Moving My 55g...

I'm moving out of my place in less than a week and I've been looking up how to move fish tanks with fish. I already know to remove the fish and plants and put them in a separate unit - whether its buckets or bags. And I know I'll have to drain my tank completely, and maybe keep my filter in water so the bacteria in it doesn't die(?)

The reason I'm posting this is because of my substrate - I didn't do just one kind of it. I did a 3 layer thing and if I go to remove my substrate like I've read, its going to be terrible and I'll never have it the same again.

I have soil on the very bottom - it was the first layer I put in when I was setting it up. (Not the thickest layer either, and soil isn't that heavy).Then I put a layer of argonite sand on top of that. Thick enough that the dirt wasn't visible from above (30 pounds worth). Then I put pea gravel and some stones above that (no idea how many pounds).

If I don't remove all the substrate I know I'll have water weight along with all the pounds of substrate on the tank making everything more difficult and risky. Maybe if I take out the top layer of pea gravel and leave the sand and soil, it might be light enough to still carry without breaking the tank or our backs. But that's the question and my debate.

 

As long as your not doing any stairs you may be able to strap it to a piece of plywood and maybe use ratchet straps as handles and slide the entire set up into the bed of a truck or back of an SUV ... be sure to have a few strong people to help

 

As long as your not doing any stairs you may be able to strap it to a piece of plywood and maybe use ratchet straps as handles and slide the entire set up into the bed of a truck or back of an SUV ... be sure to have a few strong people to help

No stairs and honestly I'm taking it a short distance technically anyway

 

No stairs and honestly I'm taking it a short distance technically anyway

It’s definitely doable you just need it drained as far down as absolutely possible. I moved my 29 granted it’s lighter from outside to into my house with 2 people but was still pretty heavy with the 1.5-2” of water along with organic soil capped with PFS. Also be sure your stand is set up for it when u arrive to avoid any extra placing it down and moving it around or flexing. That’s why I suggested strapping it to plywood.

 

From past experience, I would suggest to maybe put some kind of garbage bag or something on top of the substrate and weight that down with something safe.

I say because I used to have dirt topped with sand and then gravel on top on my tanks. When I moved to my new house it was only like a 10 minute drive , and the substrate did not stay how it was before. It kinda got mixed and I had to take it apart. When I filled it with water it just was a mess and it was easier to start over. Totally crashed all my tanks.

 

Hey guys, here's an update! I did what y'all said and took as much water out as possible and left the substrate in and it was fine with two strong men! haha. My substrate didn't move much at all! I did mess up once when I was refilling. I was using a plate to break the water so it wouldn't mess up my substrate and I accidentally let the hose wander off the plate for a second and it immediately lifted soil into the water (oops). It wasn't totally catastrophic though. I netted the floating pieces of soil and it cleared up after less than a day. I had a nitrite spike in it (potentially from the soil?) But with prime I didn't worry much.

I didn't lose much life either. I have a community tank of tetras and female bettas. I lost one betta, named Bendy but she was having issues prior to the move and it just wasn't in her favor (RIP Bendy). I also seemed to have lost my one green cory, I just haven't seen the little dude since I put everyone in my tank after. So he could be hiding but RIP my lil green boi. I also lost an otocinclus (I had two but literally couldnt find the second one when I was removing my fish prior to moving the tank so early RIP to him). So 3 out of quite a few fishies I found to be not bad.

Thank you again for the tips and confidence in knowing I didn't have to remove my substrate