Moving Concern

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gmanova

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Nov 11, 2011
Messages
185
Location
Allentown, PA.
I have a 46 Gallon planted tank w/ 5 Zebra Tetras. 5 platties, 2 Tetras, 5 Cory,s and 1 Molley. Trouble is I'm moving 1 mile from my place. I have to disassemble the entire tank to move it. I can move tank in 1 day with my truck and re-assemble on day 2. What is the best way to do this? I also have a large piece of planted mopani wood and about 80 lbs. of substrate. Can someone give me a steo-by-step to do list so my tank and fish friends all make it safely?
 
Is it possible for you to move the tank in-tact if you drain most of the water?

It sounds like even with all the water out your tank likely weights more than 100 lbs, so it sounds like a two man job.

But if you can swing it, I would think the easiest thing is to get some 5 gallon buckets with lids, empty the old tank water into the 5 gallon buckets and move the fish to the 5 gallon buckets. You should also move your filter media to a bucket with old tank water in it so as to no loose the bacteria that keeps your tank cycled. Keep enough water in the tank to keep the roots of the plants wet.

Next, disconnect the things that you can't keep connected while you move the tank (air pumps, light fixtures, etc).

Have two people move the tank, and transport the tank and all the buckets with the fish (lids on to prevent spills and loss).

Once the tank is at its new home, fill the tank back up with water and transfer the fish and filter back into the tank, setting up everything else.

Of course this plan assumes that you can tear down/transport/setup all on the same day. If for some reason you have to dismantle one day and setup on another day, you'd have to supply life support (such as air stones and heaters) for the fish during that day.

But if you can break-down, transport, and setup all at one time, then you should be able to just seal the fish in the buckets for the brief trip.
 
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