How to transport a 140 gallon Reef???

I am purchasing a COMPLETE 140 gallon reef set-up 45 minutes away from home. I have to transport:
-two black clown fish
-a rose anemone
-a large gsp
-leather coral
-and a few brain corals
How will I be able to transport all of this livestock for 45 minutes plus the time it will take to set up the tank without everything dying????

I also have to transport the filter, skimmer and sump...do I have to keep all of that wet so all of beneficial bacteria doesn't die??? Plus keeping the live rock and sand damp.....

Does anybody have a simple way of transporting everything that they could explain to me??

Fish-FAQs;4250922; said:

There really isn't any easy way to pull it off. I think the safest way would be to set up a few holding tanks in advance to support your livestock until the new tank is set up.

As far as transportation, get a bunch of 5-gallon buckets to move the water and sand. As long as the sand is wet and sealed in a bucket, it should be fine. The live rock should be either sealed in plastic bags, wrapped in wet newspaper, or carried in plastic or styrofoam containers. Until the new tank is set up, the rock should be submersed in water to keep it alive.

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How do I transport the corals? I really don't know anything about corals and was just going to learn enough about them to keep them alive until I could sell them......

Also...don't I have to keep the filter media wet??

2 buckets for fish

28 five gallon buckets = 140 gallons

2-3 five gallon buckets for sand?

3-4 five gallon buckets for live rock??

.....That's a lot of buckets.

I have a 30 gallon saltwater tank set up that I could use until the tank got set up......
But I would have to put my dog face puffer fish in a bucket because I don't trust him with clownfish or corals....corals - can't they just stay in their buckets?

TheCanuck;4251013; said:

Make your first trip to pick up the corals and take them to the fish store and sell them.

Next trip work on this....



keep only 20 gallons of water. When you get home put 3 gallons of water into the sump and make it so the pump sprays the water back through it in a continuous cycle.

Then set up a 15 gallon bin and put all live rock in with a powerhead.

Set up tank and put sand in and the 20 gallons of water with live rock and begin to make water for tank. Mix, heat, and pour in. This should only take an hour.

its decently easy.

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Don't I have to have R.O. water??? My R.O. tap drains too easily - I would have to take several trips to meijer to get R.O. water....

TheCanuck;4251026; said:

yea but the puffer will eat them. So you can't have corals with puffers. Just take all the corals one day an sell them. Please don't tell me your attempting to keep the corals?

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No no I am not trying to keep the corals - I just didn't know where to put them apart from the puffer and I don't know if my pet store will buy corals from me or if I am going to have to post them up on craiglist and wait....I also didn't think that I should keep clownfish with my puffer until the tank gets set up.