Moving in a month. Whats the best way?

[SOBERKITTY]

I'm moving about 10 miles from where I live now. When I received the tank from the Ex a little over a month ago, he moved the tank w/ the 3 balas still in the tank w/3 inches of water. This alarmed me. I thought what if it breaks or cracks in transit? He was never much of a fish person. I had given the tank to his son when we were dating. (a roommate owed me money and she left her $150 tank set up to me! I had no room so I brought it to the boyfriends.)

Should I bag the fish by speices? But this worries me regarding my Raphael with his spines. Put every one in a portable plastic container? (ie: an empty cooler or well rinsed large perware.) Or do what he did. But my concern aside from breaking is also the weight. I'm not as young as I used to be. So any ideas comments ojections? I will also be heading down to the LFS here in my area. They seem to be fairly good, and well they're not Petsmart!

Also if I wanted to change some of the substrate, so I can say add a corner of sand for my Raphael in burrow in, wouldn't this be the best time to do it? (does the sand not go up the gravel vacuum when the tank is cleaned?)

I know this is alot, but I need all the help I can get. And since you guys deal mainly in fish, I'll have to find other help to deal w/ the crazy aspect. Is there a shrinks.com?

[Richard B]

I would never try to move a tank with any water in! Completely empty is best

Yes this would be the time to change part of the substrate if you wanted to have an area of sand.

Your fish can be bagged not necessarily by species but a few only to a bag to conserve oxygen in cramped conditions, but as you recognise the raphael needs a more solid container.

Try & save as much water as you as this is already mature tank water. If you are moving in a month - can you move the tank earlier? Have you considered sking the lfs to house your fish for a short while while the move is on (mine housed all my fish for nearly 2 months whilst i was redecorating! - thanks again Dean).

My best tip is to have some friends handy who've got a bit of common sense & a big truck,if at all possible. Remember to mature the water before adding the fish back in - this means getting the correct temperature & treating any new water you add - the more of the old water the better - that said there are some amazing products on the market that can speed up the maturation process - your lfs should be able to help you there.

[MatsP]

Moving tanks is best done by emptying all the water, substrate, decorations etc.
I move some of the water, say about half of all the water [store this FIRST, as when you get to the "bottom" of the tank, the water tends to be more dirty from stirring stuff up].

I moved my RIO 400 [approx 100g] using three large plastic outdoor type dustbins [because that was the largest waterproof container per pound/dollar I could find]. Each dustbin holds nominally 90 liters (about 22 US gal), but to be able to move them in/out of the van etc, I filled perhaps 3/4 full. For a 29g tank, you can probably use "builders buckets" or any other small/medium-sized tub that you can find in your local DIY shop (e.g. Home Depot etc). You also need a "fish bucket" - I have one that is about 50cm/20 in diameter and about 30cm / 12 in tall - intended for gardening. Again, exactly what you use isn't particularly important, but it needs to be large enough.

I tend to start emptying some of the water, first batch into the "fish bucket", then the other buckets of water. Then get the fish out. I put a small filter and heater in the fish bucket, both to keep the filter alive and to get some filtration for the fish [moving large tanks take a while, so the fish are probably in the fish bucket for the best part of 4 hours].

Once the fish are out, you get the rest of the water [it helps here, when doing large tanks, that you have a long enough hose to gravel vac straight into a drain (or a lawn or such)] out, at the same time as getting decorations out. When you can't get more water out, get the gravel into as many buckets as you need [I used about 5 builders buckets, 4gal each for my big tank].

And as the say in the Hayes manual "Assembly is reverse of disassembly", so just reverse all the steps. Fill the tank with as much old tank water as you can, then top up as if you were doing a water change.

