House Move

10 posts

Discuss all topics related to freshwater and planted tanks.


spunk
 
Posts: 8
Joined: Sun Dec 06, 2009 8:40 pm

House Move

by spunk

Hi guys do you have any tips on moving my 72ltr tank don't want to trash tank and only got to go a mile or two up the road ?

Chears Duncan.


mro2you2
 
Posts: 625
Joined: Tue Jul 07, 2009 12:37 pm

by mro2you2

do you have fish/plants with you???


spunk
 
Posts: 8
Joined: Sun Dec 06, 2009 8:40 pm

by spunk

yea the tank is fully planted with fish so don't realy wanna tank it apart do you think it would travel quarter filled i know it will be heavy but will the tank take it ?


yasherkoach
 
Posts: 1306
Joined: Sat Jul 26, 2008 1:24 pm

by yasherkoach

acrylic tank may take the weight but the sides may get damaged by all the movement in the tank

for a glass tank, you must break it down. I moved once last year, a 55 gallon tank. Had to place all the fish in a 10 gallon tank, but always leave the live plants in the main tank or else the roots will have such shock that you may well lose many plants.

Break the entire tank down until there is only gravel and the live plants. You may leave only water up to the level of the gravel. But unless you want to shock your fish, you may want to take half the tank water, put the water into buckets and then refill the tank in the other location.

Even at a short distance (I traveled 12 miles) you must periodically spray the plant leaves with water. Beware, you may experience some fish deaths after you get the tank up and running. I lost 3 fish out of 32, not too bad, and the ghost shrimp could not survive the trip.

Best bet is to plan it all out on paper (I did). Break it down step by step on breaking down the tank, moving the tank and setting the tank up. Makes it much easier.

If you need further help, let me know


mro2you2
 
Posts: 625
Joined: Tue Jul 07, 2009 12:37 pm

by mro2you2

IS it cold, outside I mean???


Okiimiru
 
Posts: 275
Joined: Thu Feb 05, 2009 10:19 pm

by Okiimiru

The whole "take your water with you" thing is pointless. Don't do that. As long as you have dechlorinating drops, it doesn't matter if you use 'new' water or 'old' water. Acclimate your fish slowly out of their bag and they'll be fine.

DO keep your filter media wet. Nitrosomonas and nitrospira bacteria, the bacteria that cycle your tank and take ammonia to nitrite to nitrate, will die if you let them dry. So keep them wet. A pet peeve of mine is hearing people say that they rinse their biological filter with tap water because tap water is chlorinated and will kill the bacteria. I use a simple fist-sized sponge to filter my entire 55 gallon aquarium, with the sponge simply placed in a 10 gallon waterfall filter so that it constantly has water running through it. It works just great; my water is constantly at 0 mg/L ammonia and never uncycles. To clean it, I simply lift the sponge up once a week, hold a bucket up, and squeeze the water from the sponge into the bucket. Then I put the sponge back in the filter. Works like a charm as a home for my beneficial bacteria.

DO keep your fish isolated from the environmental temperature. Coolers (like for beverages or lunches) are great for this. Simply bag your fish like you were taking them home from the pet store or shipping them to someone, and put them in the cooler. Then acclimate them to your new water like you would if you just brought them home from the store. Let the bag sit in the water for 15 minutes to acclimate to the temperature of the tank water, then slowly add some tank water into the bag to let the fish adjust to any new water parameters, like a change in pH or water hardness.

DO keep your plants wet. DON'T do this by keeping an inch of water in the tank and then letting everything slosh around. The fish will be fine, but more delicate plants like cabomba will be ripped apart. I moved my 55 gallon tank recently by, well, I did it fairly roughly. I left all the plants (cabomba and anarchis) in, and all of the (50+) fish, in the tank with an inch of water. Then I put it in the back of a pick up truck, sat in the back with it, and had us driven to our new destination. It was about 75 F outside, and every single fish and shrimp lived. The plants didn't, though, the cabomba all broke apart and turned brown, so I wouldn't recommend that method, lol. Take your plants out and wrap them in wet newspaper, just like shippers do when you get plants in the mail.

