advice please, moving 550lt tank

[Barnsey]

Hi all, I have to move my 550lt fresh tropical tank in a couple of weeks. Any tips appreciated, especially on how to keep the bacteria in the canister filters alive, can the fish/water go in any type of plastic container or does the container have to be food quality.

plan at the moment is to transfer fish into 60lt tank(s) with the water from main tank, move main tank, fill, using some of the original water, let it settle for a couple of days then start adding the fish back in over the next week or two??

Any thoughts much appreciated.

[Caryl]

I gather this tank is not being moved far? ie within the region.

If this is a move across town then there is no need to take several weeks to put the fish back.

I like to save at least half of the original water. This has nothing to do with any bacteria in the water (very little) but stability of pH etc.

If you use food safe containers you know they are good to fish, some plastics may not be. You can get big food/fish bins easily for a reasonable amount. I find chilly bins good. I have also transported a large number of cichlids from ChCh to Blenheim loose in a polystyrene box (they were in the box about 5 hours) with no plastic bags at all.

I have cycled a filter in Blenheim then taken it to ChCh and hooked it straight up to the new tank, added all the fish immediately, and all was good. Although some bacteria will die, as long as the filter media remains wet inside the canister (don't empty the water out of it), plenty will survive for several hours.

Empty the main tank, move it, fill it again with as much original water as you could reasonably manage, hook up the filter again, top up the tank, make sure the temperature is about right, turn the filter back on, put the fish back in. It will be the equivalent of a large water change.

[smidey]

If recommend using those large black containers, about 80L and 3/4 full with tank water and addthe fish for transport. As long as the container moves regularly the water will remain oxygenated and as long as the stocking isn't to high they do well in transit.

Once you get there add heaters and air pumps and they be good for as long as you like. Once you've got the tank set up add the water and fish, full the tank with new water like a water change and they should be fine. Ideally use large chilly bins but that may not be possible.

[alexyay]

We used polyboxes - I wasn't actually there but I think what happened was we completely drained the tank, removed gravel etc, and had fish in polyboxes (either in bags or straight in the box). Just leave the canister full with the taps off and the bacteria should be OK for a day. Maybe do a WC a day or two afterwards in case of any dead bacteria etc. It's best to remove any decor and plants first before catching fish, otherwise it's mayhem.

It's best to add the fish as soon as possible, otherwise you have to transfer filter media to holding tanks, let holding tanks heat up etc. It's a lot of stress within one day but in the end I preferred doing the switch as quick as possible. Some fish can get really stressed being moved into transport bags, then into a holding tank, then into the main tank again. The general suggestion is to not bother with transferring water, as it holds little bacteria. Just acclimatize fish slowly, but it's pretty much like treating them how you would if you took them home from the store.

[KrazyGeoff]

Hi,

All the information provided so far is good, but there are some other considerations.

How many people are helping you?

A 80ltr container that is 3/4 full will weigh at least 60kg. Can you lift this?

I found that I could only safely manage 13 - 20kg of water, on my own, per box, all box's were less that 1/2 full.

How far are you moving?

This goes to what I call "time in box"

Let's say you are moving 10 km.

If it takes you 1 hour to catch the fish, and 2 hours to break down the tank, and 2 hours to transport to the new destination, and 2 hours to set up the tank, then you are 7 hours "in box". Do you want to keep that water?

Also you have 5 hours "in box" plus transit time, so even if you are transiting for 10 minutes, or 10 hours, you will need to factor this minimum time.

When I moved it took 7 hours to catch the fish alone......

Do you want to aqua scape the tank?

It is quite dissapointing to have to rush this process, so factor the time in.

How many fish do you have? How big are they?

You may need to consider the biomass of the contents of each box.

I used a number of poly box's that were approx 490x400x380

I also had a supply of HOB filters.

This enabled me to turn the transport box's into temporary tanks at the destination, and with the HOB filters I was able to use the media from the original filters.

This buys the time to set up the new aqua scape and keeps the media alive.

