MagpieTear

Someone is selling a 120 gallon tank with fish and I inquired about it out of curiosity. Provided I like the answers they give me, I have questions.

1. They're 90 minutes to 2 hours away. Considering it's snowing here, the temps outside are not the best for bring fish home. Any ideas for transporting them other then in a styrofoam cooler to keep the water warm enough?
2. The nitrifying bacteria in the gravel, if the tank is drained for transport, but the gravel left in place, will it die off from the three or four hours of transport and relocation, forcing me to cycle from scratch? Or will some of it survive, giving me a headstart on setting it up?
3. While the new tank is being set-up, if needed to cycle, how stressed will my current and the new fish be from co-habitating my current 55? If forced to cycle from scratch, we're talking a bunch of fish in a tank for up to a month... I do have a second, small HOB I could add on the 55 to help out with the additional bioload.

Any thoughts and opinions would be welcomed.

Chief_waterchanger

Does the vehicle you drive have a heater? If so it may be slightly uncomfortable but wrap the styro in a thick blanket and blast the heat for a while, keeping the inside at the top temperature you care to deal with, it would be fine.

If you leave water in the tank the bacteria would be fine, but only just enough water to barely cover the bottom of the tank is fine, it will splash around in travel, keeping the gravel moist. I would not suggest leaving the gravel in the tank during travel, it will almost DEFINATELY scratch the glass (assuming the tank is glass) in the area the substrate is at, and if you were to shift or hit a large dip, bump, pot hole, etc it may shift enough to break the glass. Putting the gravel in buckets with just a little water would be fine, if you chose to do that.

You wouldn't have to re-cycle the tank, even if the bacteria died off, which I don't think it would, you could replace the filter media in your 55g tank and put that filter media in the new tank. The tank would be cycled rather quickly, and the fish could more than likely do just fine in that situation.

Best of luck on the 120!

MagpieTear

Sweet news! Thanks! I'd have to quickly build a stand, as the tank doesn't come with one, but just about everything else, for a steal of a price. Waiting to hear back from the seller, who is selling off a bunch of complete setups, apparently because of work obligations interfering with his MTS.

zigmeister

Wondering what kind of vehicle you have that would fit a 120gal tank in it along with all the other stuff... lol I drive a shoebox (it gets really good gas mileage) and had to borrow my son's SUV to bring home the 58 gal tank.

MagpieTear

Dakota Pickup. I use it to haul 2 motorcycles from Pittsburgh to Knoxville once a year and lots of hardwood lumber regularly. Also hauls me to work if it's too cold to commute on the bike.

Chief_waterchanger

Glad the situation may work out for you! (Gotta love other people's mild misfortunes such as work interfering with his fishkeeping.. works out for the best for you. )

capekate

Hey that sounds like a great deal, and what CWC said, you can easily move everything and still have the good bacteria in the tank when you set up.
Im wondering what kind of fish you are getting with the tank?
NICE!!

~ kate

MagpieTear

All I really know about the tanks current inhabitants are it is a South American tank. That could mean darn near anything. This was the one they had for sale that didn't have any pics in the ad... Waiting for a phone call or an email to see if it's still available and who's in it. Don't want to appear too eager at this point, may hurt the "negotiations"

COBettaCouple

when we had to move the fish from FL to CO, we found a soft-cooler box in the sporting goods dept at wally-world. it worked great since it was all soft-sides and real good insulation. you could bag the fish and store them in something like that. (Maybe more than 1 if it's going to be a lot of fish.) Maybe you could set them on the floor of the cabin if that's where the heat would be the best.

For the gravel, you could do like CWC recommended with the sterilite containers at walmart. i think it's about $4 for a 15qt one that has a folding lid.

MagpieTear

Well I got an email from them overnight. not what I wanted to hear. Several small Oscars and a Jack Dempsey in the tank. I prefer the cute little shoaling tetras over big aggressive fish. I may buy the setup anyways and see if Elmer's will take the fish for credit on future purchases, the tank, hood, filters and other associated stuff is well worth their asking price. Now if SWMBO will sign off on the expenditure, all is good.

Dino

Good luck!!!