In summary:
Bag your fish and put them in coolers. Wrap your plants with wet newspaper and put them in coolers. Keep your filter media wet and stick it in a cooler. Then completely remove all of the water from your aquarium and take as much of the gravel out as you can (it's heavy! Leaving it in there makes moving the tank harder).
Then move everything to its new location and fill the tank with the right temperature water. Use dechlorinating drops. Put the filter media in its new home. Float the fish in the new water in their bag. While they're floating, arrange the plants. Then, after slowly acclimating the fish to the new water, release them.
Zero fish deaths and a fully cycled tank! Voila! Move successful :)


Peterkarig3210
 
Posts: 1980
Joined: Wed Oct 24, 2007 3:04 am

by Peterkarig3210

I moved a 75 gallon with plants and left the gravel in. I did leave some water in the tank and was careful enough not to slosh it around as I drove. I only left a tiny bit of water, enough to splash the plants and it all went well. I had to go down 2 floors, drive about 20 miles, and go up 3 floors. I did take out all the rocks and wood.

The plants on the wood and the wood was put into a large 1/2 full bucket with most of the fish. The wood and plants in the bucket kept the sloshing in the bucket down.

I didn't take water with me. for the most part though. I just did a pH check and acclimatised the fish with no fish loss.
It took me and another strong set of arms though.


Peterkarig3210
 
Posts: 1980
Joined: Wed Oct 24, 2007 3:04 am

by Peterkarig3210

72 liters is how many gallons? I think a liter is less than a gallon.


yasherkoach
 
Posts: 1306
Joined: Sat Jul 26, 2008 1:24 pm

by yasherkoach

Well the suggestions above is just as good. So whatever you believe is best, go for it.

Main thing is, you cannot leave the water in the tank and move. The glass will shatter not even at one quarter full. A 55 gallon tank with just water weighs about 600 pounds, you add real rocks and gravel (usually another 40-50 pounds, and you've a very heavy tank.

The water buckets I used were for only half of the water in the 55 gallon tank (it was 6 buckets with lids at 4 gallons in each), but Okiimiru is also correct, you can just add the water as long as the temperature is brought up to 78 degrees or so before you place the fish back into the tank. (I just thought it was a wiser thing to do for the fish; but it is true, you do not have to go this way.)

Wrapping the plants with wet newspaper, this I must disagree with with all due respect. The plants roots are well adjusted in the gravel or sand, whichever you may have in the tank, and to uproot the plants in such an abrupt fashion is not good, at least in my book.

If you just leave a little water, like about 1/2" of water (I am unsure how deep your gravel is, but a 1/2" of water will be fine for the roots of the plants) which will keep the roots from drying out. You may want to water spray the plants on the way to your destination to keep the petals wet.

Anyway, good advice. You have much to choose from which is good.


natalie265
Site Admin
 
Posts: 746
Joined: Sat Nov 01, 2008 9:48 pm

by natalie265

I agree w/the others that all of the water, or close to it, should be removed before you move the tank. I think the more stuff (water, gravel or whatever) in the tank, the greater likelyhood that the tank will crack en route. In fact, if i had to move my bigger tank, i'd probably even remove the gravel just to be on the safe side. I didn't bother w/my 30 gallon and it survived.

I have moved my tank twice in the past 3 months, broken down completely and all plants uprooted and moved. Even my crypts and sword plant survived both moves and they tend to be more finicky about being uprooted, so uproot or not, is up to you. There are probably risks and benefits to each method.

Also, i didn't bother w/saving any of my water, except the 5 gallons or so that the fish were transported in, and i didn't loose any fish, frogs or shrimp. As others have noted, just make sure to match temp and ph as close as possible, then acclimate slowly.

House Move

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