Moving an "inherited" 20 gallon tank

[sdrone]

I had a 10 gallon aquarium when I was young, and it was fun but I had no idea what I was doing. My wife always rolled her eyes when I brought up an aquarium, until our neighbors called and wanted to give us theirs. Their daughters (high school age) aren't maintaining it enough, and our daughters love aquariums.

I thought the thing was in pieces in a closet, but it's live and running. It's not the cleanest, but the fish are active and look healthy. There are 4 fish: a small algae eater and 3 silverish fish that I should have taken pics of so I could spend time identifying them. Here is my plan - tell me if I'm nuts.

Pre-move:
1. Pick up test kit, aquarium salt, LCD thermometer, algae scrubber

Unfortunately, the only place I can really put it is near a window (that does not get direct sun) in a room that can get down to 67 in winter.

The move:
1. pull out, save at least 5 gallons of water
2. Vacuum tank
3. Put fish in individual bags, with tank water, in a cooler
4. turn off filter, heater, etc. Keep water in filter
5. empty rest of water
6. move tank to my house (50 yard walk)
7. Set up tank, add saved water, remove at least half of cutesy ornaments they have in tank
8. add distilled water (to avoid chlorine issues, seems easiest)
9. Add some aquarium salt?
10. Fire up filter, heater, etc.
11. check temp, add fish when OK
12. Run baseline test

Short term:
1. Get water as clean as possible. I want it crystal clear (was always a pet peeve of mine when I was a kid with an aquarium. I had no idea how to fix it and of course no internet, and no books at library for some odd reason).

Long term (more than 30 days out)
1. Start replacing gravel gradually with something that is natural or dark colored and not freaking pink and white
2. Add 2 or so natural plants, maybe a java plant that's on a piece of driftwood. Haven't got details on this yet
3. Add a piece of tile, full tube or half a tube, to make a nice tunnel
4. Consider adding 2nd filter. I have no idea how old their filter is, nor do I have any idea what the media situation is; I'm worried about that, and I'm considering migrating to a new filter

Longer term (next year)
1. Maybe add a couple of shrimp
2. Add 1 or 2 more colorful fish

I'm mostly worried about the move part, especially the filter. I didn't know the aquarium was up and running with fish until we went over there a few days ago; I had hoped to set up the aquarium and let it sit for weeks.

Any hints? Suggestions? I'd appreciate it.

 

[Big Dog]

Looks like you know what you are doing.

 

[glassbird]

I would like to suggest that you use your new test kits to get a baseline reading of pH, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. Just so you know what the fish have been dealing with so far. If you do not feel comfortable doing it right before you start the move, just put a sample in a clean jar and do it at your house as soon as possible. Also, do not do the distilled water bit. Distilled water has no minerals in it, and fish need minerals, too. Bottled spring water would avoid the chlorine issue, if you want to go that way. But unless your tap water is bad, using tap water with a good dechlorinator would be a lot less work and cost. I suggest Prime. Very economical, and it binds some ammonia too.

I am not sure what to say about the salt. Find out what kind of fish they you have first, maybe? If they are not used to salt, this might not be the time to throw it at them. They may be under alot of stress already. Depending on the fish, and the situation, salt may or may not be beneficial. Someone else's opinion might help here.

+1 on a second (or larger) filter. Post pics of the filter and the media so we can help with that.

Also, a big +1 on getting rid of cutesy decorations. Yuck.

 

[BigJim]

Sounds like a plan.

1. Look at a liquid reagent test kit. They're more accurate and less expensive per test than strips. API Freshwater Master is the gold standard around here.

1b. There's no need to save any water unless you're worried about parameter changes. The beneficial bacteria live mostly in the filter. I'd actually test the water before you start draining it. If the tank is high in nitrates, you may experience old tank syndrome if you add too much clean water. If the tank is high in nitrates, try to save as much water as possible and acclimate the fish to new water over a few days.

9. I don't think there's any need to add aquarium salt unless you're treating illness or injury.

1. Now's your chance to replace the gravel. The fish are out and the tank is drained. It's a lot less work to do it now. Gravel or sand from Home Depot are cheap.

 

[Wy Renegade]

Sounds like you've got a good plan. I would only suggest two things for your consideration.

If you're going to all the trouble of draining and moving the tank, why not go ahead and swap out the gravel now? Its a whole lot easier to do when the tank is empty then after it is set up and running.

