Moving a 90g ; anybody done this?

[DragonsFly]

Planning to move our 90g with our 3 big crabs to Florida. Will probably wait until spring break to move them so it will be a bit warmer, but it still will not be ideal conditions. The trip takes about 14 hours; plus loading and unloading wait time (I will have to get some strong people on both ends of the trip to help load and unload, so the tank might be waiting in the car for awhile before and/or after the actual journey).

Should I take everything--decor, substrate, everything--out of the tank and put the crabs in another container? I know that leaving the thermal mass of the substrate in would keep conditions better, but not sure whether the weight of the substrate will stress the tank too much? When we moved it here, it probably had about 6 inches of substrate in it. (It has varying levels from a foot to about 16 inches now.)

Any and all advice on logistics appreciated.

[GotButterflies]

Hello Granted - I have never moved with a crabitat before - but I would think that tank would be super heavy with all of the sand in it. Last year I adopted a few crab from a gentleman that traveled from Florida to I think it was New York all of the time, and he had a travel cage for his crabs.

[aussieJJDude]

The stress on the glass would be immense, if thr tank isnt on a flat surface or is bumped your going to end up buying a new tank... i would be surprised if you could move it with everything inside tbh.

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[soilentgringa]

It'd be best to take the substrate out and place it in clean totes for the move.

That's what we've done in the past. You get to keep your sub with all the flora built up in it and it also gets aerated, then is ready to go back in the tank once you reach your new home.

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[DragonsFly]

Okay, sounds like the consensus is to unload everything. Thanks, everybody!

[LadyJinglyJones]

Regarding the crabs themselves, you can create a relatively stable transportation temp using reptile shipping heaters, tupperware with damp moss, and a bit of insulation (like these - don't have to be these exact type, but just to give you an idea: http://www.reptilebasics.com/heat-packs ... r-10-pack/). I use these when I pick up adoption crabs in the winter because I don't have a car & either walk of use transit.

I usually have a backpack with towels, and the plastic containers inside (I prefer to do one crab to a container to avoid stressing them further if theyre jostled) and figure out how wrapped up the heat pack/s need to be from the container ahead of time using a thermometer (the heat pack can get hotter than you want). For long trips I leave a thermometer in the pack so I can check to see if anything needs adjusting mid trip. It takes a few hours (I feel like uniheat takes about four or five hours but cant actually remrmber) for these heaters to warm up, so plan for that if you do decide to use them.

A hot water bottle could work just as easily, but I like the stability of the packs.