How do I move my 55 gal tank?

[mhoward1999]

Hi everyone. I am going to be moving in two weeks and again in 6-8 weeks. It's going to be a huge pain in the rear!!! I have never moved my 55 gal. before, and am wondering how important is is to save the original water. My tank is 55 gal with both UGF and an Emporer 400. I know I need to drain as much water out of the tank as I possibly can to keep the tank itself safe for the move, but what about the fish. Is it really necessary to save the old water in buckets and take them to the new home? I am thinking that since I have such a great biological filter going that it may not be so important to save the old water, plus, the old water may go bad while it's sitting in buckets. It may take up to four hours from the time I empty the tank until I am able to set it up again. The water parameters are about the same as where I am now as far as pH and GH. TIA!

 

[ryan]

Ive moved my tanks and fish twice and have done so without any losses or upsets to the water quallity.

First thing you will need are enough plastic bags to bag each fish or if they are very small 3 fish to a bag and extra ones to bag your filter media, you will also need polysterene box/s to put the bags into and something to hold all the gravel and any tank ornaments. Moving fish loosely in containers is not recomended as the fish get thrown all over the place and get injured. Bags and boxes can be got usually for free at any good lfs.

Fill each bag about 1/4 of the way full before placing the fish into the bags and tying them up trapping as much air in the bag as possible, DO NOT BLOW INTO THE BAG TO INFLATE IT! Do the same with the filter media. Once you have all your fish and media safely bagged place them upright into the polystyrene boxes so they cannot fall over and seal the box up with tape. Next place all the gravel and any tank ornaments into a large bucket with a lid or water proof bag that can be tied up, the gravel etc must be kept as damp as possible to prevent the bacteria from drying out and dying. If you are moving to a area with a different tapwater supplier you will also need to keep at least 1/2 of your tankwater to prevent the fish from dying of pH shock.

When you arive at your new home make sure the tank is the first thing you deal with, get the tank set up and the gravel replaced, then refill your tank with either tapwater (remember to warm this up with kettles full of boiling water as you go) or the water you have brought with you. To stop the water from being dirtied by the unwashed gravel pour the water slowly onto a large plate placed on the substrate. Once the tank is refilled and up to temperature break the seals on the boxes and float the bags of fish in the tank for 1/2 a hour, the media can be put straight back into the filter housings and the filters switched on.

Once all the fish are back in the tank switch off the light and cover the tank with a sheet or towel and leave it over night, dont be tempted to peak as they will already be stressed from the move and will need time to calm down. Dont feed for two days to allow the bacterial colonies to rebuild themselves without having additional ammonia/nitrites to deal with.

A post by CFC in the current topic in Topical Chit Chat tells you what you need to do.

 

[mhoward1999]

Thanks Ryan. I posted this before I saw the one in tropicals. I still wonder if anything is different for moving coldwater fish.

 

[mhoward1999]

I guess not, since no one else is responding.

 

[ryan]

Well its basically the same except the new water dosen't have to be heated for the fish. Best of luck.

 

[mhoward1999]

) Okay. Thanks so much for all your help, Ryan. BTW... I went to your gallery and your tanks are simply gorgeous!!! I especially liked your Asian tank. What are you using for substrate? I figure the white part is sand, but what's underneath, and do you just run a stick through it to clean it? What type of filtration do you use. (If you already have this written out somewhere I didn't see it. Feel free to just say, "Here's the link.")

 

[ryan]

) Okay. Thanks so much for all your help, Ryan. BTW... I went to your gallery and your tanks are simply gorgeous!!! I especially liked your Asian tank. What are you using for substrate? I figure the white part is sand, but what's underneath, and do you just run a stick through it to clean it? What type of filtration do you use. (If you already have this written out somewhere I didn't see it. Feel free to just say, "Here's the link.")

