**delima**

[TroyPham]

ahhh.... it makes me really sad to think about this, as i don't know what to do.

my work is having me travel to houston a 2 days out of the week. that wasn't so bad. but know i'm having to be up there a week at a time.

my tank is doing very well. and it requires little day to no daily work. (cleaning the glass and adding top-off water). but i fell that with out me being there the tank will go down due to some uncontrollable issue.

i have someone that can feed the fish, add top-off but do very little else.

my options at this moment are:

1. shut the tank down....( i don't want to but will if i had to)
2. leave it up and let the person feed the fish every 2 days and add top-off water( i hate to keep having this person do this as they "may or may not remember")
3. have the lfs come once a week and work on the tank.

i'm really leaning on 2. but i don't know if it is the right choice. ahh....

if i shut the system down, it will be for a year or so(maybe longer) till i make my move to houston.

[RNall]

PM sent

[TroyPham]

Ron,

i live in corpus christi,

Why do you ask?

[Texreefer]

for me, most of the fun is actually working on the system and watching it daily.. the fact that you are mentioning taking it down means that right now thats a viable option. if you can't devote the time you like to it maybe you should take this opportunity to take it down, redesign a new system, save some money and be up and ready to go bigger and better than ever when you make the move.. plus doing it now means a lot less stress come actual move time. JMO.. i knwo how hard that is to do because i did it when we had our baby

[TroyPham]

well it is an something i'm considering. but i don't want to do it. it would save me a lot of headache and worries (plus money). but mannnnn.... i don't want to...

[RNall]

Good point. I've had to do the same thing because of moves/work. You do not want to move a complete setup along with all your household goods. I've done it and it's not much fun at all.

I was asking where you were (and now I see it plain as day on your post) because I and/or my teenager could possibly help.

[TroyPham]

Thanks Ron for the offer. but i'm not going to mover for 12-18mths. i'm just going back and forth right now... if i were to move i'd just bag or box up the tank and take everything with me... and you'd get a call to help..haha

[RNall]

I actually moved from Dallas to Ohio with a fully stocked 72 gallon bow. I rented a van and loaded it with the tank and critters and drove it up there and flew the kids up with my ex. Haha, bad idea. I didn't lose anything but my sanity. I had the tank set up with everything in it and runnig prior to my household goods even making it there. It can be done but it sure was a pain and I wouldn't do it again. Corpus to Houston isn't that bad though.

[GaryP]

I actually moved from Dallas to Ohio with a fully stocked 72 gallon bow. I rented a van and loaded it with the tank and critters and drove it up there and flew the kids up with my ex. Haha, bad idea. I didn't lose anything but my sanity. I had the tank set up with everything in it and runnig prior to my household goods even making it there. It can be done but it sure was a pain and I wouldn't do it again. Corpus to Houston isn't that bad though.
I got you beat. I moved my tanks across country 3 times within 2 years. Beaumont to SC, SC to New Orleans, New Orleans to SA. The company I worked for offered to move my 50 gal and 2 X 20 gal. from Beaumont to SC. It was only going to cost them $10K. I told them I would take care of it.

[RNall]

Wow, you sure do. I've moved much more than three times with tanks but only that one time with a stocked tank. I learned my lesson the first time...

[TroyPham]

10k to move the tanks.... did u ask them to give that to you for moving it??

[GaryP]

On top of that, right after I moved to SC, I bought my 125 gal. and moved it about 150 miles. By the time I was in New Orleans, I had 3 tanks set up, 125, 75, and 50 gal. We had to make an extra trip just to move the tanks.

They were going to fly in a crew from Calif. just to move my little ole 50 gal. I thought that was pretty rediculous so I just told them to pay for a U-Haul trailer. That turned into a disaster though. We loaded the tanks and drove all night to get there and get the tank set up again. When we arrived in SC, the apartment manager had decided to take the day off and not open the office. My critters sat in a trailer in a hotel parking lot for 24 hrs., baking in the sun, in July.

[TroyPham]

man that sucked..... i hope i don't get into anything like that.

[RNall]

I had a company pay to custom crate all of my tanks at one time (55, 29 and 160). I never asked for anything more than that. Heck, I would have went for the company in California. I do not want to move in a long, long time, but if I do, I will have to keep that in mind...

[GaryP]

man that sucked..... i hope i don't get into anything like that.
Your move is a lot shorter then mine. The next time I move, I'm just going to set up a new tank ahead of time and just move the livestock. I can move the old tank later.

[matt]

You must have thought about this, but why not just set an auto top off? Just make sure it's a reliable one! Or, for option #2, if you leave a few jugs of R.O. water next to the tank and a piece of tape indicating where the sump level is, it might help the person looking after your tank.

[TroyPham]

i don't trust top-off's, and yes i have buckets of ro water ready.

Gary, that is what i am going to do if i don't shut the system down. set up a tank, move the live stock, and move the old tank. i think thats the best way.

[ReefOne]

Hey troy, i'd help take care of your tank for some frags. I wouldnt mind. I dont know why you havent asked. Let me know man.

[TroyPham]

Haha.....Ram, it's not that... it is the everyday thing with the tank.. yes it runs on it's own. but i just feel safer having someone there everyday that knows how to take care of the tank... Ram.. that would mean you would have to move into my house..... i don't think you want to do that.

Thanks for the offer. i might have you as emergancy back up... if something were to go wrong.. you might get a phone call in the middle of the night!!

[ReefOne]

well...actually i am looking for a place to live. LOL. I really am but i hear ya. Well if you wanna frag anything and give it to me as backup that's always cool! Just give me a holler if you need any help.