Moving tanks from state to state

I have a friend that is moving from North East Oklahoma to Kentucky....
He has a 55 gallon reef and a 150 Gallon 6 foot long tank FOWLR and another 55 gallon freshwater tank and 2 50 gallon freshwater fish tank's. He doesnt want to leave anything behind, So how would he go about making such a huge move with the least possible lose of life? Thank you for your time....
Danny

 

Thats quite the drive. How long abouts is the trip going to take?

 

Where to in kentucky?

As far as trip.. wow... keep them in the dark... use a large tote/tub for things with a powerhead and heater (if he has a power converter) and is saltwater of course. I know nothing of freshwater.

 

lots of coolers, power converters/battery packs, powerhead and heater for each cooler/tote.

never done it, so no details, just a general idea where to start.

 

Some trucks have power outlets in the back. If you can find one of those, get it. Otherwise, use a power inverter. Run rubbermaid containers with heaters, perhaps small powerheads - lots of flow isn't needed. Run a few airstones in each tub. I went from FL to TN in 2 days and only lost 1 fish. You may need to float bags of ice to keep temperature down in the case of hot temps. Make the trip as quickly as possible, and check the livestock periodically.

 

If its a long enough trip, and you don't have all this equipment, there is another option. Adopt out the livestock for a week or so to willing friends. Get to new location, set everything up. Then ship the livestock out overnight. Might be cheaper than having to buy all the equipment to transport everything.
But the transportation ideas are also spot on. Everything will need containers with flow and temp control if it is going to take more than 24 hours, even for the rock. With the smaller tanks, leave about 5" of water in them and along with the sand, as not disturbing the sand bed will minimize chances of a cycle. You might not be able to lift the 120 that way though. If the 120 has to be stripped of sand, either rinse it thoroughly or have new, dry (not live) sand ready to go for set-up.
Also, save as much water as possible as well. And started making tons more as soon as you get there.
In all honesty, I would craigslist off the livestock and not even try dealing with it if it were me. Start with just the rock, sand, and equipment when I got there. Just my 2 cents.

 

hmmm following alont on this one as im in NY and plan on moving to florida by feb 1st....

 

That's what I would do too, honestly... the stress of this move might not kill the fish... but it might do me in!

good luck to your buddy whatever he decides though.

 

that would be so nerve racking

 

I moved 22 miles with a 90 gallon. Took me 9 hours 6 totes 110 gallons of NSW and 4 people.

I lost a fire shrimp due to it being a idoit and being under a rock when I set it into the tote.

I bagged everything live that I could. I had massive corals that jumped to my acutal live rock so I just put it in the totes and went fast. I dont have much more advice than that. It was a ***** and I hated every second of it.