Question on moving a fish tank?!?

[Dayton]

so i will be moving In a couple weeks (it's about a two hour drive) and wanted to know the best way to move my tank from here to the new apartment with no fish casualties. It's a 30 gallon hexagon tank. I'm not sure if I should keep some of the tank water and put it back into the tank when I get to the new place or just refill it with new water. Also, the water chemistry is supposedly much different then the tap water here. so I don't want to fill the aquarium up with all new water their because it will most likely change the ph a lot and so on. Any suggestions or tips would help a lot because I don't want anything bad to happen!

 

[aquandrew]

what i did when helping my sis move her tank is put the filter media in a bag with water to keep the BB alive. empty the tank but leave a little bit of water in for the BB in the gravel to stay alive. and for the fish use a 5 gallon bucket with a battery powered air stone. if you dont have one, most bass pro shops, cabelas, gander mountain carry them for minnow buckets. when you get the tank set back up, put the fish in a bag and acclimate them as you would when buying a new fish.

 

[Mebbid]

+1 You can either do it that way or bag them up separately and do it that way. Either one works. Just acclimate them to the new tank like you would any brand new fish.

Also, no need to keep the old tank water, it's not important.

 

[Lynx99]

Im getting a new stand and have to move my tank across the room. Im afraid. Very afraid!

 

[Mebbid]

Im getting a new stand and have to move my tank across the room. Im afraid. Very afraid!

Just empty it when you move it. everything will be fine

 

[Dayton]

Thanks everyone! I think I will go with the bagging and method and then acclimate them

 

[Dayton]

Im getting a new stand and have to move my tank across the room. Im afraid. Very afraid!

Hopefully it's not a big tank!

 

[Mebbid]

Thanks everyone! I think I will go with the bagging and method and then acclimate them

Just be sure to keep them out of the sun while transporting them. Also try to make sure there aren't huge temperature fluctuations during transport.

 

[Fett999]

If you can, get hold of a polystyrene insulation box or two to put the bagged fish into. That'll hold the temperature in the bags as constant as possible. The main reason for completely draining the tank when doing even a small move is that even the slightest flex of the tank when moving will be made worse by the weight of the water and increase the chance of cracking the bottom. Also the water in the bottom sloshing about whilst traveling is another risk to cracking.

 

[Bowhunterking]

I transport my tank by putting 5 gals of tank water in a 5 gal bucket, put my fish in it, them put in the lid with some air holes in it. Then just dump the rest of the water. Transport everything set up the new tank and fill it mostly full then get that and the bucket close to the same temp and put the fish in with the bucket of water. I've moved my tank 4 times so fat theis way and never lost a fish.