Moving House - Advice Please!

[Runningpuffingbilly]

Hi, I am due to move house later this week (solicitors willing!) and have a Juwel Vision 180 set up that will need to be moved. I am moving to the other side of the village - probably about a mile and a half away.

I know that I will have to almost empty the tank of water to transfer it, but I have questions such as

Do I keep the fish in the tank during the move?

Should I remove some of the gravel from the bottom? - I'm worried that it's weight will cause a problem to the glass, the gravel is about 1.5" to 2" deep across the bottom.

What's the best way to transport the aquarium safely?

Once in it's new position, what is the recommended method for re-establishing the water level and (if necessary) re-introducing the fish.

I have moved an aquarium once, about 8 years ago, and I can remember it being a very stressful time - I didn't take any advice then but didn't lose the aquarium or fish in the process. I'm very keen to ensure that I do it properly and minimise the risks associated with this move.

Thanks for any advice!

Andy

 

[Teelie]

I've only had to move a 10 gallon a few miles but the same basic rules apply to larger tanks. What I did was drain most of the water, put most of the gravel in a seperate container or two, the fish in a seperate container then hauled it that way. Now I would probably have kept about a third to maybe half the tank water (not practical in large set ups) and moved it that way. Having the old water means less time having to treat new water mostly.

 

[PlecMama]

Somewhere, someone wrote a sticky on this, try doing a search for it, you might turn it up.

 

[SamUK]

id head down your LFS and see if you can get some bags for the fish.


when i transport fish i jus put a bing bag in a bucket and fill it with tank water.

can tie the top of the bag up then and u wont lose any water.

jus dnt hit speed bumps.



as for the tank, empty it totally of water. keeping some isnt THAT important but if you can it mite help your fish not be so stressed at the other end.

theres not actually really anything useful in the water tho so its not a great loss.

depending on how much gravel you have in there you mite need to take it out. dnt let it dry out tho cos there is some good baceria in there.

another option is to get a board to go under it whilst you carry it around. that will take the pressure off the glass.


at the new house you can jus refill the tank to the right temp which shudnt really take that long.

to speed the process up you could use a plastic bin (big outdoor type) again with a bin liner in, fill that up and chuck a heater in it if you get to the house a while before the tank. that ways theres some water already heated.

remember to keep your filter sponges wet too and you should be ok.

you could leave the lights off for the rest of the day to make the fish calmer too.


i think i jus made it sound more complicated, youll be fine.

 

[Nina]

I would empty the tank of water and rocks (and fish obviously) before you move it.

If the fish are small enough then I would bag them. If they are larger I would put them in a poly box for the transportation. Put as much water in containers as you can then it will be as near to the right temp as possible when you get to the other end. That is the only real use for taking the water with you plus it is cheaper than dechlorinating it again.

Put your filter media into a plastic bag with water to stop it drying out and therefore minimising the amount of bacteria lost.

Move your tank and then put everything back in.

 

[Runningpuffingbilly]

Thanks to you all for your advice.

I will take note of what you have suggested on the day.

Cheers

Andy

 

[furryrabbit]

also my advice is to bring the drained water in containers - that way you dont have to use new water. use a cleaned empty bin