Forced to move my 33 gal office tank

[Captain Canuck]

So I have to move my 33 gallon tank home today from my office, and will have to do it in several steps. I am looking for any advice people may have on how to do this better than I currently plan.

CURRENT PLAN:
1. Bag fishies and place bags into room temp cooler filled with bubble wrap.
2. Drain tank, collect sand/gravel, plants and wood in bucket. Save filter media in bags of tank water.
3. Transport home, return to office for tank and stand.
4. Move tank and setup at home, fill with aged, preheated water.
5. Redecorate tank
6. Float bagged fish.
7. Release fish and enjoy.

Is there anything I am missing?
How long can I safely leave the bagged fish in the cooler?

Thanks for your input.

 

[karrihug]

make sure your ph is the same at home as at the office. it might not hurt to bring a couple of buckets of tank water home with you. don't know about how long it is safe to keep in the cooler in bags, is there anyway you could transport the tank, stand and the rest of the stuff at the same time? sorry i can't be more help.

 

[Captain Canuck]

pH wont' be a problem as I have looked into that.

Unfortunately, I have to make at least two trips just due to the size of my vehicle. Everything could be done in one trip if it wasn't for the stand. I expect the fish will only be in bags for no more than two hours. Is that a safe period of time?

 

[NickT]

dont feed them for 24 hours. that shold help keep the amonia down while there in the bag.

 

[karrihug]

in my opinion two hours should be fine, if you think it may be a little longer maybe call the lfs adn see if they have the oxagen tabs you can add to bags

 

[Captain Canuck]

Thanks djdotnet, I actually haven't fed them in about 36 hours. Yesterday was a statutory holiday here, so they weren't fed. If you hadn't mentioned that I might have fed the little beggars today.

 

[aberdeen aquarist]

2 hours will be fine for them in a bag, just make sure you put more air than water in the bags. and make sure you don't put too many fish in one bag.

 

[Captain Canuck]

I got everything moved and the tank is set back up. I am now floating the bagged fish, and will slowly mix tank water into their bags.

Unfortunately I do have one bit of bad news, my best looking German Blue Ram did not make it. My three other females and one male are okay so far and I hope they make the trip safely. Rams are so pretty but so sensitive too.

 

[Dwarfs]

Sorry to hear the ram didn't make it, it's good that the rest did though

 

[karrihug]

glad things went well, sorry about your ram. i have never succeeded in keeping one of them alive for more than a week. hope your others are ok, and little one.