Thanks for the heads up, Zagz!
I'm guessing that either way I will need to completely take down my tank and start the cycle over again.
Take down the tank yes; cycle again, no.
I have a 30 gal with white clouds, corys, otos, and a betta.
Piece of cake!
Perhaps my husband and I have too much experience moving fish, last minute complications and still having a great survival rate. I have moved with my fish (at one time 6 tanks from 10-80 gallons), rodents, birds and cats back and forth from Canada and then across the state in both freezing temps and springtime. 3000 miles is longer, but very doable.
Keep the fish in a lined cooler with airstone and have your dechlor handy, as you will be doing PWC nightly. Only fill the cooler half way—you don’t water splashing about. You may also want a small heater (I used the visitherm stealths which have no glass), but if it’s warm enough, that will not be a problem. You want to keep the water on the cooler side (70-72F), which reduces metabolic rates and less waste is produced. We did not feed the fish for 3 days leading up to the move nor during the move. You have a lot less fish and a lot less PWC to do, so feeding is up to you. Keep in mind if the water temp is lowered, they will not want to eat at their usual rate and do to some stress, the fish may not want to eat at all. When you take the gravel out put it in a Rubbermaid and it will remain moist through the move. Since it is only one 30 gallon tank, you can take all the water with you in lidded buckets, or not. It was impossible for us to keep any water during our moves since the truck was very full and I wasn’t about to take buckets of water through Canadian customs. If you opt for using fresh water at the new house, dechlor it and then start running the filter. Make sure your Master Test kit is handy to monitor water values for the first week. I have not had to recycle a tank; the bacteria are more resistant that people give it credit for. Keep the filter media wet (in its own container with tank water), and the agitation of the water that occurs while driving will do plenty keep it aerated. Do not clean the filter in the weeks leading up to the move and the tank should be fine.
I have never moved in the hot summer months, which would add new challenges. Since you have so few fish, keep them in a smallish cooler that can be kept in the air conditioned area of the car. If you stop for a long break consider bringing the cooler with you (people at Denny’s won’t care
); at the very least, make sure you park in the shade and try to be quick about it!
Here’s some pics—if we could do it, so can you!
Some of the fish boxes at the motel
Checking in on our friends
Car packed up the next morning. We used an adapter to hook up all the air pumps, but for one tank of fish, I would go with a battery powered air pump and have a splitter handy if you want to aerate the filter media at night.
Setting back up--as you can see, Squirrel had been very busy that day
