How do you go about moving a large fish tank with fish in it. I've never done it before and could do with some advice. I have a transit van and plenty of muscle to shift things. I need help on how to move livestock to protect it and how to keep the bacteria alive in filter. Needs to be transported 40 miles.
Moving Large Tank
- Thread starter Uriel
- Start date
you wont be able to move it with the water in, if that's what you're thinking? Tanks need a competely flat surface to properly distribute the weight evenly, otherwise they can crack when full.
Since 40 miles will be about an hour of driving, plus the time you'll need to set the tank back up and fill with water, I would advise putting the fish in fish bags and then placing these in poly-boxes (your lfs will probably sell some) to keep them relatively warm, especially at this time of year.
for your filter, if it's an external and you can close it off, then simply do that and transport it with the water still in the canister - a couple of hours without flow should not significantly lower your bacteria count. If it's an internal, I would bag it up with tank water (like the fish) so that it keeps nice and wet. You could probably get away with moving it without water, but you'll need to bag it anyway as it will still be wet.
Once at the destination, fill the tank back up with dechlored water and slowly acclimatize the fish again (always assume the water chemistry will be different, just to be on the safe side).
Since 40 miles will be about an hour of driving, plus the time you'll need to set the tank back up and fill with water, I would advise putting the fish in fish bags and then placing these in poly-boxes (your lfs will probably sell some) to keep them relatively warm, especially at this time of year.
for your filter, if it's an external and you can close it off, then simply do that and transport it with the water still in the canister - a couple of hours without flow should not significantly lower your bacteria count. If it's an internal, I would bag it up with tank water (like the fish) so that it keeps nice and wet. You could probably get away with moving it without water, but you'll need to bag it anyway as it will still be wet.
Once at the destination, fill the tank back up with dechlored water and slowly acclimatize the fish again (always assume the water chemistry will be different, just to be on the safe side).
try using the search function for 'moving house' or similar.....there should be dozens of old links with some more tips.
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