TheOneAndOnly

Hello Everyone,

I have only posted here a few times, but your wisdom has taught me many things along the way since I started my aquarium seven months ago.

I will be moving to a new apartment, approximately only 20-25 minutes from where I currently live. I've read a few guides on how to move tanks, but most seem to be from folks who had to move and keep their fish alive outside of the tank for many hours at a time. Allow me to describe my tank, and then I'll ask a few questions.

I have a 29 gallon freshwater tank. I have 1 dwarf gourami, 5 danios, 4 cory cats, 1 otto, and many snails that have recently begun doubling and tripling in numbers. My question is, how much old tank water must I save and move to avoid re-starting the nitrogen cycle? My water parameters have been pretty solid the past few months:

7.0-7.5 pH
0 ammonia
0 Nitrites
0-10 Nitrates

I have VERY soft water (literally no hardness at all), so I have some texas holey rock which seems to harden it just slightly to keep the pH from dropping, and I use Prime for water conditioning. I remove and replace approximately 10 gallons of water every 10-14 days.

With the move, since I'm not going far, my plan is to place the fish with tank water into quart or gallon size ziplocs, and keep the bags in a plastic container. (I can't imagine the water will drop in temp too drastically in 30 minutes?)

I will remove almost all of the water from the tank, but save some to put back in the tank at the new apartment. (I'm planning on using a few of these to transport the water: http://www.campmor.com/outdoor/gear/Product___80820) The question is, how much MUST I save, and how much 'new' water can I use? Would it be safe to basically do a major water change and save only 10 gallons, and use 19 fresh gallons? Or does that run the risk of creating a mini nitrogen cycle? I was planning on putting the filter media in a bag with some tank-water wet paper towels, and then just leaving the driftwood, holey rock, plants, and gravel in the tank with about an inch of water. Since the move will be so quick (special trip just for the fish tank, less than 30 minutes door to door), I can't imagine it would be necessary to completely disassemble the tank. When I get to the new apt, I will place my old water back into the tank, add freshly conditioned water around 78 degrees, and float the ziplocs for a while until the fish are acclimated.

Does anyone see any flaws in my planning? Do 10 gallons (plus whatever gets put into the ziplocs with the fish) of water hold enough healthy bacteria so that 19 fresh gallons of water won't throw the tank into a nitrogen cycle? Any other tips or advice?

Thanks so much,
Josh

Shawnie

I would go with mostly new water..move the fish as you have planned and also fill some bags with tank water for the filter media, decorations, gravel, etc...beneficial bacteria adhears to surfaces and isnt free floating to make much of a difference to saving the water..the water doesnt hold much bacteria you need for the cycle do you can discard the rest....even moving all this carefully could upset the cycle but I wouldnt imagine if at all, that it would take long to fix if it did..

fishyuser63

I'm not sure but I think as long as you declohrinate the new water you add and don't change your filter media, you should be fine. Most of the bacteria lives in your filter, substrate, and decor. I've never had to move a tank but I'm sure someone with more experience will "chime" in. Good luck!

Dozey

Hi Josh,

Although you might not be moving far, your fish will be out of the tank a bit longer then you might expect. By time you tear down the tank, relocate it and get it set back up and running your fish will spend sometime out of the tank.

As the previous posts suggest, bacteria is not free floating in your water, so conserving it isn’t all that important. Keeping your media and décor wet in tank water is important though as is maintaining the temperature for the fish.

I would suggest picking up two 10-gallon buckets. Fill one and transfer fish to it. If possible toss in an air stone. Fill the second bucket for your filter media, plants, rocks and other décor. Leave just enough water in the tank to keep the gravel covered.

Transfer everything to new location. Add the water and décor from bucket 2. As both buckets of water will be original tank water and the same temperature you won’t need acclimate the fish into the tank. So go ahead and add fish and water from bucket 1.

Top of the tank with treated tap water. Power up the filters and heaters.

I also suggest that you try to keep the tank as dark as possible for 24 hours after the move and do not feed the fish during this time.

Although there will not be a lot of weight in the tank with the gravel and water there will be enough weight to stress the seams during the move. So don’t place the tank on the back seat of a car if at all possible. Try to keep the tank on a solid flat surface when transporting it.

Good luck and hope you enjoy your new apartment.

Beeker

Dozey gave great advice. That is the best way to move the tanks.
And it is true, although the drive may be about 25 minutes, your fish will be outside the tank for at least an hour or two. Due to taking apart, moving, and putting all back together.

I moved last October. My 10 gal and 20 gal were moved in that exact way, but when it came to moving my 75 gal., we had to empty all water and take out the gravel and put it into a plastic bin with some of the water. We then moved the tank onto a piece of wood and carried it that way, so to not hurt the seams. Heavy, and a bit involved, but it worked. That tank took the longest to set up, but it has my goldfish, which are coldwater fish, so they didn't mind as much being out for an hour or 2.

dancerhas

I believe it would also be very important to test the water at your new Apt. and see if it differs greatly from your current water. This is just my opinion, but the more difference there is between the two water sources (PH, hardness, etc...) the more water you will want to save. That way you can very slowly acclimate the fish to the new water without any sudden changes. I would imagine that even 25% new water that is very different could be very stressful to your fish.

TheOneAndOnly

Thanks to the everyone for all of the advice! I will try to swing by the new place to test the water. I think it should be very similar as I'm moving from one part of NYC to another, and the water source is the same place. However, I know there can always be variables.

Strangely enough I've been having trouble locating 10 gallon buckets. I think I'll have to make do with two 5 gallon buckets. (The local Petco sells them in their aquarium section.) I've checked hardware stores, Home Depot, etc, and no one seems to carry 10 gallon buckets with or without lids! That's NYC for you, I guess.

I'll let you know how it turns out, and if anyone else has more advice, I'm all ears.

Thanks again!

TheOneAndOnly

I just wanted to give a quick update. The move was successful! The tank didn't fall into a new nitro cycle, and all of the fish survived! I ended up only keeping about 9 gallons of water. (5 in a bucket w/ plants, 2 in a bucket with fish, and 2 in the bottom of the tank with gravel). The move did take a bit longer than I anticipated from beginning to end, but I was relieved that the water only dropped down to about 74 degrees even after a full hour. This was impressive to me because it was a very cold NYC night that I did this.

Anyhow, thanks for the help everyone!

Dozey

Glad to hear that everything went well for you. How do the fish like the new apartment?

agabr123

congratulations!

Mike19

times 2 , thats good to hear