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Mats

[SOBERKITTY]

I plan on using the current, at time of move power, filter cartidge to help recycle the tank as well as at least 3 gallons of the existing tank water to take w/ me in well rinsed milk jugs. The LFS that I like best just moved to a new local and now has a smaller fresh area then before so they are limited on space now. I don't think they can house mine right now.The tank will be either the first or the last thing moved. So I can devote enough time to the break down and set up. (probably last) The truck- no problem: the friends w/ common sense well............! No seriously I have some awesome friends who have helped me move before but this will be the first time w/ a tank. I may even see if my LFS guy can help.

Also what would be the best live plants or moss to place in this tank w/ current occupant list? I don't want add more then two plants since they use oxygen at night and I don't want this to become a huge high maintenance tank.(ie: no co2 injectors) Also won't the sand go up the gravel vac? Don't have answer to that yet.

[Suckermouth]

By dustbin I assume Mats refers to what we normally call trash cans. Rubbermaid totes, I have found, are also useful, but do not come in sizes that are quite as large. Those that are pretty large I'm not sure I would trust to be strong enough to be filled with water, but they could be filled partway. A good old ice box can be good too; they are food safe and should be okay with fish. Plus it can help insulate the water inside. Moving the container itself with water in it becomes another issue, though. I don't know if they were mentioned, but battery-powered air pumps are available and this might be something good for the fish while traveling.

RichardB mentioned some of the products that can help boost the bacteria colony. Here in the US some of them are Seachem Stability, Cycle, and Bio-Spira. These products seem to work pretty well from what I have heard other aquarists say. Stability is the newest one of the three (at least I've learned of it most recently) and it has had good reviews so far as I know.

Sand will get sucked up by the gravel siphon. You kind of have to practice at just waving the siphon around an inch or so over the sand to pick up just the detritus, which is usually even lighter than the sand. BTW, if you have sand and gravel next to each other AND a digging fish the gravel is going to mix in rather rapidly. Perhaps try to block the substrates off with a thin strip of something or other that can be easily concealed, or work a separation mechanism into the decor some other way.

Plants will also depend on your lighting conditions. I'm going to assume low-light, low-tech, so some of your best choices are Java Moss, Java Fern, and Anubias. All of these plants do best when attached to rocks or wood. If you want them in the gravel, just take a small rock and place them on the gravel; for the fern and anubias, make sure the rhizome (thick, normally horizontal stem) of these plants is not buried under the gravel. Wisteria and water sprite are both thought to be aquatic weeds, and may be some good choices. When your tank has stabilized, some of the Cryptocoryne species, such as wendtii, are especially hardy and have huge root systems in the gravel; however, they do not take newly set-up conditions very well as they like stability and may suffer from "melt" due to changes (and a change might even be something as simple as moving it from the LFS to your home, although not necessarily). With any plants, it might be a good idea to have fertilizers available, though the first three plants I mentioned are pretty rock solid in any aquatic condition. I have purchased root tab fertilizers that go in the substrate near my rooted plants and also dose a liquid fertilizer regularly or so.

[SOBERKITTY]

Wow This is great stuff. Keep it coming. My fish will be the most well moved fish in the states (or at least the south) when I'm done. Does anyone think I'll really need an air pump in transit for a 10 mile +/- drive? I can understand after I get there while setting up the tank. A battery pump sounds expensive and I have limited funds. But when I trade in the Balas at my LFS (not my idea of moral but the ex bought them and they will out grow my tank and I can't upgrade right now. So I want them to find a good mommy or daddy!)I'll have some store credit. But I was planning on getting some friends for my cory's and danios and a plugable pump and air stone for my DO levels.

[MatsP]

I've traveled much more than ten miles with fish in a bucket with a cover, with no problems. What I did when I moved was to put the fish in the van LAST, then remove the fish and connect the filter as soon as I arrived, then get on with the rest of the moving of stuff. So the fish are "without aeration" for maybe half an hour. That should be fine [remember, the fish you got probably spent the better part of 24 hours to get to the wholesaler in a plastic bag with many fish in it - and a further few hours in a different bag to get to your LFS].

Of course, distance to travel is different from time to travel - going 10 miles in Central London or Manhattan may take much longer than 40 miles in a rural area - but I'm assuming your 10 miles aren't "heavily congested".