If you do drain and toss all the old water, be sure and properly float and acclimate the fish before placing them in the tank, and the new water may have significantly different water chemistry than the old.

 

[sdrone]

Wy: I'd love to swap out the gravel. Do you think it would be an issue in that I'd be removing to much helpful bacteria?

What do you mean by "float the fish?" Floating their bag in the aquarium to equalize the temp?

Bigjim: Gravel from Home Depot, eh? Frankly the aquarium gravel I've seen at the stores is really small (2mm?) and I'd like something bigger. Should any old gravel be safe? Inexpensive gravel from HD would probably look relatively natural. I forget how deep to put it; I'll have to look that up.

glassbird et. all: I see what you guys are saying about the salt. maybe you're right, I should leave that out at first. You're right, though, that I should get a baseline of the water readings before I do ANYTHING. I also see what you're saying about spring water.

Thanks for the help, everyone. I've got more stuff to figure out now. Heheh.

 

[sdrone]

I would honestly LOVE sand but I have no idea how long it would take to settle down.

 

[BigJim]

If the tank has been set up for a while, I'd be confident that there's enough bacteria in the filter to get you going. You can alway monitor water parameters for any spikes and do PWCs until the mini-cycle is over.

Drip acclimation is far superior to floating your fish. All it takes is a small clean bucket or tupperware and a piece of airline. Put the fish in a bucket with a small amount of their current water. Start a siphon with the airline and tie a knot in the end of the line so it drips slowly. Drip water into the bucket with the fish until the bucket is full. You can even drain some water from the bucket when full and let the acclimation continue longer if needed. Using drip acclimation gets your fish used to all the water parameters, not just temperature.

Just make sure to wash the gravel or sand pretty well. I've used both play sand and Quickrete Medium sand (PFS). The play sand was a lot more dusty than the PFS. PFS cleared up in less than an hour of filter running without rinsing the sand first. It's hard to beat sand - $3 for 50lb. It won't work with an undergravel filter and it tends to eat up some other filters. You could use a filter sock/media bag/pantyhose over the filter intake or just get an AquaClear.

Now that I've brought up UGFs, if that's what the tank is running, you'll have to keep some of the gravel in the tank until you get another filter running since the gravel is effectively the filter in a UGF. It doesn't mean you can't switch the substrate now, but you'll have to keep a portion of the gravel in a cup in the tank if you do change it.

I see you're in my neck of the woods. Where are you in Chicagoland?

 

[DragonFish71]

If you place the old gravel in a clean piece of pantyhose or media bag (used for filters) and set it in the new set up, it will transfer the bacteria into the new tank.

Fill as many bags/piece of pantyhose as you can, keep wet in the old water if possible, if not, use room temp dechlorinated water

Set up the other tank, new gravel, decor, filters etc.

Places gravel "packs" in the tank, behind the decor if you want and let them sit.

Give the filters a chance to fully cycle the water around the tank, I usually wait an hour.

Have fish ready in a plastic bag and float them so they get acclimated to the temp. Every 10-15 minutes add some water from the tank to the bag, I use a plastic cup, dip out water from bag when it gets too full, can be dumped into the tank, after an hour (which is how long I do it for) tip bag so fish can swim out.

Or

Have fish in a bucket while you're setting the tank up, then using a piece of airline, start a siphon of tank water into the bucket. You'll need to dip water out of the bucket so it doesn't over flow, like with the bag process. Do this for an hour to acclimate the fish, then gently net them out and release into tank.

 

[DragonFish71]

BigJim, get out of my head

 

[Andrewz00]

Yup... "Float the fish" is exactly what you thought. keep them in their bags floating in your tank to equalize temps...

if you do decide to replace the gravel now, i would suggest keeping some of the cutesy decorations just for a few weeks. the gravel along with the filter hold the vast majority of beneficial bacteria so removing the gravel could cause a drop in this. keeping a few of the decorations would ensure more bacteria make the move.

+1 for testing the existing tank water before the move.
+1 for not using salt unless treating disease or the specific fish require it.
+1 on the API master test kit...

i would also suggest Seachem PRIME as the only additive (dechlorinator/conditioner) used. its highly recommended around here and i have seen great results.

i have moved a 10gal (100 miles), 45 gal (200 miles) and a 90 gal (5 miles)... dumped 90% of the water and used tap to refil with no ill effects.

Good luck!

 

[sdrone]

You guys are giving me a lot to think about.

