Moving help

[rjrossi88]

I'm still a few months out, but I will be moving soon and I'm rather new to the tank game. Can anyone give me some pointers on the appropriate way to move everything so that I cause as little stress as possible??

Also, I plan on switching my substrate from gravel to sand during the move. Is there a right and wrong way to do it or is it okay to just remove the gravel and add sand?

 

[ImACoolguy]

Live plants and fish can go to 5g buckets of tank water. Air stones if needed.

Filter pads and media can go on another bucket as well.

Throw out the old substrate.

Move tank as quick as possible. I would pre rinse your sand just in case before taking the tank down to ensure you are not spending an extra hour cleaning it. You want as little bucket time as possible for your fish.

Arrive at destination and fill it back up with everything it needs. Monitor levels to make sure there is no spikes. Also make sure to acclimate your fish back.


Caleb

 

[Mebbid]

How far of a drive are you moving? How big of a tank is it?

The last time i moved a 55g tank we bought a roll of fish bags and bagged them up. Then we bagged up the filter media in water as well. This worked well for a 2 hour drive. Just keep in mind, the bigger the bags the better.

Another way is to keep them in a cooler or bucket and use a battery powered air pump. Its just important to keep the filter media wet.

As for the sand, just wash the sand (preferrably before the moving of the fish) and then just add it in before adding water. Use anplate to buffer the flow and keep it from stirring up too much sand. I find that it requires a 100% water change after filling just to get rid of dust.

The important part is to properly acclimate the fish. Add water to the fish containers every 15 minutes or so and just be sure to match the ph and temp before adding the fish.

 

[rjrossi88]

It's funny. As I was posting this, you 2 were the first 2 people I expected to see lol. Thanks for not letting me down. And thanks for the input!

I already planned on reacclimating, just wasn't sure on the transport method. I'm not sure how far yet as that hasn't been determined, but it's a 55 gal. I already have three 5 gal buckets so I may just go that route unless it's further than I expect. Then I'll get baggies.

I was just planning on using a play sand from home depot or something. Will that be adequate?

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[Mebbid]

It's funny. As I was posting this, you 2 were the first 2 people I expected to see lol. Thanks for not letting me down. And thanks for the input!

I already planned on reacclimating, just wasn't sure on the transport method. I'm not sure how far yet as that hasn't been determined, but it's a 55 gal. I already have three 5 gal buckets so I may just go that route unless it's further than I expect. Then I'll get baggies.

I was just planning on using a play sand from home depot or something. Will that be adequate?

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I dislike the home depot play sand. Theres too much mud.

I suggest using the lowes pool filter sand instead

 

[rjrossi88]

That'll work too. I was trying not to pay premium dollar at a pet store for "aquarium sand".

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[ImACoolguy]

That'll work too. I was trying not to pay premium dollar at a pet store for "aquarium sand".

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

Black diamond blasting sand. I got 2-50 pound bags for $20 at Tractor supply. Rinse it really well and your good.

I use it in my 75g discus tank. Paired with a black background:

http://i.imgur.com/Of5BuYj.jpg


Caleb

 

[rjrossi88]

Honestly, I haven't really thought about going with black sand. I have a dark base now and think it looks really dark in the tank. That was one reason I was going sand. And also I have some kuhlis that I know are going to love the sand.

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[gemach7]

It's funny. As I was posting this, you 2 were the first 2 people I expected to see lol. Thanks for not letting me down. And thanks for the input!

I already planned on reacclimating, just wasn't sure on the transport method. I'm not sure how far yet as that hasn't been determined, but it's a 55 gal. I already have three 5 gal buckets so I may just go that route unless it's further than I expect. Then I'll get baggies.

I was just planning on using a play sand from home depot or something. Will that be adequate?

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

Play sand will work can also use pool filter sand. Pool filter sand is Quartz I believe instead of silica based so won't have as much of a possibility of diatoms.
As for move also started preparing for a move bought Rubbermaid containers one for fresh one for marine. Already Have a battery backup that I plan on 2 circulation pumps into. Not sure if this is over kill or not but another idea lol.


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[rjrossi88]

Play sand will work can also use pool filter sand. Pool filter sand is Quartz I believe instead of silica based so won't have as much of a possibility of diatoms.
As for move also started preparing for a move bought Rubbermaid containers one for fresh one for marine. Already Have a battery backup that I plan on 2 circulation pumps into. Not sure if this is over kill or not but another idea lol.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

I'm more worried about aeration and heat to be honest. I dont think it'll be that far of a move so filtration isn't a worry, but it's going to be late october/early november when the move happens so it's gonna be getting pretty cool up here in philly. I don't want to freeze my fish lol.

 

[rjrossi88]

Also, I was planning on switching to seachem prime as a dechlorinator. I think imacoolguy was one of the people that turned me onto that if I'm not mistaken. I want to get seachem purigen as well and it says to put it in a mesh bag. My thing is, I have 2 filters and each holds 2 carbon filter cartridges. I was going to remove one cartridge from each filter and add a bag of the purigen to each. I was told the carbon and purigen would assist each other.

Is there a pocket that is sold somewhere, something like what the carbon pellets are in, that I could put the purigen in or should I just stick a mesh bag of it right into the filter?

 

[Mebbid]

I use fine mesh brewer bags. They are the perfect mesh size to hold the purigen. I got 1 Large bag for $6 and cut it into 6 smaller filter sized bags and then hot glued them together.