Tank transportation

[CozyCat]

Happy New Year everyone!!

I need to move an established tank to a new house about an hour away from my current house via freeway.
The tank is a 10-ish gallon Aqua One "AquaStyle", and has ornaments and live plants.
The occupants are going to be moved in those plastic bags that you take them home from the LFS in.

I'm hoping to just drain the water from the tank but leave about an inch or so in the bottom for the bacteria in the substrate. I'll probably leave the ornaments and plants in there too, and so they don't dry out, spray them down with water. Or could I move the tank half full of water ???
Not sure how to move the tank in a way that will minimise the risk of breakage - in a box? Bubble wrap? Put a seat belt on it?

What would you do? Or if you have moved tanks before, what did you do and how did it go?

 

[GaryE]

I moved 70 tanks last year.

The good news is an hour up the road in warm weather is nothing. The bad news is a ten is the most fragile size of tank. Take as much water out of it as you can, leaving it damp. Place it on styro if you have a sheet, pack it around with other stuff so it doesn't move and don't go off road. It's important to carry it level, and lift it holding the edges on two sides. Carrying a tank in each hand is a bad idea.

It was -27 outside when I moved my tanks. I hope you don't face that in Australia.

 

[CozyCat]

I moved 70 tanks last year.

The good news is an hour up the road in warm weather is nothing. The bad news is a ten is the most fragile size of tank. Take as much water out of it as you can, leaving it damp. Place it on styro if you have a sheet, pack it around with other stuff so it doesn't move and don't go off road. It's important to carry it level, and lift it holding the edges on two sides. Carrying a tank in each hand is a bad idea.

It was -27 outside when I moved my tanks. I hope you don't face that in Australia.

70! Wow!

That surprises me, I would have thought a larger tank would be more fragile. I still have the original box it came in when I bought it, so I can use that with bubble wrap.
I can't comprehend how cold -27 is We're usually on fire this time of year I'm more worried about the terrible roads that are falling apart, even the freeways are awful. Aussie roads are not great for a car's suspension

 

[GaryE]

Try Canadian roads. The ice gets into cracks in the asphalt, expands and breaks it. Then in Spring it collapses, and pot holes become a serious issue.

The problem with tens is the glass quality. Most manufacturers skimp in that thickness and they are more prone to cracking than 20s, for example. But all you really have to do is have softness under the tank so it has a tiny bit of give. I had some tanks break, but after I got here. When I brought them out of the freezing truck cab, they were intact but as they warmed, I lost a few more than a few.

My move was 10 hours. I had to reserve the truck weeks in advance, and while a cold day where I live now is around -15, it just so happened that moving day was the coldest day of the year. We get fires too, but not like what I've seen from Australia. Here, it's the pine forests that go up if it's dry.

 

[Boundava]

TBH for the 10 gallon I would empty it 100%. Put the gravel/substrate in a sealable bucket and it will stay moist enough for the bacteria to survive. Honestly the main source of bacteria for cycling will be in your filter so any death in the substrate won't kill your current cycle.

Secure your tank as suggested above and you should be good.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Most of one's bacteria is in the substrate and other places in a tank. Yes a lot can be it the filter but the rest of the tank can host more than the filter. The one time most of it will be in one's filter is in a bare bottom tanks with little or no dechlor. The bacteria is somewhat photophobic so it thrives best out of the light, especially bright light.

This is why filters are all solid colors and/or opaque.

The bacteria do best where they get the most of all the things they need delivered. The do not go ut lloking for food, they live inside a biofilm attached to something hard. When we clean out filters and remove that brown sludge, that is where bacteria lives. But in an established tank this rinsing should not matter as there is bacteria in many places. Any smaler loss will get replaced via reprodution pretty fast.

Under optimal conditions the ammonia bacteria can double in 8 hours. So if you remove 10% that about 45 minutes to be replaced. Plus the bacteria can, to some extent, funtion in a range not a gingle number. So before they will actually repproduce because there is more ammonia or nitrite thant they need to thrive, they can process a bit more or less and still be fine. When the need is more or less than this they will reproduce or die back accordingly.

I once sold a 15 gla. planted tank and the entire contents. I had to drive it 150 miles and drop it off om my way elsewhere. I drained it down to about an inch of water. I left everything in it but the fish which were bagged. The biggest problem is the water slops around as the car moves. So minimal depth is essential. There must have beeen 50-76 assassin snails in the sunstrate and they all made it. The filter and heaters were removed for the trip and the filter media went into a fish bag with water.

I used to keep a few tanks in our guest room.Every summer I moved them about 150 ft. to out screened terrace for the summer and then back again in the fall. I moved them with eberything in them,(yes the fish too). I had about 2 inches of water and I had each tank moved from one stand to the other in a matter of minutes. As soom as it was in the new spot more water went in and I hooked the heater and filter back up. I never lost a tank of fish in either direction. But that is a lot easier than travelling in a car.

Just as an FYI, the way big tanks are moved is using big speacal suction cups affixed to the glass. Here is a vid showing this:

 

[Fishmanic]

It reminds me of carrying a casket

 

[Boundava]

Unfortunately the whole bacteria in the substrate thing seems to be a touchy subject on this forum. I have changed out multiple tanks completely of substrate and never crashed a cycle. Recently I removed all of the substrate from 125 gallon tank and swapped it out with brand new sand and I had no issues with my cycle, all of my beneficial bacteria was already established in the filter... not in my substrate. I've done this with 75 gallons with 10 gallons with 5 gallons I will be doing this with my hundred and twenty gallon tank in the near future where I will be pulling out all of the substrate and we'll be replacing it with brand new substrate and I will not have any issues with my cycle crashing because the most important beneficial bacteria is in my filter, not in my substrate, but we can agree to disagree. I just know based on experience over many years of keeping fish that's the most important beneficial bacteria to me is in the filter, which is why I have a filter. So you can change the substrate out at any time and you shouldn't have an issue if you have an established cycle with your bacteria in your filter.