PlanetCatfish.com

hey all, im moving house and need to move my fish tank with me. just some tips on doing this. its a 160 litre tank. cheers

Take as much water with you as possibel, and use enough buckets.

I once had to move 4 tanks, 1200 lite,r on 1 day. I used 40 buckets, each 10 liters, and had no dead fishes

also, if you stop any filters, drain them and move them, the bacteria have a very good chance of survival - for 24 hours

Lastly, do daily 50 % waterchanges the first week, the second week every other day and the third week once halfway the week.

That should deal with any nitrite peak

4 years ago I moved from Winchcombe - Glos, to East Linton - East Lothian. I used those semi transparent plastic storage boxes with lids, that you can get from B&Q. The day before the journey I half-filled 4 of them with tank water and transferred heater/thermostats and air-powered box filters into them, along with plants and fish. These filters had been added to the tanks a few weeks previous in order to mature them in preparation for the journey. Doing all this enabled me to strip down the tanks ready for the removals truck.
On the day of the journey I un-plugged the heaters and air pump and put the boxes in the car (along with 2 dogs!) and did the 6 hour journey. At the other end I just re-connected the filters and air pump. I left the boxes set up and running for a few days while the tanks were being set up. It all worked without any casualties.
The one risk I took was that I wasn't sure that the plastic boxes were suitable, as some plastics can release toxins. However they worked well and served as good 'very short term' aquaria.
Good luck with your move.

I did similarly. I've moved my three "in the house" tanks twice now. Both times the moving distance was pretty short, so I just moved the fish into a tub (filled with tank-water), then saved as much water as possible using plastic rubbish bins from Wickes - they are a bit soft material, so don't overfill them - but they cost only £9 or so, and come with a lid, take 90L to the brim, but maybe 60-70 is a more realistic fill-level.

Builders buckets (any DIY shop sell these for £0.99 +/- 2p) are great for gravel and small ornaments, plants and such.

If you can't do the move yourself in a short time, as the others said, get a plastic container with a lid and a small filter of some sort to keep the filtration going.

If you want to make sure the container is "fish-safe", look for "suitable for food" containers (a fork & spoon marking in the plastic).

--
Mats

I've heard that one of the best ways to "seed" your tank with good bacteria is to use sponge filters to get a good colony started. As long as the sponge is kept wet during transport the bacteria should stay alive.

thank you all for your replys but i think im going to buy a new tank and set it up and move the fish over a few weeks. cheers

I'm guessing you may have missed the point of all the advice posted here. If you buy a new tank, you will want some established, aged water to provide beneficial bacteria, essential for your fishes' health. Only a few fish species can survive "new tank syndrome", red clouds and danios come to mind.

eurospage wrote:thank you all for your replys but i think im going to buy a new tank and set it up and move the fish over a few weeks. cheers

That's a good idea if you're already wanting a new tank anyways. And of course, you're now on the way to "MTS" (Mutliple Tank Syndrom).

Just bear in mind that, as kcmt says, you need to cycle the new tank too. Taking the remnant water from a water-change of the existing tank, and running a filter for a while in the existing tank and then moving that to the new tank are parts of "speeding up" the cycling process.

--
Mats

Still,

it is the best way to move house - tank by tank, adding 1 tank (at least) to the collection.

Sure, the tankj wiil have to go through the cycling, and used water and used filters will reduce the needed cycling time.

It also is not a fast method, you will need at least 1 week for each tank, so a month for 4 (as I had last time) but if possible, it works like a miracle.

No risks emptying the wrong bucket in a tank, no risk of oncontrolable situations, an,d most important, no stress

Currently I got 29 tanks, but if I ever move, I'll just add a complete new fishhouse to the collection, with at least 8 new tanks.

Yes i know you have to cycle the tank. Im moving over a period of about 4/5 weeks so will have time to cycle the tank and move the fish over a few weeks and visit both houses to feed and look after both tanks while the old one is still in action. Many thanks