Moving house what to do with tank? Advise needed please

[goodfairy1]

HI
I’m new to this forum so please bear with me if I don’t have the right terms..

I have an ar980 tropical set-up and we are moving to a new suburb soon and wondering if anyone has any tips on moving the tank.

It has been established for approx 4 yrs. We are only moving suburbs and it’s about 1.1/2 hrs driving time

Do you think we will have to empty it, and remove the fish?

Has anyone had any experience with this?

Thanks Nat

[Drumachine09]

Alrighty. I dont know exactly how large this tank is, but here is some helpful hints.

Fill a 5 gallon bucket half way with gravel, and then put in enough tank water to cover the gravel. Do this for aproxamatly half of the gravel. the other half you can dry pack. Put lids on the buckets, and youre set. Get the tank up and running as fast as you can to avoid losing your bacteria. Also, put your filter media in the bucket with the water as well.

Empty the tank ALL the way. I moved a 55 with 3 inches of water. There are two reasons why that was a stupid decision.

1.)Heavy tank, plus 75 lbs of gravel, plus another 50-60ls of water equals HEAVY!!!!
2.) The changing pressure on the walls of the tank could crack or shatter the tank.

Get one or more of these ([Only Registered Users Can See Links.]) or something simmilar. They will help to keep your fish alive.

You can also keep your decor wet to prevent the loss of the bacteria on them as well.




Any questions?

[Lady Hobbs]

Drumachine is exactly correct. Everything must come out of that tank. Any swishing water or any extra weight on an unsupported frame can definately cause cracks.

Do not clean your gravel but you can rinse it out in tank water you are discarding if you wish. And scrub decorations in this water if you need to do some cleaning.

You can put your fish in dry boxes or coolers. The fish stores sell portable air pumps for around $12 if you feel your time is limited to returning the fish back to the tank. I would get several of the styrofoam cheapie coolers if you have a lot of fish. If they are too crowded they will deplete the oxygen faster.

I would get all your furniture where you want it first. Having to move the tank again would be a pain.

Good luck and happy moving.

[Nick_Pavlovski]

See if a local fish shop will "babysit" your fish while you are moving the tank.
Mine used to.

[Lady Hobbs]

Or move everthing except the tank and return for it later. You may find it less stressful than moving everything at once.

[gbbudd]

best way i know to move a fish tank with the least hastle and best sucess is to set up the bigger tank you wanted for so long at the new house get the tank set up and water aclimated. bag your fish or put them in a bucket as mentioned and add them to the new tank like you just bought them from the fish store. add a litle of your old gravel and keep your filters /dirty full of the bacteria you'll need to establish the tank faster. good luck

[Wallyfish]

I agree with Gbud that buying a bigger better tank and having it preset is always nice. I upgraded from a 10gal to a 29gal when I moved for example. If you have any spare tank that you can preset at all that would also be a temporary solution to house your fish until you can get your tank up and running again. I have to add that if your going to use a cooler to transport fish keep in mind that coolers are designed to carry ice and not pure water. While you drive water will splash around in that cooler and it is no where near water tight at the top. Take preventive measures against the leaking water with doubled trashbags or some other means of insuring fishy water doesn't leak all over your car seats.