Moving Secrets?

[klc]

Hi folks. We just bought a new house so that means I'm going to have to move my fish tanks in the near future. Does anyone have any helpful hints on what to do (or not do) when moving fish, filters and tanks. I've moved just about everything but fish so your thoughts will be most appreciated. The move is only a couple of kms and I finally will have a fish room.

Ken

[KnaveTO]

Congrats on the new fish room there klc!

As for moving tanks... the only thing I have heard of is in as much as possible take 25-50% of your existing water with you if possible (bare minimum 25%). Make sure all your media stays wet! You said it is only a few km but you may want to visit your lfs and ask for some fish bags and pack your fish in them and then in boxes. The darkness will help mitigate the stress on the fish. Just like you would if you were shipping them I would also recemend that you fast your fish for 24 hours before you move them as well. As for plants you may want to take this opportunity to trim what you have and when you bag them up also give the roots a trimmin just as you would if you just bought them.

Hope this little bit helps

[Zebrapl3co]

Not sure how many tanks you have, but my lesson from my last move was:
- Give myself 16 hours to do it.
- Have melafix and lots of dechlore handy.
- Make sure you have tons of bags.
- Make sure you can move it before you even begin on a tank. It really sucks when you spend 2 hours catching and baggin all the fish and find out that that tank was too heavy for you to move.
- Have lots of bubble bags or styrofoam sheets to wrap around your tank. A used blanket works well too.
- Hockey tape are really useful here.
- Have a spare tank ready. If one cracks, at least your fish don't have to live in a bag for the night. I have 3 round plastic tub at stand by and end up using 2 of them.

[klc]

Thanks for the hints. I have 5 tanks to move but have one emptied out and ready tro go. Good idea having some Rubbermaid tough totes available as spare emergency tanks. I'll make sure I have some sponge filters and an air pump ready just in case. Sounds like this is going to be a bit of a chore. Keep the other hints and suggestions coming!

[CanadaPleco]

When I recently did my big move I had to do it over 2 days :( Had to empyt out a big tank and put all the fish into one large tank at old place, move all tanks to the new place and setup. Then went back and caught all the fish and moved them in. I moved them in big styro coolers from crappy tire, they were like $5 each or somethin. I didnt even bag my fish, didnt loose one in the move either, and it was a few hours away with very different water params. Make sure your filters do not dry out at all during the move and you should be fine.