Yes, I mean "trash cans", and of course, not all models and types are suitable for holding large quantities of water.

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Mats

[SOBERKITTY]

I am going to use Rubbermaid Storage containers. The rectagular kind w/ the lid. I think a med size one will do for my purposes short term. Nope not heavily congested I can get there in about 12 mins. With the fish I'll go much slower of couse. I have a bit of a lead foot. Nope officer I wasn't speeding! keep it coming guys.

[Suckermouth]

In my opinion, battery air pumps won't be necessary for the short trip you are making, but would be a good idea if the trip extended quite a long time. Battery air pumps aren't extremely expensive. They are used both by fishermen and by scientists, and can usually even just clip on to the side of a bucket for convenience. You can even find some battery powered air pumps made just for aquarists, and they might have special functions like being able to turn on when the power goes out.

The rubbermaid totes are pretty good containers. Not all of them are made to hold water and so they might bow out if you fill them all the way up with water. They may also be impossible to directly lift after you put in water, if either by the weight of the container itself or by the fact the handles aren't strong enough.

[SOBERKITTY]

Trust me not filling it all the way up! I have enough back problems as it is and I'm fairly sure I'm solely funding my chiropractors retirement! Nope the one's I'm thinking of are the big thick opaque rubbery type material. I've used them to put run off water in before for my parents garden. No problems leaking. And it will be completely dark once shut which should help keep the stress down for the fish in theory. I will get a pump to put in after I get there and have to tend to other stuff before I can get to them. So the kind I would plug in and use an air stone with. The smallest model they make should be fine for this. Also does anyone think medium size rocks (small fist) would be enough for the most part to keep the sand and gravel from mixing together when I redo the substrate?

[pLaurent1251]

2 gallon tank

2 otto's
2 White clouds
1 Harlequin Raspora

You really need to put these fish in your 29 gal. They all need well filtered, stable water conditions and the only thing you can keep in 2 gallons of water would be a betta and/or some shrimp and nothing else.

[MatsP]

I suspect your sand it going to end up in the gravel. I have a 5ft tank with about half the length of substrate being sand and the rest fine gravel (about 1/8" diameter gravel), and if I lifte a handlfull of gravel in the opposite end of the sand, it is quite sandy, so to speak. There's not much you can do about that. [Ok, so in my tank, I have Satanoperca leucosticta "Eartheaters" that tend to grab a mouthfull of substrate and swim around the tank, but even mild stirring of the sand will make it "move about", so I expect that eventually the sand will be "all over the bottom"].

I don't believe there is anything you can do to prevent this from happening. You may be able to slow it down a bit by using for example the an ice-cream tub cut down in height to about the thickness of the substrate and using this to "hold" the sand in place.

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Mats

[SOBERKITTY]

The 2 gallon came from my daugthers room at her dads. Now w/ the rapheal in the 29 gallon I can't rule out that they'll be dinner and she would be very upset. So for now I will have to have them stay. I am doing one to 2 water changes every week and test it every day. I'm working w/ what I can at the moment. You should have seen what she had crammed in it before the 29 gallon came in the house.(the cory and the SAE! w/ the others. Can we see why I left her father ?:shock: ) If I hadn't gotten the 29 gallon tank back from the ex I was going to go buy a 10 gallon just so they could have a better life. After everyone else passes on to the big tank in the sky, I will let her have 1 betta and 1 shrimp in it. Nothing more nad nothing less.

[SOBERKITTY]

as for the sand I will make the sacrifice for the raphael and add more when I need too. I do adore him. I also want kuhlis in the future and they love to burrow. Anyone like a particular sand?

[andywoolloo]

I love the Carib Sea sand, I like and have used the Tahitian Moon sand (black) and the Moonlight White sand.

Just make sure you rinse rinse rinse and rinse again. Over and over before you put it in your tank. It takes a whole day really to rinse enough for a 75. But it's so worth it! My cories and syno cats love it!

