Moving advise

So I'm in a bit of a predicament here. First off, I'm graduating college and already have a job lined up out in Washington D.C., a 14-15 hour drive away. But here's the kicker, I have to move out of my college apt, back to my parents place for the summer, and then out to D.C. So that's going to be two moves of the tank between now and at the latest Oct. What would guys advise as the best route for me to take here? When I get to DC I was hoping to have everything lined up for an upgrade from my BC29 to a 40 breeder. I was thinking of going bare bottom for the summer but not sure how that would work out. Any advise here is much much appreciated. I've moved my tank before so I have all of the buckets, containers, and insulated boxes ready to go.

 

i would just load up everything and move to your parents then once the time comes load everything back up for the dc trip. you may not even need to unpack the unnecessary stuff so if youtr staying there for a rather short period of time you may not need to use your skimmer or any of the other items not necessary for areef tank. simple as that.. and one tip dont go barebottom, people make it seem great but it looks like crap and doesnt change anything whatsoever.

 

I wouldn't waste money on sand for just 3 or 4 months. If you want a sandbed once you get to DC then you can buy sand then. You're going to want a battery powered air pump (or an electric one and an inverter for the cigarette lighter). I would not feed them the day before you travel so they don't go to the bathroom. In either case, some Prime or Amquel will nuetralize the Ammonia if they do go to the bathroom.

PS....Congrats on the job!!!

 

my apologies, i thought you were saying to switch to a bare bottom permanently once you moved. just a miscommunication

 

Nope, just do the bare bottom for the summertime while I'm waiting to move to DC, I'm not planning on going bare bottom in the future. I just thought it would make the move easier. If I were to save the sand bed, what would be the best way to go about saving it?

 

Bump, how would I go about saving a sand bed during a move?

 

Not sure I would I have seen and heard about people using old sand and when they stirred it up [loading and unloading] it released nitrates and major die off. Just a thought. Sand at petsmart is 20 bucks 30 pounds so forty dollars you don't have to move it around and no side effects. Good luck.

 

Sand is tough to save IMO because if it moves to much and its been established to long then nitrates and all. I just recently moved and the movers cracked my tank but I had left just the sand in the bottom and about 1/4" of water covering it but that water was crazy dirty for getting stirred up. So I would just take a few hand fulls and seed some new if you really want more. I hope that helps

 

I think to keep your sand or not, it really depends on how much of it you have. I recently moved and I kept the sand from my 100 and my 30 after moving and it's been fine for all inhabitants. i have a 5 inch sandbed in the 30 and an inch or less in the 100.
My move was only an hour though. For the longer trip, try to keep the tank out of the sun as much as possible. Try a moving blanket or tarp.

I think provided you have a decent cuc and some sort of sand stirrers in your tank, there shouldn't be any issues keeping your sand.