There aren't many pics of the other tanks on there and I hope to add more when they are all fully planted and stocked. All my tanks have a sand substrate only and I never touch it, my fish do it for me! I have various fish that will burrow in the sand and keep turning it over like Horsefaced Loaches or Khuli Loaches, please keep checking it as this summer I will have plenty of time to finish of the Discus tank and take pics as well as the two Oddball/Predator Tanks and hopefully some more Coldwater shots as they aren't great at the moment.

Thanks,

Ryan

 

[jams.alaskan]

I just moved my 45 yesterday from school to home. I used two fish safe 5 gal buckets to put the fish in (one for larger one for smaller fish) Added some plants for cover and but an airstone in each. I covered them with a towel for dark and to prevent jumping. A third bucket was used to keep ornaments and other tank things wet so as not to loose the bacteria on them. Then drained the tand while vaccuming the gravel (not too much in there but I wanted it cleaned) Left 1/2 in water in tank to keep gravel wet - ran my filter to the house to run in my 29 till I was ready with the tank. Moved the whole thing tank/buckets/food to the house and then started right away to add water to temp to the tank. My water is well water so I added a little treatment to make sure that metals were knocked down but it's usually ready right from the tap.
Added the small fish bucket when tank was half filled and then the larger fish when I was nearly there.
No losses except that a very old sailfin molly still looks ready to cash it in. She was acting this way before the move - I think it is her time...
Total process was 5 hours from start to finish - I was sure to check both water sources to make sure that they were compatable, if they hadn't been I would have brought fresh/new water from the school for the set up and then slowly, with water changes made the change over. I was exhausted as I also had to move a 10 and 29 gal the day before and I'm tired of water buckets.
Again, no losses but I only had 2 miles to drive with my cargo (that's why I didn't bag as CFC suggests).

HTH

ALASKA

 

[mhoward1999]

Ryan, I will be watching! How do you get the wavy look to your sand? Is it black sand underneath? If so, how do you keep them from mixing? Did you buy your sand at a pet store or a hardware store?

jams.alaskan: Thanks for the info. I will probably just use buckets as well. Still decideing whether or not it's worth it to use bags... I am moving almost an hour South.

 

[mhoward1999]

Hi to everyone who helped me. I just thought I would update you since you were so kind to offer advice. I moved the tank this morning. So far so good. It turned out the water where I am moving is a lot softer and more acidic so I had to acclimate the fish, but they seem to have handled it fine.

 

[ryan]

Great news mate, best of luck.

I have a long summer holiday soon, 25th June so I will start work on the tanks then and as I go along I will keep you updated, if I forget please remind me.

Its all the same sand, the lower layers of sand appears like that natrually as the other layers are on top so no light gets to it, if you heap it out its the same colour. I get all my sand from local fish shops, with Loaches and most fish they are always moving the sand and it never stays level for long and with many Loaches in that tank it looks like waves the rate and which they move it!

 

[mhoward1999]

Thanks for the info, Ryan. I haven't had computer access for quite a while as you can see by my lack of posts. Can't wait to see your new stuff!

 

[ryan]

Thanks for the info, Ryan. I haven't had computer access for quite a while as you can see by my lack of posts. Can't wait to see your new stuff!

Ok, well I will give you an update, this weekend I have some time so I should be able to get some good photos. My latest fish is a Black Arowana at only about 3" he is currently munching his way through ants and bloodworms.

 

[mhoward1999]

Fun! I'm waiting with baited breath! I checked out your coldwater pics. They are nice. I would love to see your entire tank. What types of plants do you have with your goldfish?

 

[ryan]

Fun! I'm waiting with baited breath! I checked out your coldwater pics. They are nice. I would love to see your entire tank. What types of plants do you have with your goldfish?

Well theres a dull light in there at the moment so taking pics is hard. Put I plan to re-do the Coldwater tank this summer with a sand substrate and real plants as the current ones are fading or are plastic. I haven't updated my pic gallery yet put I do post in the Members Aquarium Pictures forum so you can see them there. When I have everything going then I can spend an evening photographing and update it.