Alternately I could have bagged the media, in media bags, and put an air stone in the middle, sort of like a sponge filter with media rather than sponge. (Keeping the media wet at all times as per the previous post)

This then enables all fish to go into the new set up immediatly the new set up comes up to temperature.

Good luck.

[Barnsey]

Thanks everyone, to answer some of the questions, we are moving approx. 10km. I am going to have to empty the tank the day before moving as the movers are arriving at approx. 10am and I don't think I will have time to clear out tank on the day. I have approx. 15 baby to mid angels, 40 odd school fish, 6 clown loaches, 3 whiptails

the plan at this stage is to transfer the fish with water to 60lt tank (I will then leave them in this to transport, just drain off enough water to enable me to carry it as I don't want to catch them, let them go too often as I don't want to stress them any more than I have to). Get a big bin and set up the two canister filters to run in this. Get tank set up and aqua scaped at new home, fill, let temp settle approx. 24 hours then do water changes in the 60 lt tank to acclimatise fish then transfer them to the main tank again. Don't think I could transport enough of the original water to make it worth while.

Question: what plastic containers are safe to use for the filters?? im just thinking of a big bin

[KrazyGeoff]

That's a few fish for a 60 litre.

I would test out how much water you have left in the 60, by the time you are able to carry it.

IMO running a filter with no fish to pollute the water, is worse than just leaving the canister standing still, as you are flushing out the water with bacteria food in it, and replacing it with clean water.

A big canister (FX5) or something like that, would most likely not have a saturated amount of bacteria anyway with that number of fish, therefore the risk of it crashing would be greater running the canister with fish less water, than it would be dumping the media into the 60 and adding an air stone.

Payless plastics usually have the 200 litre blue drums, that would do the trick though.

Cheers

[Adrienne]

Get a big bin and set up the two canister filters to run in this.

Are you going to run them in tank water or fresh tap water? I have some 25 litre drums you can use if you want to transport water in an amount you can carry. Better not to turn them back on if its only clean tap water, even with conditioners added.

18 months ago we shifted house, only 100 metres up the driveway but I had to dismantle 20 tanks. The fish went in to bins, the filters were turned off but not emptied. All the water from the tanks went down the drain, and at the new place I filled up from the tap and turned my heaters on. Once at the correct temp I added the suggested amount of startsmart to all my tanks, turned my filters back on and put my fish in. The whole process took about 15 hours. No losses, no spikes.

[Barnsey]

thanks for all everyones input, will let you know how it goes. last time I moved a 450lt tank with no issues, no losses so fingers crossed

[David R]

That's a few fish for a 60 litre.

Yep. You can get 120L+ plastic bins from the warehouse or payless plastics pretty cheap, would be a worth-while investment with that many fish IMO.

[kinnadian]

Here are my thoughts.

If they are going to be out of the tank for say, 10 hours, you are better off leaving them in a series of bins (very low bio load per bin, ie 1 fish per 3L or so, unless they are tiny tetras/live bearers) and run without filters going at all, just heaters.

You leave the water in the filters and only turn them on once the tank is fully set up so that you don't risk partially decycling tank.

Fish are OK for 10 hours in un-filtered water, but if you are skeptical you could do a 50% water change at the 5 hour mark. In my opinion you are better off with no risks for your cycled bacteria (ie not running them for the 10 hours) than attempting to convert the VERY minor amount of ammonia that is likely to actually be produced by the fish in their temporary tanks.

Provided you don't feed the fish at all the day before, they are unlikely to produce much waste and hence not much ammonia with a big temporary tank volume.

As others have said, don't waste time "acclimating" the fish. Except for the most difficult fish, nearly all fish just need to be temperature acclimated. Just check that your pH isn't wildly different in your old and new houses and that is really the only concern. They are much better off being out of the highly stressful and cramped temporary bins and into their tank ASAP, than worrying about acclimating. The stress of being in the temporary bins far outweighs any negligible health affects from tiny inconsistencies between the two water sources.

I also don't really subscribe to the notion of saving old tank water, either, but any reduction in changes between your two situations couldn't hurt the fish.

Also I would definitely NOT put all those fish in a 60L.