Movement Of Tanks...

[elliott78]

I currently have a 55 gallon tank, (8 Angelfish), set up in the living room and am going to have new carpeting installed in my home in a month or so. Also, I have recently purchased a 90 gallon tank set-up that I'd like to put in the spot of the 55 gallon tank once the carpeting is installed. This brings with it lots of questions...

I was thinking of possibly moving my currently set-up 55 gallon tank into the non-heated garage. In Wisconsin that could be a bad idea this time of year as the outside temperature can still dip to below 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Would a conventional tank heater be enough to keep the tank at about 80 degrees Fahrenheit, or is this a bad idea?

I do not have another tank in a different location to move the fish to. I was thinking of setting up a 37 gallon tank at my mother's house to transfer the fish to however with cycling to account for this probably won't work in time. Can cycling be sped up if I use water from the 55 gallon tank?

Anyone with any good experience and/or advise in moving tanks and transferring fish? Thank you very much for your time and assistance!

 

[waterdrop]

When doing these kinds of fish movements and transfers its not the water you need to worry about, its that the filter go along with the fish! Your fish and their present filter are a portable system to some extent! The bacterial colonies in the filter have grown to match the current fish stocking amount and as long as you prepare some sort of container of water (say the smaller temp tank you talked about putting in your mother's house) and then move both the fish and their filter at the same time, you will be fine. (Its still going to be a job figuring out all the moves you are going to make, but this should help your planning!)

When people purchase a typical aquarium heater that's within the usual recommended range for their tank size, the assumption is that the whole system (aquarium, water and heater) is being maintained inside a home with a typical comfortable temperature for humans. What this means is that the heater will only have a limited number of degrees that it can raise the water above the ambient temperature. So no, you can't just set up outdoors and expect the heater to do the job!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[elliott78]

Thanks waterdrop! I don't even know why I asked the heater question, duh! I appreciate your time!

 

[GuppyGoddess]

I currently have a 55 gallon tank, (8 Angelfish), set up in the living room and am going to have new carpeting installed in my home in a month or so. Also, I have recently purchased a 90 gallon tank set-up that I'd like to put in the spot of the 55 gallon tank once the carpeting is installed. This brings with it lots of questions...

I was thinking of possibly moving my currently set-up 55 gallon tank into the non-heated garage. In Wisconsin that could be a bad idea this time of year as the outside temperature can still dip to below 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Would a conventional tank heater be enough to keep the tank at about 80 degrees Fahrenheit, or is this a bad idea?

I do not have another tank in a different location to move the fish to. I was thinking of setting up a 37 gallon tank at my mother's house to transfer the fish to however with cycling to account for this probably won't work in time. Can cycling be sped up if I use water from the 55 gallon tank?

Anyone with any good experience and/or advise in moving tanks and transferring fish? Thank you very much for your time and assistance!

I live in a warmerish climate here in the US (not as cold as Wisconsin, but not as warm as the south, either) and would NEVER leave my fish in the garage. Even though our winters are ususally in the 30s, my garage is freezing.

Oh, and I've moved tanks before and it's a huge pain in the butt. The water has to be drained. . .we left 1/3 in our 10-gallon and it was a mess afterward. All the sediment rose up and clouded the water. Also my betta paled up from the stress!