Moving Aquarium

[Zorba]

I am getting my first tank from my girlfriends dad, probably this week.

He is also giving us all the stuff we need, heater, filter, gravel, light etc.

Will this need cycling? since it will have been used for fish up until the day we take it, wouldnt the filter have all the bacteria and stuff that would normally be created by the cycle?

 

[_]im]

I'm kind of in the same boat as well. I am moving to an appartment about an hour and a half away in a month and I was wondering if I would need to re-cycle, or if I could manage taking the water from the tank with me and setting it up as soon as I get there?

Thanks

 

[yhbae]

Just keeping water is not enough - you will need the objects that are in the tank, and they need to stay wet.

Is it possible to keep the media (sponge?) in the filter wet with the water from the tank until the move is complete? That way, you will keep the bacteria alive during the move, and you don't need to re-cycle the tank.

 

[TorPeteO]

Depending on how long the ride is, the colony won't die entirely as long as they're not allowed to dry entirely. Most times, bacterial colonies are not present in the water as much as they are in the filter media (as yhbae said) as well as the gravel. Keep that stuff wet, or at least moist, for the move and it shouldn't need to be recycled.

Make sure to add fish slowly and keep checking your water parameters (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates) for the first few weeks, just to make sure.