moving a tank long distance

[luvmyfishies]

can i transport fish about 5 hours away from me. my sister wants my coffee table aquarium. she lives about 5 hours from me. if i put the fish in large coolers would they make it? what about the tank? it has an undergravel filter i was going to drain the water into 5 gal. buckets with lids as many as i needed and leave gravel and filter all set up in the tank. will it make it? fish are 3 parrots, 1 golden severum, 2 congo tetras, 2 burgundy tetras.

 

[luvmyfishies]

can anyone please let me know any info on this topic. i will be doing this in a couple of weeks.

 

[Guppyman]

Fish Transport

The cooler idea is fine. Just be sure to use a battery operated airsone pump and bring fresh batteries. - Guppyman

 

[guppylove]

yes that will be fine just try not to stress the fish to much....i hate moving so i am sure the fish do to...good luck me old fishy mate.....

 

[Guest]

Yes, your idea is fine, Buckets and/or coolers for the fish. Use battery powered pumps to aerate the water as Guppyman stated.

With the gravel/filter, I do have a question. How long has it been set up? How dirty is he substrate/ugf? OK 2 questions!

I ask this because ugf has to be taken apart and cleaned every so often, depending on fish load and amount of waste build up. If it is really dirty, you may want to break it down and rinse the gravel and ugf really well. you should have plenty of tank water to do this with, as you are moving the tank and usually cannot take all the water with you. Using tank water to clean the vast majority of the gunk from your gravel is the best way, you won't kill the good bacteria in the gravel, so when the tank is set up, it won't have to cycle again.

After cleaning the gravel/ugf, put it back in the tank for transport, with just enough water to keep the gravel wet, this will keep your bacteria intact.

good luck with the move!

 

[fishfreek]

Weither its 5 miles or 5000 miles the steps outlined in this article will help you with a successful move

How to move an aquarium

 

[Mr502go]

If the move is going to be really long. . . you could get one of those corner power filters, like the one fluval offers, in addition to an air pump run off of a power converter. I can't imagine the pump should use more than 150 or so watts. To be sure, call your pump manufacturer and find out what kind of wattage is required to run it.

Plug the power converter into your cigarette lighter socket in the car, then plug in your pumps to the ac outlet on the inverter. You can get the inverters for around $40 at places like Home depot, I think even Wally world has them.