I'm moving...Best way to move a tank?

[Cheadle Chick]

I'm going to be moving soon and I was just wondering what would be the best way to transfer my tank and fish with minimal stress to the fish? My tank is a 10gallon with some live plants. I won't be moving all that far (20 minutes away). Any suggestions?

 

[Purrbox]

I just went through this (bit longer drive though) and it's really not that bad.

Old Location
1. Get yourself a couple of 5 Gallon Buckets if you don't already have some lying around for water changes.
2. Empty half the water into one of the buckets.
3. Net your fish and place them in the bucket you just filled.
4. Empy the remaining water into the other bucket.
5. Remove your filter media and place it in the second bucket.

Move
6. Move buckets, tank, and anything else you need.

New Location
7. Set up the aquarium in it's new location.
8. Replace filter media.
9. Add water from bucket with filter media back into the tank.
10. Net fish back into tank.
11. Add water from fish bucket back into tank.

Done
12. Breathe a big sigh of relief.

The gravel and plants can stay in the tank undisturbed during transport and should be perfectly fine, although you may want to enlist a strong friend to lift the tank for you if you're a lightweight like me. With bigger tanks, it would be too much weight to move with the gravel in place, but a 10 gallon should be fine.

 

[flipz]

I have made many, many moves with my fish. One thing I need to stress is to NOT carry your tank anywhere with any water in it. You need to make sure and drain it 100%. Carrying a tank with any amount of water sloshing around in it is the quickest way to break your seals.

Good luck!

-brent