Going shopping for tank tomorrow..1 hr away

So I am finally doing it. I usually buy locally but the only store around here is aquarium services which has limited stock that is overpriced and filled with god knows what. I am finally venturing to the good stores but they are an hour away. If I buy any corals, snails, or fish will they make it? I purchased a styrofoam cooler to place the bags in there...any suggestions anyone?

 

They are usually shipped overnight in a bag so they will make it for 1 hour until you get home. Acclimate them good so there is no additional stress involved in the move.
I guess this means you have changed your mind and keeping your tank alive.....8) Good move!

 

Yup! I am hoping to get some zoa's, I want blue and yellow. I'm so excited! My problem is having control not adding too much at once, also remembering everything about every creature so you know what is compatable with your tank.

 

Corals won't hurt your bio load on your tank any, it's fish that you don't want to add a bunch at one time of. I have come home with 9 frags before and threw then in the tank. Hope you find some nice stuff...we expect some pics..;D

 

Drive fast! ;D

(but carefully.)

ditto on pics.

 

on hour away. remember people ship corals 2day mail and them make it one hour just pack them right and you will have nothing to worry about. good thing you bought the cooler that will help. i had my entire tank down during the move. fish and coral were in bags for about 4 hours. only thing i lost was a sponge (air got to it)

 

Psh. Corals will be 100% fine. I ship 2-day ALL the time and have no problems

 

If you get any large fishies, I highly recommend the cooler + battery powered airstone method. A good cooler should have a lip BELOW the lid to prevent sloshing from exiting the cooler. If your cooler doesn't have this, and you have the time, cut a piece of acrylic and silicone it in place. You can remove it later, and it's not a safety hazard chemically if you use 100% silicone.

I've moved 7 large Koi 3 hours by car before using said method, not losing any water or fish in the move. We bungeed the coolers closed (These were large picnic size coolers mind you... a small person could fit in each one) to prevent the fishies from opening the coolers when they invariably would get pissed and try to escape, but smaller critters shouldn't be quite the same flight risk.

All that said, as long as the store has O2 tanks, you should be set. Just stuff the fish bags in the cooler(s) (or a cardboard box with a lid) and they'll be fine for a couple of hours. If O2 is not available (we didn't have, and couldn't get on short notice), use above method. On a final note, larger fish are more succeptable to ammonia poisoning, and consume o2 faster, so if you buy larger fish, (like 18-24" koi large) use above method for best results. The larger the fish, the shorter they tend to last in bags.

 

What's the best way to acclimate them, I noticed alot of people on here don't believe in drip acclimation.

 

Drip acclimating is fine for fish, snails and other inverts but in my world, corals go right from bag to tank