Hi all, I recently made an 8 hour drive transporting a 20g tank, with 100% inhabitants surviving, so I thought I’d make a little case experiment write up in case it can help others.
My method used 2 five gallon buckets, inside a styrofoam cooler. Both filled with display tank water, then fish in one bucket, coral and Live Rock in the other. We used a plastic shower cap wrapped around the mouth of the buckets to keep water from splashing all over the car.
A battery powered bubbler and 50w thermometer was in each bucket, attached to a 400W power Inverter in the car. Every 2 hours we checked temperature, and had zero issues.
Upon setting up new tank, we used NutriSea water entirely, with NEW sand. Reused live rock and reused the old biomedia, while keeping BioSpira and Prime on hand.
It is day 5 since the move, and I have zero ammonia, 5ppm Nitrate, while anemones and fish are looking healthy as ever! Even the emerald crab, hermit crab, and nassarius snail survived the haul.
My method used 2 five gallon buckets, inside a styrofoam cooler. Both filled with display tank water, then fish in one bucket, coral and Live Rock in the other. We used a plastic shower cap wrapped around the mouth of the buckets to keep water from splashing all over the car.
A battery powered bubbler and 50w thermometer was in each bucket, attached to a 400W power Inverter in the car. Every 2 hours we checked temperature, and had zero issues.
Upon setting up new tank, we used NutriSea water entirely, with NEW sand. Reused live rock and reused the old biomedia, while keeping BioSpira and Prime on hand.
It is day 5 since the move, and I have zero ammonia, 5ppm Nitrate, while anemones and fish are looking healthy as ever! Even the emerald crab, hermit crab, and nassarius snail survived the haul.