Need advice on temporarily moving tank!

[ryorgason]

We are planning on putting in some laminate flooring this month, which means we will need to move the aquarium out of the living room for at least a few days, maybe as long as a week. What is the best way to go about doing this? It is a 30 gal with 3 white clouds, 3 cories, a betta, and 2 or 3 otos, plus I just got 2 more cories that are currently in quarantine but should be ready for the big tank before we need to move it.

So, I know we will have to drain most of the water in order to make the tank light enough to move. Should I partially refill it again once it's moved so that the filter and heater will work and then drain again before I put it back? (Millenium 3000 filter) Or should I just leave it drained with everything off? And should I leave the fish in the tank or put them somewhere else for a few days? My QT tank is 2.5 gal, is that big enough for all my fish for those days, or would a 5 gal bucket be better? Will I have to cycle my tank again when we put everything back? I sure hope not!

 

[Purrbox]

I would go ahead and fill it completely back up in its temporary location and run everything as normal. Anything else and your fish or biofilter may suffer.

 

[EmptyH]

If I were going to relocate a tank for a week here is what I would do:

Drain 50-70% of the water out and carefully move it on to a large piece of plywood, say about 3/4 inch thick with enough room for one person at each end to lift the wood, this should distrabute the load better and reduce the stress on the glass. I would also have one person holding on to the tank to make sure it stays balanced and doesn't slide. Move it to where ever it is going to be (leave it on the plywood so that it is easier to return to its original place), refill the tank, and turn the heater, filter, bubbler, etc back on. That will insure that your tank stays cycled. After the flooring is done just repeat the process.

Note: I have not actually tried this but it seems like the simplest safest method.

 

[BillD]

If you can keep your filter alive by running it in a bucket, of tank water, that will suffice. Put the rest of the fish in the small tank. The tank is small, but for a few days you can do some daily water changes, which is much easier to do than to set up the 30 and then tear it down and set it up again. Having done laminate flooring recently, I would suggest it may take longer than anticipated. In my case I didn't forsee that I would have to undercut the fireplace, until I had half the floor down (bad advice from HD). I used click floor, but wonder if it wouln't have been faster to use a glued floor. Glued floors are also more water resistant. Good luck.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I wouldn't run the filter on a bucket of water. The bacteria needs ammonia to survive. If it were me, I would just move it and set it back up again.