Moving tank .....

[lis]

Hi

Just looking for a bit of advice on decorating the room that the fish tank is in. I have a 180 ltr tank and at the moment that sits along our wall in the living room. I'm looking to decorate the living room before christmas (just painting the walls etc, nothing major).

Should the tank be completely removed from the room until the paint fumes have evaporated or should it just be covered up???

Also what is the best way of moving the tank as the volume of water makes the tank pretty heavy.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks

Lis

 

[leafs]

I don't think that the fumes would pose any problems. As for moving the tank, I recently moved my 30 gallon from the top floor to the basement and it was a bit of work. I removed all the fish and put them in my smaller tank and then I emptied all but an inch of water. Then with the help of a friend we carefully moved the tank downstairs and filled it up again. You have to make sure the filter media stays wet so you don't lose the good bacteria. Unfortunatley I lost two fish, maybe due to stress I guess. I hope this helps you.

 

[Durbkat]

Actually you do have to remove the tank from the room because the paint vapors will get into any opening in the tank and will get in the water and kill the fish. How many gallons is it? A couple of years ago when I wasn't as stong as I am now me and a friend tried to move my 10g across the room but we couldn't do it so sice the fish were already out of the tank I scooped most of the water out into those really big ziplock bags, moved the tank, refilled the tank let poop settle down and returned the fish. Now with you size tank maybe you can build a cart that is about as long as the stand put some sturdy and stong wheels on it attach a rope or something and lift the tank onto the cart and wheel it out.

 

[WILDER]

Put a blanket over the tank, open a widow, you might get away with having to move it.

 

[ncjharris]

I second what Wilder has suggested.
Keep the room ventilated, cover the tank and step up your water changes during and shortly after the decoration has been finished (for as long as the room still smells of paint). Maybe add some carbon to your filter too.

This really is a suck-it-and-see senario. Keep and eye on the fish. If after 2 days of painting they are gasping at the surface and not looking too good, you know to get them the hell outta dodge!

Good Luck

 

[leafs]

I really doubt that paint vapours will affect your fish, but it can't hurt to cover the tank anyways. I can maybe see that it would be a problem if your using oil based paints, but I don't think it would be a problem with latex.

 

[lis]

Hi

Thanks to everyone who replied. I'm hoping the decorating won't take any more than a couple of days at most so I think I may just cover up the tank and keep a close eye on the fish!

Thanks again and I'll let you know how I get on.

Lis

 

[The-Wolf]

don't forget to turn off any air pumps and remove any venturi kits
as these will draw in fumes that may be in the room.

 

[rdd1952]

don't forget to turn off any air pumps

Actually, I was originally thinking just the opposite, run an airpump to put fresh air in the water but I see the problem with that. I wonder if you could run an airpump from another room where there aren't any vapors. Probably wouldn't work though unless you had a strong airpump.