[SOBERKITTY]

oh! Black sand sounds so cool. That would be great the gravel I have right now is 2 colors of blue and I don't have the time to invest in changing it out right now. Of course I am thinking white would brighten the tank also. Also Would the plants do better in sand then in gravel?

[Suckermouth]

For most plants, I believe they actually do worse in sand, as sand often has the ability to compact itself. This makes it difficult for plant roots to grow, and without plants if you have sand that is too deep you have the potential for pockets of low or no oxygen forming as oxygen is used up and can't get down into the sand. This is, thankfully, the latter problem is alleviated with bottom fish and especially burrowing fish, but on the other hand they'll just uproot plants too.

That said, I have heard that Dwarf Sagittaria is one of the few that does better in a fine substrate such as sand.

[SOBERKITTY]

Okay so I should put the plants on the gravel side. That answers the question. Thanks. This just keeps getting better all the time.

[MatsP]

As long as you lay it thin, I use childrens playsand. It's safe (as much as anything is, at least), and very inexpensive compared to the price you pay at the LFS - of coruse if you are only doing a partial cover in a 29g tank, it's not a big deal, as it only takes a small bag - when covering half the bottom of a 5ft tank, I used up a whole 25kg/55lbs bag - and yes, you need to rinse it LOTS.

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Mats

[SOBERKITTY]

I would say for me buy a 5pd bag of Hermit crab sand and rinse what I need then any left over can be used for the land critters. (Yup we have crabs! Insert joke here) But it's too fine to use! I mean like can't feel the grit fine. I think i'll have to go w/ the playground sand. What do you rinse it in it would have to have really tiny holes, I don't think my pasta collander will work!

[MatsP]

My rinsing consists of a bucket (4 us gal size) that I put about 2-3 inches of sand in the bottom of, fill with water [not quite to the top] and stir the sand quite vigourously. Pour out the water, careful not to spill too much sand down the drain.

Repeat until the water after stirring is clear when the sand itself settles (after about 5 seconds or so).

--
Mats

[SOBERKITTY]

Okay. I'll have to get all this done ahead of time and have everything prepared and ready to be done as soon as I'm done unloading the truck. I just called my mother to ask her to save 3 gallon milk jugs and why, she said I had my priorities mixed up. Oh well not everyone gets it I guess. I'll have to find someone else to save my the milk jugs. Guess I need to send out an email or make some phone calls. But my critters will have sand by God!

[MatsP]

I tried to find on Home Depot the corresponding to this.

But Home Depot only seems to have expensive luxury versions that cost about $10+.

The above one in the link is $2, and you shouldn't need more than about 3-4 for what you want to do. Maybe Walmart (or whichever supermarket you prefer) is a better place for that stuff.

Edit: And here's the "Trashcan" I used for water storage:
http://www.wickes.co.uk/Compost-Bins+Bu ... nvt/543008

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Mats

[SOBERKITTY]

Thanks MatsP. I think I've got a couple of Buckets and I think I can actually get some sand from a friend of mine I just found out. Now the thing is to get it all done. The sad part is in maybe 6mths-1yr I will have to all this again when they sell the house. Yeah! But at least I'll know what to do the next time thanks to you guys. I wish some more of you folks lived in Atlanta/or Georgia there have been a lot of really cool people on here so far. My mother said I should get rid of my Raphael instead of going through all this trouble for a little fish. WHAT! Oh well. She'll calm down once I'm all moved in and everything is settled.

[SOBERKITTY]

Just in case I didn't say it. Thanks for everybodys help. I'll get pics and stuff once everyone is settled in.

[andywoolloo]

good luck!

oh and i got all my fish buckets at Orchard Supply Hardware store in the paint section. Cheap and great sizes.

[MatsP]

I know the feeling, I've moved my tanks (4 of them, ranging from 7 to 100 US gal) twice in a matter of about a year - and yes, moving one large tank doesn't leave much day left at the end of it, a small tank can be done in a few hours. It's obviously quicker the second time round, because you learn from your first experience.

