Moving a tank

This is most likely the wrong section.. anyway

Im moving my tank very shortly, Ill be taking all the water out bar about 2/3 inches and transporting it a short distance away, but I need to bring the water with me too Does anyone have any idea where I can get my hands on some large sealable buckets that would do the job? Im having no luck so far at all

Hi Sarah,

It's not that important to take the water with you. The important things are the substrate and the filter media. Make sure and keep them wet and move them to the new location and set up the tank again as quickly as possilble. That's assuming you are moving fish also and want to get it up and running again quickly.

It's important to use a dechlorinator and get the temperature in the tank back up as quickly as possible. Reintroduce the fish slowly as if you were introducing new fish for the first time as the water parameters may be slightly different to that of your original supply.

I wouldn't move the tank with anything in it. Even a couple of inches of water could be too much weight on the bottom of the tank when being lifted. Especially if the substrate is in it also. Best to bag the substrate as you would bag fish, but keep it at least damp, if not immersed in water.

Hope this helps.

I'll be moving a tank soon enough myself. I reckon those big Mayonnaise containers that restaurants get would be ideal.

They hold about 25ltrs and have a lid. Get four of those and you'll be sorted.

Agree about the water/substrate not being left in the tank. It could end in disaster.

Hmm, thanks for all the replies. Im thinking I could get the water ready the night before, and raise it to the correct temp once the tank is on its way. That would most likely be easier alright. I have nasty feeling im going to lose fish no matter what I do though. Was really not planning on moving at all

The main problem I have with only filling it up 25% is that the filter is one of the vertical box type jewels. Now as far as Im aware water needs to come in the top to travel down through the layers of filter material, and it cant do that unless full Urggh

Don't worry too much about the filter. Take all of the sponge out and put it in a bucket. Put a small amount of water, about 4 inches in the bucket and cover the bucket to avoid the sponge drying out. Just give the bucket a shake every so often, it will get enough oxygen to last a few hours and it will stay damp.

Keeping the filter alive is nothing to do with the flow going through it, it is about stopping the sponge being starved of oxygen.

Make sure you don't let the filter sponges come in contact with untreated tap water. This will kill all the bacteria.

It's a big job, but if you follow the guidelines, there's no reason you should loose any fish.

what size tank is it?

I'd generally try to keep as much water as possible
using 20 litre drums if you keep over 50% then it's not
too much of a shock to refill when you get to the new location

Hi Sarah ,

If you intend moving a tank , no matter how far, it is a good idea prior to the move to get the water as fresh as possible to minimize fish loss, and here is a process that worked well for me in the past. First i would agree with the other post to drain the tank completly. Before I move a tank the thing i do first is carry out 25% water changes every 2 days about a week before the move and ensure the filter is clean a week before hand sponge cleaned in tank water. I then on the day of the move have ready some ballygowan or like empty 25ltr bottles you know the ones for drinking coolers you see in offices etc, to fill with water I have about 4 which allows me to keep 100 ltrs of water. Also I have at hand a 50ltr plastic bin . Firstly i fill the plastic bin with tank water then run the filter in the bin and place the heater in it too (it helps if you have a spare heater to use for this). Then i remove all the fish to the bin. When i have all that done I drain the rest of the tank into the ballygowan bottles. Now i'm holding 150 ltrs of tank water. Which in most cases would be 75% approx of a 4 foot tank. When i Have all this done I dispose of the rest of the tank water. Then i remove the substrate and wash all the gravel in tap water and try to get it as clean as possible before placing it back into the tank in its new position. I then when have the tank moved and gravel washed and back into the tank , filll up the tank with the kept water in the ballygowan bottles and heat back up to the required temperature this is where the second heater comes in handy you could add a hot kettle of water here at this stage too to speed things up . While the tank is heating i run a small airstone to keep the water moving and some stress coat to remove any chloromines that maybe brought in from the washed gravel. Then when you have your temperature correct i re-add the fish and the filter and use some of the tank water i was holding the fish in , not much though, I then prepare water for a further top up Later on .

My good friend Deeco (manc that he is) and I moved my Rio 240 recently.
In the back of a van.
With the sand still in it.

Those tanks are stonger than you think.
If its a dodgy homemade jobby I wouldn't risk it, otherwise just empty out as much as possible, keep as much water as you can (in empty 5l ballygowan bottles) to put the fish back into. I managed with 0 losses.

Once at the new location I refilled the tank with the bottled water (about 60l and some (about 60l) warmish tap water (treated of course).
Then adding about 20l a day I gradually filled the tank.

My good friend Deeco (manc that he is) and I moved my Rio 240 recently.
In the back of a van.
With the sand still in it.

Those tanks are stonger than you think.

Aha, thats what I have * ponder *

That does indeed sound like a plan, specially as my dad has those .. things.. you know, those 4 wheel'd table things with handles you move loads on. Should be handy for wheeling it around smoothly.