House move with a fish tank

Dephea

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In 2 weeks time ish I will be moving my 150L tank to a new home. I did some research, spoke to the owner of my local fish shop and checked a fair few YT videos.

My plan:

I have 5 orange buckets from B&Q - those are for gravel, plants, decorations, filter and all the other stuff that needs to stay moist but not necessarily fully covered in water. The move is roughly 40 min drive one way at most and with all prep time included I doubt it will take too long to deal with that part of my tank.

I ordered fish bags on eBay (same kind as my fish shop uses), I have a black net and since I have a tropical tank I had a nifty idea of using a big flat hot bottle wrapped in a towel under the fish to retain some of the temperature. Fish will travel in separate bags to minimalise stress and aggression. No drama here as I don't have too many fish so the process of catching and bagging them will go fast. To make it even better I will want to drain a huge chunk of water before I start catching anything.

I intend to drain at least 75L of water into sealable plexi boxes (new ones, so no risk of dirt, chemicals or cracks) and save it for the tank in the new place. Would love to save more but it is all depending on the space in the car, really. Before I remove the gravel I want to give it a good stir and vacuum it to remove all nasty stuff lying around. I have no snails and other little animals so shouldn't really kill anything that way.

In the new house I plan to add the gravel, decor, plants and equipment, add the saved water, turn on the heater, filter and all the stuff and once the water reaches the 25 degrees (my usual temp) I was going to just place the bags with fish on top, let them chill like that until the water in those bags also reaches the desired temp and slowly start releasing them. Also was thinking about adding fresh water slowly over the course of 2-3 days and reduce feeding until the tank is stable. I have water test kit (the drops one, not strips) and I won't clean the filter right before the move to make sure I don't kill the beneficial bacteria (at least not all of it).

Is there anything that I am missing here or planning to do incorrectly? The tank is too big and too heavy to move it as is so I sadly have to dismantle it all but I really don't want to kill any of my fish dudes in the process.
 
In 2 weeks time ish I will be moving my 150L tank to a new home. I did some research, spoke to the owner of my local fish shop and checked a fair few YT videos.

My plan:

I have 5 orange buckets from B&Q - those are for gravel, plants, decorations, filter and all the other stuff that needs to stay moist but not necessarily fully covered in water. The move is roughly 40 min drive one way at most and with all prep time included I doubt it will take too long to deal with that part of my tank.

I ordered fish bags on eBay (same kind as my fish shop uses), I have a black net and since I have a tropical tank I had a nifty idea of using a big flat hot bottle wrapped in a towel under the fish to retain some of the temperature. Fish will travel in separate bags to minimalise stress and aggression. No drama here as I don't have too many fish so the process of catching and bagging them will go fast. To make it even better I will want to drain a huge chunk of water before I start catching anything.

I intend to drain at least 75L of water into sealable plexi boxes (new ones, so no risk of dirt, chemicals or cracks) and save it for the tank in the new place. Would love to save more but it is all depending on the space in the car, really. Before I remove the gravel I want to give it a good stir and vacuum it to remove all nasty stuff lying around. I have no snails and other little animals so shouldn't really kill anything that way.

In the new house I plan to add the gravel, decor, plants and equipment, add the saved water, turn on the heater, filter and all the stuff and once the water reaches the 25 degrees (my usual temp) I was going to just place the bags with fish on top, let them chill like that until the water in those bags also reaches the desired temp and slowly start releasing them. Also was thinking about adding fresh water slowly over the course of 2-3 days and reduce feeding until the tank is stable. I have water test kit (the drops one, not strips) and I won't clean the filter right before the move to make sure I don't kill the beneficial bacteria (at least not all of it).

Is there anything that I am missing here or planning to do incorrectly? The tank is too big and too heavy to move it as is so I sadly have to dismantle it all but I really don't want to kill any of my fish dudes in the process.
i rly don't know, but it might cause mini cycle?
 
I suggest putting your filters media in a bucket with the tank water, maybe even an air supply if its a long drive that way the beneficial bac wont die in transit
yes, forgot about that, airpumps with the bac and plants and rocks-stuff
 
I don't know how far you are moving but I have had a lot of success in the past using a camping coolers, the ones you put ice in to transport the fish. They are a bit heavy when loaded but don't heat or cool much during the transport. It is a good idea to secure the tops because the water can push it up.
 
read post #2 of the following link
 
I only had to move about 20 mins away, so a little different distance-wise. But I got 2 larger, clear packing Tupperware containers (15-20gallons or so), used the sponge filters from my tanks and emergency (battery powered) air pumps, then added as much tank water in as I could, then the fish and whichever decor had plants attached (tried to keep as much of it in the Tupperware as possible for beneficial bacteria purposes). I kept the sand in the tank (probably ill advised), then got a strong buddy to help me move it into the truck and onto the new stand at the new place.
Since I didnā€™t have far to go, and I use canister filters, I just kept them filled with water and moved them pretty much plug and play.
I didnā€™t have any fish loss (due to the move, angry egg laying blood parrot is another issue), and no sign of crashing the cycles or anything. I even upgraded a 20 gallon long to a 55 gallon with all new substrate and most new decor, and the bacteria in the filter was still there to establish the cycle in the new tank instantly.
 
I only had to move about 20 mins away, so a little different distance-wise. But I got 2 larger, clear packing Tupperware containers (15-20gallons or so), used the sponge filters from my tanks and emergency (battery powered) air pumps, then added as much tank water in as I could, then the fish and whichever decor had plants attached (tried to keep as much of it in the Tupperware as possible for beneficial bacteria purposes). I kept the sand in the tank (probably ill advised), then got a strong buddy to help me move it into the truck and onto the new stand at the new place.
Since I didnā€™t have far to go, and I use canister filters, I just kept them filled with water and moved them pretty much plug and play.
I didnā€™t have any fish loss (due to the move, angry egg laying blood parrot is another issue), and no sign of crashing the cycles or anything. I even upgraded a 20 gallon long to a 55 gallon with all new substrate and most new decor, and the bacteria in the filter was still there to establish the cycle in the new tank instantly.
yes, for a longer tank and more temp difference, other people might need a cooler (the cheapo ones are ok)
 
I suggest putting your filters media in a bucket with the tank water, maybe even an air supply if its a long drive that way the beneficial bac wont die in transit
the drive is roughly 30-40 min and I can set the tank up fairly ast, is that too long for the bacteria?



I don't know how far you are moving but I have had a lot of success in the past using a camping coolers, the ones you put ice in to transport the fish. They are a bit heavy when loaded but don't heat or cool much during the transport. It is a good idea to secure the tops because the water can push it up.
That is something I actually can grab from my friend so I will give it a go, seems more secure than a bucket anyway



read post #2 of the following link
Thank you for the link, on it!


I will research battery air pumps too, I suppose it's always good to have one in case of an emergency (or a power cut)
 

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