It's a good thing if you don't have to move the tank on the same day as the rest of the move, but sometimes you can't do that.

--
Mats

[SOBERKITTY]

It will be moved last. The first weekend in April. I should have pics by the 2nd week or so. I'll post them here so everyone keep it marked and I'll be back! Thanks guys you've all been awesome. If anyone thinks of anything else let me know!

[hfjacinto]

Hi,

I moved 2 tanks several years ago. What I found to be easiest is to move the tanks with a little bit of water (around 2 inches) and with the plants attached. It was also the first thing I moved early in the morning.

Prior to Move:
Don’t feed the fish for 4 days prior to move
Do a large water change prior to move

Supplies needed (for each tank)
1 Rubbermaid storage box with locking top (large)
1 Rubbermaid storage box with locking top (smaller)
5 or more old towels
Plastic wrap (Saran Wrap for example)
A roll of duct tape
Several plastic gallon jugs with aged water (use the ones you get with spring water)
Gallon pitcher

For Large tank >30 gallons
Step 1: “Borrow” a 25 gallon plastic storage box with locking top from your wife or mom or anyone that has it. DO NOT TELL THEM YOU ARE MOVING FISH WITH IT. Rinse it out really well. Rubbermaid makes really good ones.
Step 2: Remove the following from the tank: Lights, glass top, rocks, driftwood or other decoration, filters and heaters. I placed all the mechanical items in a smaller box (around 10 gallons or larger is needed). I like the Rubbermaid with locking tops as I can close the box.
Step 3: Transfer approximately 15 gallons of water from your tank to the storage box
Step 4: The most difficult in my mind, move the fish from one tank to the storage box. If you can’t get all the fish, I personally moved the tank with a school of coolie loaches in the tank as I couldn’t net them out.
Step 5: Remove as much water as possible so that you can move the tank. I try to keep at least 2 inches so the plants don’t die (and neither the coolie loaches)
Step 6: You will need help. Move in the following order. 1) Fish in box 2) Other tank supplies in box 3) Gallons of water 4)old towels 5) Tank (see step 7 for how to move the tank) 6) Stand. I moved the fish stuff first in an SUV.
Step 7: Place duct tape on the 4 ends of a large towel (for tanks over 4ft you will need 2 towels), place the tank on top of the towel. Tape the duct tape to the glass side (do not press too hard or the duct tape will be difficult to remove). I used plastic wrap on top of the tank to minimize water damage to the car (this step is optional). Wrap the tank with more towels. Using duct tape I was able wrap the tank with 2 towels.
Step 7: At your new home, move in reverse order. 1) Take the stand and place it in new location 2) move the tank and place it in top of the stand 3) Fill the tank with gallons of aged water 4) Place the decorations filters and heater back in the tank, turn everything back on. I would also check for leaks and damage to the tank at this point. If the tank is leaking I would stop and buy another tank at this point. But let’s assume everything is fine since we wrapped the tank and planned everything really well.
Step 8: Move the fish from the car into the house (please note that if it is very cold or very hot, you should move the fish first) DO NOT PUT THE FISH INTO THE TANK.
Step 9: Move all the other stuff in the house.
Step 10: At night we move the fish. 1) Using the pitcher move the water from the storage box back into the tank. Once the tank is close to being filled, move the fish. DO NOT FEED for 2 days and check Ammonia and Nitrites to see if they spike.
Step 11: Sit back and enjoy your fish in the new home.


Smaller tanks do the above steps but a 10 gallon storage container will work fine.

[hfjacinto]

If carefully planned and with some help, you can move everything in one day but to be safe I always plan for 2 days. With 4 people I was able to move from a 2 bedroom apartment to a 3 bedroom house (with 2 fish tanks and a cat) in approximately 12 hours. I was tired but I got everything done. The funny part is telling your wife/husband that you can't setup the TV because you need to finish setting up the fish tank