad this is plausible.

Does anyone know how fish are transported to a LFS?

 

I highly doubt your tap water is clean enough to have successful reef and would probably lead to the downfall of any tank, I am currently using RO water and I just bit the bullet on a refurb RO/DI system from spectrapure because I want to get more into reef, if your not willing to get the better quality water I would say stay fowlr or just stay fresh until you can get accesss to some ro/di... just my $.02

 

Yeah I could use distilled but it'd be quite awhile before I get access to rodi water.

 

You can buy rodi water for a small sum of money at a LFS. I think the biocube 14 is a great idea but there kinda heavy. See if you can find a biocube 8, oceanic discontinued them but there still on CA. I think you should stay <20g. A 5 gallon pico would be really cool and really easy to transport. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B003ZTMUGK

These are nice and would allow for most corals. But you probably couldnt put more than a clown goby in that. Pros of picos is that there easy to transport, downside is that your limited on stocking. I think your best bet is a biocube 8 or 14.

 

I've seen some really cool finux 4gs before but fish keeping in the end is all about the fish. I love my planted tanks and I'm sure I'd love corals but to me this hobby is more focused on the fish. I think a biocube 14 would be a good fit.

Edit: I go to college in the middle of nowhere. My best LFS is Walmart. I don't believe they carry RO/DI water but if they did I wouldn't trust it. The nearest marine store to me at school is over an hour away.