Moving House - 6ft x 2ft x 2ft tank.

[Tomiam]

Im moving house in about 6 - 8 weeks time and have a large tank to move. I would be interested in other peoples experiences of moving a large tank + fish, filters etc.
I have a 6ft x 2ft x 2ft tank with two external canister filters and heaters etc. The tank is stocked with small tropical community fish (should see the neon tetra shoal ) Its at about 25% stock capacity.

What I have planned so far, and unless any feedback suggests anything to the contrary then I will probably go with this plan.

1) Buy an old 4ft x 1ft tank.

2) 1 week before the move. Put the 4ft tank in the new house and fill it with de chloronised water. Take one of my filters off the 6ft tank and set it up and running in there. *Note: I understand once I stop the filters I have 30 mins max before the bacteria start dying through lack of oxygen.

3) Move all fish over to the 4ft tank and plug in the 2nd filter there too.

4) Empty the 6ft tank. Move all bits n pieces over to new house and then fill up the 6ft tank with dechloronated water. Plug in heaters and the largest canister filter and leave it running over night to come up to temperature.

5) Next day, assuming all water readings are fine, move fish + everything over from the 4ft tank.



Anything anyone can see that might cause problems please? Likewise, anyone else move a large tank and having problems that were not expected?

Thanks in advance.

 

[scalesojustice]

it is also my understanding that within a week of putting the old filter on a new tank without a source of ammonia, will kill off all the bacteria on the filter.

you could seed the tank with ammonia for a week.

if you are planning on moving the fish at the same time as the filter, then it doesn't matter. i wasn't quite sure of the time difference in your plan. other than that, sounds good

 

[maxwell1295]

Seems like a well thought out plan. If you're only talking about a day without fish in the tank, you should be fine...

 

[JeffreyL]

I

I did basicaly the same thing when I moved, just on a much smaller scale. lol Most fish went into a 30 gal bare bottom tank with all the filters running on it and a few less sociable types in 5 gal buckets with some of the plants. 8 hours or so later everyone was back in their homes. No amonnia spike at all and just one death, a neon tetra a week later. Which might not be move related.

So you've got a great plan, good luck!!!!!

P.S. Just a thought, but as an alternative to buying a tank you might use really large plastic tubs. Filled up enough water for the filters to run it should work as well. Although the temp might be an issue unless you have multiple heaters. Regardless, good luck again!!!!!

P.P.S. Ain't moving fun!!!!

 

[drobertson]

If you are going to start the new tank 1 week early, could you seed the tank with a piece of shrimp to keep ammonia going to keep your bacteria alive?

 

[Zagz]

I have the same size tank as your 6'. What I did, bought clean rubbermaid containers never used before. Rinsed out well with hot water. Day of move. Took filter and ornaments out of tank, kept filter media wet. Put water into rubbermaid containers, only enough water to be manageable. Put airstones into buckets. Caught fish and put in buckets. If cooler weather add heaters as necessary. Drained water out of tank, cleaned sand out of tank. Moved tank and buckets. Added substrate back to tank, added all new dechlorinated water, carefully setting temp to old temp of tank. Installed filters and ran them while adding ornaments, added back the fish and heaters. I kept none of the water and just kept the substrate and filters wet. No fish deaths as a result of the move and it has been almost 4 months. Good luck.

 

[tropicfishman]

how many gallons is a tank that size, 180?

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Below is exactly what we did when we moved our 150 Gal tank.

1. Removed all decor from the tank and put in rubbermaid containers. Siphoned tank water into the containers to keep the decor wet.
2. Removed heaters, filters, and air stones and put them in two rubbermaid containers. We have Canisters so it is a lot easier. We also put saran wrap over the input and output bases and wrapped a rubber band around it to keep water from sloshing out.
3. Half way filled new fish bags to bag up all of the fish (I was working with African Cichlids and found this the easiest. Each fish had their own bag) and set the bags in another rubbermaid container standing upright.
4. Siphoned out most of the water except for about 3 inches.
5. Quickly netted and bagged all the fish.
6. Scooped out the substrate and put the remaining water on top of it
7. Loaded everything up in the truck and took off.
8. Unloaded the tank/stand and set it up in desired location
9. Scooped the substrate into the bottom and filled half way full of water then added dechlor.
10. Installed heaters and filters.
11. Unbagged all the fish and poured them out into one of the rubbermaid containers. Started the drip acclimation.
12. While the acclimation process was going on we put in all the decor. After it was completed, add fish.
13. Fill tank and dechlor.

We did this process twice and it worked flawlessly. It was a 2 hour drive between houses so a lot of time went by from start to finish. HTH

 

[Zagz]

how many gallons is a tank that size, 180?

Yes that is 180 gal tank.

 

[trotty]

i see no problems with your plan..... i did the same thing with an 8x2x2.... i was lucky that i had 8 tanks so i was able to jumble the fish around during the move, and more than enough filters to keep things going.

 

[Tomiam]

Thank you all VERY much for the confidence and advice I cant say how much I value you taking the time to post a reply, Im terrified that I'll overlook something silly and kill off a few favourites.

Thanks once again - and yea.. isnt moving fun....

 

[shayfish]

I did the exact same thing as Zagz just a few weeks ago but I did keep some of my water. About half, actually but my tank is much smaller (55 gal). It all was a tremendous pain in the butt, but went quite smoothly. It is cold where I live, so I dropped my heater into the rubbermaid bucket with the fish. I floated some of my plants in with them and just kept the others wet. Overall, the plants seem to have had a much worse time of it than the fish who are all fine.