Please help me convince grandma not to move tank

Ok just to start off with my grandpa has a chiclid tank (africans) and the tank is in a room but my grandma for some reason wants to move the big 38 gallon tank to the living room......frustrating Isn't it and so here's the promblem he has 5 chiclids and he is going to drain there tank until there is about 20 or 30 percent water in the tank and then he is able to move it so should he keep the cichlids in a bucket for a couple of weeks (2 or 1 week) or should he use the water conditioner prime and add as much of it to the tank when he refills it and wait a week and then add the fish in...I am really in need of help because I do not feel like him getting mad at me on the phone and telling me you are not a true fish person so please all his trust is in me and all my trust is in you guys also so please please please help me if only my grandma would not have made this bad idea to move it to the living room help would be really appreciated

 

if your filters and media are cycled then you should be able to fill the tank with conditioned water, and put the fish back in within a day or two.

 

Hello!
I have to admit those fish specially the Yellow lab and the demasonI look beautiful and healthy.
Sorry, I can not help with your question...!
Good luck

 

if your filters and media are cycled then you should be able to fill the tank with conditioned water, and put the fish back in within a day or two.

Why wait a day or two just curious. Isn't it just a really big water change?


If i'm not wrong, Fill a 5 gallon bucket with "clean" tank water, (don't swirl, just siphon from the top), throw the fish in that, drain the tank entirely, do NOT try and move a tank that size with any amount of water in it, you WILL more then likely break the tank. I've heard horror stories of just the gravel being enough to blow out the bottom of a tank. Move and reset up tank, fill with treated water, throw your filters in, wait maybe an hour or so just so that things can settle, then add fish and 5 gallon pail of water.

and if I am wrong, don't listen to me

 

When we had to move our tank we saved nearly 50 percent of the water and were able to replace the fish back in 2 days after the move. I wouldn't leave any water in the tank. We also filled a bucket with tank water to house the fish. Keep the filters and medium wet with air circulation to maintain the bb. I think the 2 days is just to ensure that the drain and to setup of the tank didn't cause the tank to loose the cycle. I've heard some people do it all in one day. Just make sure if the fish ate in the bucket for 2 days they need air and heat. I would turn the heater on every hour or 2 for 20 to 30 minutes to maintain proper water temperatures.

 

When I moved house, I used my LFS to move the tank, as this is a service they offer. They caught all the fish (55g) and bagged them up, just like if you went to the shop. They then emptied the water into 20L containers, left plants etc in the tank then drove to 10k's to the place I'm in now. They then transferred the water back in, got it to temperature, hooked up filters etc, then started adding fish back in. Waited for about an hour after all this just to make sure all was good. They did top up with tap water that was conditioned, like you would with a water change.

It went all smoothly and there were no issues at all.

If you were just moving the tank from room to room in the house, it should be pretty straight forward.

What I would do is: grab a large plastic storage container - solid one, make sure it's clean (rinse with water), fill up with tank water and then transfer fish into it. If you want, place the heater in there and an air stone - depending on how long you plan to take moving it. Then put the rest of the tank water into containers. Move the tank. Pour the tank water back in, turn on filter / heater. When the temp is right, put the fish back in and just monitor for a while.

You shouldn't have any issues.

As stated above, treat it like a water change.