Moving a 10 gallon tank? Will it stay cycled?

[Starálfur]

I should be getting 3 new bettas around June 1st or so, that I'm going to put in a 10 gallon divided tank. Two or three weeks later we are getting new carpet and so the tank would have to be moved to the bathroom for the day until the carpeting is done.

I was planning on using bio-spira to cycle the tank when I get the bettas. How can I go about not screwing up the cycle and moving the tank that day? Or will it get screwed up no matter what? Let me know if this works:

1. Drain out most of the water into a couple buckets until there's just enough left in the tank for the fish to swim around in.
2. Put silk plants in one of the buckets so they stay wet. It's going to be a bare-bottom tank so no substrate.
3. I have a penguin 100 bio-wheel filter for the tank. Take out the filter cartridge and biowheel, place them in one of the buckets.
4. Carry the tank with the left over water and bettas into the bathroom where I could leave the tank while being recarpted. Place buckets of water in there too.
5. Take the fishies out of tank and put them in tupperware before refilling so they don't get splashed around. Fill the tank back up with the buckets of water and replace everything - reheat the water in microwave prior to filling it.

Now, question is, keeping the bettas warm in the bit of water - would the 50 watt heater still work okay? I'm worried about leaving too much water in and the tank breaking during transport. Also, would the buckets of water need to be kept warm for the bacteria to survive?

Would this keep all necessary bacteria alive and the tank would stay cycled the same before and after all of this? Should I just forget using the bio-spira/cycling and wait until all of this is completed, and just do daily water changes until then?

I'm also wondering how much water I can safely keep in the tank when I move it without danger of breaking the tank..

Any other suggestions?

 

[Retaks]

Wow your thinking way to hard about this one. The fish will be fine with no heater for the few hours they are doing the carpet. As for having to re cycle the tank just take all the filter media out of the filter and place it in the bucket with the tank water in it. That will keep most of the bacteria alive on it. Not like it would be too much of a problem to recycle it since you only have 3 bettas in there. I wouldnt keep more then about 2"-3" of water in there. Ive moved mine with up to 8" of water in there but it is heavy and alot of water splashes and makes the tank hard to hold.

 

[Starálfur]

Wow your thinking way to hard about this one. The fish will be fine with no heater for the few hours they are doing the carpet. As for having to re cycle the tank just take all the filter media out of the filter and place it in the bucket with the tank water in it. That will keep most of the bacteria alive on it. Not like it would be too much of a problem to recycle it since you only have 3 bettas in there. I wouldnt keep more then about 2"-3" of water in there. Ive moved mine with up to 8" of water in there but it is heavy and alot of water splashes and makes the tank hard to hold.

lol sorry I just wanted to make sure my plan was okay

I'm mainly concerned about the cycle since i don't want to have to buy more biospira again, it's expensive!

 

[neilanh]

I agree. As long as you keep the filter media completely submerged in a bucket of tank water, you won't have any issues. You have it all covered.

You mentioned it, but the most important thing here IMO is making sure the temperature of the water you're adding back into the tank when you refill it is the same as what the fish are in to keep the fish from getting stressed.

There's really no need to keep all of the tank water. Keep enough to keep the filter submerged, the rest doesn't matter. Bacteria don't live in the water, so there's no need to keep it all if you don't want to.

 

[An t-iasg]

Nothing wrong with a good plan I agree with neilan that you don't need to keep all the water. Just make sure the silk plant and the filter are fully submerged. For a few hours, the bacteria will be fine.

Can you keep each betta in a tupperware container instead of the tank? To be extra sure about the bacteria, keep the biowheel in with one of the bettas. The tank, with even a few inches of water, will likely be heavy and any stress to the silicon seals could result in a leak. I kept my bettas in a gallon-sized critter keeper overnight when I moved my tank recently. I used a small 7-watt bowl heater in the critter keeper. How warm is it where you are? If the room temp will not drop below 72 or so, you'll be fine to leave them without a heater for a few hours. About your plan to heat the few inches of tank water - a glass heater must be fully submerged or it may crack while exposed to air, meaning you'd have to have more water in the tank than what is acceptable for lifting; and a plastic heater like a Stealth will probably turn itself off if it senses it's above water. So don't worry about the temperature of the water that the bettas are in while they wait. Just make sure, as neilan said, that you fill the tank with water at the temperature the bettas are used to at the moment. It will be a bit on the cool side, but then gradually raise the temp. - I would raise no faster than 3 degrees a day - to where you want it, which is 80 degrees for bettas.

Go ahead and use the Bio-Spira now and then keep the filter media submerged as mentioned to preserve the bacteria. The pouch of Bio-Spira should have more than enough product in it that you could add an extra teaspoon or two back in the tank after the carpet is done and the tank setup is complete.