I definitely wanna check out the concrete sand. If it can settle down in an hour or 2, surely I can keep the fish alive that long.... I'd love to change that out now. Worst case, maybe I'll keep some gravel/pebble handy. Even so, I could put a plastic cup of the old gravel in there or something out of paranoia. I'll find something that can hold the gravel.

the aquarium has a power filter.

I see what you guys are saying about acclimating the fish; I'll try one of the methods. I could just put them in the 5 gallon bucket I was going to transfer some of the water in; I guess I could put the heater in that bucket to keep the water warm. Then I could move out old water and add new water (which will be just dechlorinated water or some kinda spring water or something).

When I'm at HD to look at the Quikrete, I can look for "drain tile" that I wanna use to make a tunnel. If I were back on the farm, this stuff would just be laying around.

I'm in Hoffman Estates.

 

[Wy Renegade]

Wy: I'd love to swap out the gravel. Do you think it would be an issue in that I'd be removing to much helpful bacteria?

What do you mean by "float the fish?" Floating their bag in the aquarium to equalize the temp?

Drip acclimation is far superior to floating your fish. All it takes is a small clean bucket or tupperware and a piece of airline. Put the fish in a bucket with a small amount of their current water. Start a siphon with the airline and tie a knot in the end of the line so it drips slowly. Drip water into the bucket with the fish until the bucket is full. You can even drain some water from the bucket when full and let the acclimation continue longer if needed. Using drip acclimation gets your fish used to all the water parameters, not just temperature.

Yep, sorry, should have clarified a little more. When I say floating, I mean floating for ten to fifteen minutes for temp acclimation, then open the bag (leave it floating in the water) and slowly add tank water (a little bit every 5 minutes or so) to the water in the bag till you double or triple the water volume of the bag. Then the fish are ready to go into the tank.

The method BJ described above works well as well, if you have the supplies.

Either way, just make sure you are chemically acclimating as well as temp.

As far as the gravel - if you gravel vac the gravel prior to tearing the tank down, and save enough of the really nasty, gunky water from gravel vacing to just cover the new gravel or sand - you will transfer not only the necessary bacteria, but also enough decomposing material to give your cycle in the new set-up a good jump start. Add the nasty water first, then top off with the spring water. Then you don't have to worry about trying to save some of the gravel or obnoxious cutsie decorations.

 

[sdrone]

if you gravel vac the gravel prior to tearing the tank down, and save enough of the really nasty, gunky water from gravel vacing to just cover the new gravel or sand - you will transfer not only the necessary bacteria, but also enough decomposing material to give your cycle in the new set-up a good jump start.

Bingo, thanks. That's very helpful.

 

[sdrone]

So I've added the following...

Pre-move
2. Take pics of fish, filter, post 'em
3. Get water samples ( I picked up API test kit)

Move
6.5 remove gravel, keep wet, save in kids legging thingies
7.5 add quikrete medium sand (picked up at HD), wet down with saved aquarium water, let it settle
8. use spring water or the Prime I picked up for filling aquarium
9. scratch the aquarium salt

The fish may be in their bags for 2 to 3 hours - should I worry about the temp of the water they're in? I guess I can set the fish bags in the aquarium as it warms up.

 

[Wy Renegade]

Is it possible to have some five gallon buckets with prewarmed spring water in them? That way you can float the fish in the warm water rather than a tank which may be pretty cold to start out with. Just a thought.

 

[sdrone]

I've got a 5 gallon bucket I can use for that, I just wasn't sure how to warm the water. I might be better of using tap water at the appropriate temp.

 

[Wy Renegade]

I've got a 5 gallon bucket I can use for that, I just wasn't sure how to warm the water. I might be better of using tap water at the appropriate temp.

drop one of your tank heaters into the five gallon bucket, and use that to warm it up.

 

[sdrone]

Hah. There is only 1 heater.

 

[Wy Renegade]

Hah. There is only 1 heater.

Personally, I'm a fan of redundency in an aquarium - I usually put two smaller heaters rather than 1 larger one. That way if one goes bad, your tank isn't without heat until you can purchase another - just food for thought.

Couple hours of cooling water isn't going to be deadly, I've hauled fish for more than two hours, and I've received shipments of fish that were shipped overnight. Biggest thing is just to make sure you properly acclimate before returning them to the tank. You might wrap the bags in a warm towel or put them inside a styro cooler with a heat pack if you're really concerned about it.