Technique on moving tanks?

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TheCrazyFishLady

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This thought came up in another post that I had.

I won't be moving until July, to a dorm that I will stay three years in, but I would still like to go ahead and take into consideration some things I will have to deal with.

I currently have a ten gallon, eight gallon, two and half gallon, and a two gallon tanks. All of them are cycled and have very comfortable fish, shrimp, snails, and plants. I had moved my ten gallon up here from my parents house and that was so a hassle.

I am just curious how others have gone about moving their tanks. I know that they are small and probably much, much more easily moved than what most of you have. I am interested in the techniques people have used!
 
For my 10g I netted all the fish, threw them in buckets. Removed all plants and put them in the bucket with the fish. Drained the water until the substrate is just barely covered. Then I had a friend hold a piece of 3/4" plywood at the same level as the stand and gently slid the tank onto the wood and placed it in the back of my truck. Kept the filter material in a gallon ziplock bag with some tank water in it.
 
basically no matter the size of the tank... unless its like 1 gallon or so.... the easiest way is to just break it down...

fish into buckets, keep gravel/filter media wet, drain all the water, move tank, re-setup....

ive moved a 45 over 100 miles and a 90 gallon about 2 miles the same way...
 
I moved in June and here's how I moved my tanks:

5g hex - drained a few gallons out, removed the castle, and belted it in the front seat of my truck. It was light enough to move easily.

20L and 29g - Catch the fish and put them in coolers. Remove the plants and put them in coolers. Put the rocks in a bucket. Drain as much water as possible. It still took two guys to carry the tanks down from my third floor apartment to my truck because I wasn't going to remove the sand from the tanks.

I'd just drain some water out of the little tanks to control the slosh factor and move them intact. Remove heavy objects that could fall and damage your fish. The 10g can be moved this way too.
 
Thank you for your input!

I was plotting to drain out as much water as possible and put all of the fish it separate containers according to their tank and get out all of the ornaments. Place all of the media in bags and put the filters in big bags.

Should I keep the tank water? Or just toss it out and start over?
 
you can ditch almost all the water... keep just enough to keep the gravel and filter media wet, thats where all the good bacteria live. there are almost none in the actual water so it can go....

as far as starting over, there wont been a need to re-cycle your tank as long as you keep the same filters.
 
The 2.5g and 2g are easy, just unplug, drain halfway, remove any heavy objects and go.

The 10 and 8g I would remove fish, drain fully, etc.
 
I put my fish in styrofoam coolers with tank water and filter media and battery powered air stone, strapped them in, and drove 500 miles. Everything went well, and they were in there for 12 hours! I kept enough water in the tanks to cover the substrate, and put the smaller tanks in my trunk, and the bigger tanks in the moving truck. Everything was surrounded by blankets also.
I put new water in the tanks when I got to my destination, and re-acclimated the fish.

EDIT: I also got boards and pieces of plywood to keep the coolers level in the car.
 
I need to move my tank soon. But I'm not moving house, I just need to move the tank a matter of a few feet onto the floor, so I can put my new tank in place.

Obviously I can't move it with all the water in, the way I see it there are two possible plans:
* Take all the fish out and put them in a bucket, drain the water into more buckets until the tank is empty, move the tank and refill it and put the fish back. Disadvantage is that netting all the fish is very stressful for them, especially the tetras as they can really shift when they want to, I've had to do it before and trying to catch the rummys took a long time!

* Drain the tank down so there's only a couple of inches of water in it and then move it with the fish still in the tank. Disadvantages here are that the fish could completely freak out and hurt themselves with so little water in the tank, especially if it sloshes about when moving, and there's a chance that even with that little water, it may still be too heavy to move.

Or a compromise where we get most of the fish out but we leave the small and difficult to catch rummynosed tetras in the tank with a small bit of water.
 
you can ditch almost all the water... keep just enough to keep the gravel and filter media wet, thats where all the good bacteria live. there are almost none in the actual water so it can go....

as far as starting over, there wont been a need to re-cycle your tank as long as you keep the same filters.


Agreed, though it couldn't hurt to use a bit of start right, just to help things along, no?
 
It sounds like you've got your scenarios well thought-out ahead of time. It really depends on how strong you are, I suppose. Obviously, it's best to not remove the fish, however you're right, if it's going to potentially damage the fish en route, then it's best to net the fish.
I'm afraid compromising won't work, as the smaller fish are also more likely to get damaged in the move (crushed under shifting gravel, etc. etc.) So they're as important to remove as your other fish.
Just remember to keep the substrate and filter media wet with the old water, and don't change your filter media in the new tank. As long as you keep that in mind, you seem to care enough about your fish to make the right choice.
I'd recommend finding some beefy friends to help you out, so you don't have to remove them except for when introducing them to the new tank.
 
+1 I moved a 37g 2x in 3 yrs, one about 3 miles the second time about 110 with fish in bucket and gravel in tank with just enough to cover. All made it fine.
 
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