fishheadNJ

Hi folks,

Been busy with life and not been around here in awhile

We are moving Saturday (it was fairly sudden and this is my first chance to ask this here) and am looking for advice on moving the tanks. My sig is slightly (but only just) out of date and unfortunately I don't have precise params for you...but I will give what I have.

The tanks:
5 gallon Eclipse hex housing a crowntail betta and a Viv snail
12 gallon Eclipse housing 6 rasboras and a blue mystery snail.

The water at the current location has a pH of about 7.6, and the water is hard (don't have an exact number, sorry!)

The water at the new location has a ph slighly under 7, and is soft (well water, heavy natural iron which requires the softener.

I'm basically asking for help with all of the above. My only thought regarding the ph difference is simply to to small, daily changes to slowly adapt the fish to the new ph (I don't want to fiddle with it, would rather acclimate the fish). I know I need to harden the water for the snails at the very least; suggestions there much appreciated.

Unsure how to do the actual move other than removing a lot of the water and adding it back when we get there (about a half hour away).

Help!

mr. Clown Loach

i'd say just put the water and fish in new trash bags and when you get there set up the tanks and put the fish and water in...imo

platyfish

Trash bags!! lol, i would go to your LFS and ask for some of those nice baggies where they put the fish into.

alicem

Keep the filters wet if possible.
I'm not familiar with eclipse, but if you can't keep water in the filter, put the media in a bag or something to keep it from drying out.

If you have some rocks or other decoration, put them in a separate bag to keep them moist.
You can put these items back in the tank to transport.
Do not put any hard items in with the fish.

That's a good idea to ask the lfs for a couple of bags to transport your fish.
If not, double bag a gallon freezer storage bag to transport them in.

Ask the lfs if they will give you a "bag buddies" to drop in each fish's bag.
If not, a drop or two of a declorinator that detoxifies ammonia in each bag would be helpful.
If you have any live plants, put one or two in the bag with the fish. It will give them some cover and also may absorb some ammonia.

Keep the fish warm, not hot. Do not put the fish near the heater of the car. The bag will over heat quickly.
Instead, have a cooler sitting overnight at room temp. ready for your move day.
Line the bottom with newspaper, place the bags of fish in the cooler and put a layer of newspaper on top.
Close the cooler's lid.
When you leave, put the cooler in the back seat of the car last thing and move it into your new house upon arrival first thing.
Set the cooler out of the way while you set up your tank and others are moving stuff into your new home.

Leave the lid on the cooler until the tanks are set up and you are ready to start acclimating your fish.
By leaving the lid on, the dark and quiet will help keep the fish calm, less stressed and the temperature even.
They will be OK in there for several hours.

Yes, acclimate as slowly as possible. Do not feed them and leave the lights off the tank until the next morning.
For the next week feed very lightly if at all and watch your ammonia and nitrite levels.
Your fish are probably well fed and can go several days with out food while the tank settles down.

Good luck with your move and keep in touch when you have time.
alicem

Lucy

This is from Shaina's blog..pic's and everything:
Moving tanks

fishheadNJ

Great stuff, thanks! Any ideas on how to increase the hardness of the water?

rae64

I think since you only have about 20 gallons of water to move, you can use 2 tupperware boxes for the move. I would fill each box half full of water and put the fish into one, and all your decor /plants in the other. You need to get a bag for the betta, he will not play nice. Keep all your grave/sand and media wet, and if you have a plug in the trunk of your car (some cars do, others don't) you can put a heater on the fish tupperware. This way you can keep your current water levels and such, and let your fish have a good place to travel also. If you need to, you could even just put your heater and filter on the tupperware container once you get in the house if you are busy with the rest of the move. You may can use dechlor water to fill the tupperwares if your tanks do not fill both halfway. This way you have some water you can use with the right ph and suchif you need it when you fill the tanks. I've never done this, but I think it will work.

FredBjammin

My nephew just moved 2months ago about a 4 hour drive away, he used the cooler method mentioned above by alicem. He moved 100+ fish without any deaths, but he did lose a dozen or so fish within week once he got there due to not planning out the well water issue ahead of time.

fishheadNJ

Well, yeah, that's why I'm going to bring the water with me and refill it rather than just using house water. I figure small daily changes would enable them to adjust to the new ph without too much of a shock. Going to want to increase the hardness though for the snails. I read somewhere about calcium tablets like Tums working?

alicem

Epsom salt (found in any pharmacy) will increase GH (general hardness).
I use epsom salt to increase my GH because we use a water softener too.

You can experiment using a gallon container and adding 1/2 tsp at a time.
Keep track of the amount used and how much it increases GH per gallon.

It should show a change within a few minutes after totally dissolving.
Do something like: add a measured amount of epsom salt, stir, let it sit a while, stir again and measure.
Then do the math for epsom salt addtion for each tank's volume in gallons.

As I understand it, a water softener will not remove KH (carbonate hardness) and KH (among other things)
will affect the pH.
Baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) will raise the KH and, in turn, raise pH.

Most fresh water fish keepers want near neutral pH or slightly above.
So unless your KH is really low (which can make the pH unstable) or you want a high pH for certain African cichlids,
you probably should leave KH alone.
alicem

fishheadNJ

Hmm, ok. I'm all for leaving things alone and doing small, incremental water changes to acclimate the fish to the new water. Just concerned about the snail shells.

I would move them after doing a final water change at the old place to provide the cleanest water possible, then I'd reuse that water for them at the new place. Leave the lights off and don't feed for a day to let them "chill out" before begining the small (say 1 gallon for the 12 gallon tank) water changes every other day to introduce the new water.

Does this sound like a good plan?

jdhef

It sounds like a good plan to me.

Meenu

One member puts a calcium pill (vitamin) into the canister filter every couple of weeks.

I use only softened water in my tank, so I am going to try this too. I think I'll go with just calcium vitamin tablets from the pharmacy area instead of TUMS, since tums are flavored and dyed. Also, tums are chewable, so it seems they would dissolve quickly instead of over a couple of weeks.