Moving House

Hi all, I am new here and will be seeking advice on a few things. The topic that is concerning me at the moment is a house move. Having put a good deal of effort into getting my tank started and relatively happy with the setup, I now need to plan a house move without stressing my fish and destroying all the work done on sucessfully cycling the tank.

It may seem early but I want to start planning the move now as it will be 2 or 3 months away. I have a 125 litre tank with a mixture of Serpae Tetras, Tiger Barbs, and Mollies. Should I move the fish to the bags that pet shops provide or would the bucket I use to do water changes be better. I am planning to put the filter, heater and plants in a bucket with water removed from the tank. I also assume that I must move most of the water in separate buckets or containers once i am happy that those containers do not have contaminants.

I am planning to leave a small level of water in the tank to keep the gravel covered. In all I plan to do the move in about 3 or 4 hours, luckily I only have about 5 miles to go.

All comments, help and suggestions are most welcome.

Moving 5 miles away is not a long trip - Things should be simple enough.

This is the way I would do it :

1./ Put the fish in a container, jerrycan, any type of (food-safe) container that will hold water and not spill on your way.

2./ Put the filter sponge in a bucket of tank water with a small air pump to keep oxygenating the bacteria in the meantime.

2./ Empty the tank fully, keeping 1/2 of the 'original' water in containers, jerrycan or any type of (food-safe) container. I would not leave anything in the tank. It could add pressure on the silicone seals and might break your tank.

3./ Move the tank to its new destination - set it up

4./ Place back gravel, water, fish into the tank and finally set filter up.

Best of luck in your planning and the project. It'll all go well

Valerie

PS - And Welcome to the Forum

Valerie, John,

Thank you both for the replies. Exactly the sort of advice I had hoped for, looks like I was on course to do damage to my tank by moving it with the substrate and some water in it, so I shall now empty it completly. I had also planed to move all the water but if you think that 1/2 the original water will do then that is the route I will take. (Good tip on dripping water from tank into the fishes moving container).

I will post again closer to the time and after the move to let you know how the move went.

Thanks again

Paul

when emptying would it be best to suck the substrate out first and give it a good rinsing, then catch the fish. rather than having to clean it while the fish are in bags/boxes etc etc or putting it in dirty and waiting for it to settle. add the saved water, bang in fish and drip in new dechlorinated water

paul71 wrote:

...I will post again closer to the time and after the move to let you know how the move went....

We hope you'll be posting again before that

Valerie

I used to move house fairly regularly when living in rented accommodation, so I got quite experienced at this . . .

The first thing I would say is plan ! (which you’re already doing). In the week or two leading up to the move, do as much water changing and cleaning as you can so that the tank is in the best possible condition. If possible, have some new fiter media, especially the coarser materials. These will be needed at maximum efficiency when you refill and the water gets a bit messy.
Know everything you need to make the move and make sure you have it all put away for moving day. Make sure it doesn’t get moved before you deal with the tank.

Secondly, leave the tank until last. Don’t start on it until you have already moved everything into the new house, then come back with nothing else to do but the tank. If you have anything else to move or assemble, the tank might get “de-prioritised”, especially if you have an OH with other priorities.

Make sure that where its going in the new house is clear and that there is a clear run from the front door (moving house leads to a lot of clutter in the hall and everywhere else!)

Don’t feed the fish on moving day! What I used to do was bag the fish up in bags I kept from fish shops. I floated all the bags in the tank until I had all the fish. Then I packed them into a box lined with polystyrene, filled the spaces between the bags with newspaper and also covered the top with newspaper and more polystyrene, closed it up and put them in a warm corner.

With the tank, take as much water as you can. I personally wouldn’t wash the substrate – its full of bacteria you want when you set the tank back up. Drain the tank until as empty as possible then remove the substrate.

When you put it back together in the new house, use a plate or bowl to pour the water directly into, to avoid too much turbidity. Add whatever new (treated) water you have to. These days I would be inclined to add one or both of polyfilter or a product that boosts bacteria (e.g. JBL denitrol) just to add belt and braces. Get the heater and filter back on ASAP so that you can start to float the fish to move them back in. Don’t feed the fish for a day or so.

Might be a bit of a palaver, but I never lost a fish in a move!

This is a very interesting thread to me, case I hope to move house pretty soon (better and cheaper!).

We have to drink bottled water, considering that in my area the tap water is highly chlorinated and very bad tasting.

So I started to collect 5 liters water jugs, to transport water, gravel and fish.

I have mostly small fish, i might have to find a bigger jar (or a bag) for my goldfish instead of squeezing them through the small opening

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