rabbut
I don't bite, all that often...
Moving an existing tank and/or upgrading to a new tank
Questions about how to move or upgrade a tank come up quite frequently, so I thought it would be a good idea to write a little post on how to do it… I will cover both in this, as the methods for doing each are almost identical. This is just how I do mine when needed, and there are many variations on how to do it
You cannot move a tank with anything in it, as it risks cracking the base and/or side panes. Though all Aquariums are made to hold a large amount of weight (almost always in excess of 100KG) they are designed to hold it stationary, and not move once set-up. This is why an existing tank needs to be completely stripped before you attempt to move it anywhere.
Before you start
The water in the tank holds nothing that you need to keep. All filter bacteria are in the filter, and can be moved with that. Where possible, discard the old tank water down the drain. Before you tip it away however, just ask yourself if you can heat all the water you will need for the setting-up of the newly positioned tank inside a couple of hours… If you cannot heat enough water in the time available, you will have to store the old tank water to make it less of a chore and stop it from being as time consuming when you get to filling the tank up you will also need to store some water when you move houses.
If you are moving house, you will need to keep at least 50% of the water to avoid issues with acclimation at the other end. I generally would scrap the water if you were not moving house, if it is possible, but house moves require the old water, such that the fish don't have to quickly change from soft acidic water to hard alkaline stuff, or visa versa
You can store fish in one of two ways;
1) Try to get two bags for each species of fish you are moving, and one polystyrene fish box for every 16 bags you get. (8 bags fit a box, and you will be double bagging) It will be easier to acclimate the fish into the new set-up if they are bagged, but you will likely be working at the setting-up part for a couple of hours unless it is a very small tank. For this reason, you need to bag the fish and store them for a couple of hours. A box will keep the heat in better than a bucket IME, though a larger container could be used with filters and a heater attached... A cooler could also work instead of a box... Aim for medium-large fish to be bagged separately and smaller fish like Neon’s to be bagged in 10-20’s. This will ensure they have enough air to last for the time they are being stored for. Fish with sharp fins should be placed into plastic or glass containers, as they will pierce a bag. Large fish can be placed into a box on their own if you cannot get bags large enough…
2) Use a large container of at least 20l to store the fish. If the container is significantly smaller than the tank, you will want a smaller heater to avoid temperature fluctuations within the container due to the heater being overpowered. For tanks over the 30g range, two containers may be preferable...
Moving the tank will take a few hours, so it is best to do it when you have the whole day spare Make sure you read all bolded sections before following the section you are reading, and there is an important (IMO at least) point being made in those bolded words… Finally, make sure you have enough man or woman power to lift the various bits and pieces. A tank weighs more than it looks to if you can’t remember when you first set it up… My 4ft’er took 4 of us to get into position…
When you know you have to move the tank, make sure you start doing some thorough gravel cleans and water changes a couple of weeks in advance. One week before the move is a good point to clean out your filters as appropriate. Some members associate stirring up a lot of rubbish with mini-cycles after a move, so if you get rid of this rubbish, you reduce the chances of a mini-cycle occurring.
Turn the heater off 1/2 an hour in advance, as a hot heater will crack if suddenly exposed to air while draining. This gives it ample time to cool off. Turn off the rest of the equipment before you go into the tank as is recommended to every time you place your hands into a tank
Preparing to move the existing tank
Because a tank cannot be moved full, you must first empty it (well, it goes without saying really )
Before attempting to round up the fish, take out all easily removed ornaments, like live plants, rockwork, wood and any plastic objects. This will make catching fish a lot easier, as suddenly they won’t have anywhere to hide
With shoaling fish like Tetras though, you might find it useful to leave one fairly square rock in the centre, such that you can “herd” the shoaling fish into a net more easily. Next up, drain the tank down to about 2/3 full, again to make catching fish easier... For faster fish that do not herd easily, remove all decor and use two nets. Use a scissor type action to force the fish into one net or another. This method will take some practice to acquire You can also herd fish into a large net, using a smaller one
Once that prep work is done, do one of the following, according to how you plan to store your fish while you work;
1) Catch the fish and bag by species. They may well get along fine in your community, but when under stress in a bag, they may become more aggressive than usual. Bagging by species gives all the fish a fair chance and avoids them coming out of the storage container with half the bags occupants shredded You want no more than 1/3 of the bags' contents to be water, and really, the less water the better, as it is the air the fish need Stand the bag, untied, in the box you are using to store them. Hold the bag’s neck open and grab where it is level with the box top. Twist and tie the bag where it no longer holds air, and then slip a second bag over; you don’t want any leaks in storage
2) Catch the fish and transfer to the large container with their living decor added also. Larger containers over 20L can have a small heater of 25W added and their filter can also be ran in here if you require... For the avoidance of doubt, a container is pretty much anything that is water-tight and can be used for holding water. Ideally you want to have a container of 30l for a larger tank, or more... Heat to one watt per gallon, and no more than two watts per gallon, or the temperature will "bounce" stressing the fish. Larger tanks may require you to double up on containers and heaters, and you may choose to periodically switch the filter between the containers if you are running it during your transfer.
Next remove the media from the filter and bag it like the fish, with just enough water to cover it and the rest air This will keep your bacteria alive and wet while you finish off the move/transfer. If you are using a large container, you could alternatively run the filter in that with the fish/old tank water For short transfers with large (for the tank it's running) external filters, you can get away with not removing and bagging the media If you leave the external as-is though, it will only go for a couple of hours safely, without having it's water within changed, unless it is kept unusually clean, or you are "over filtered" by a long way on the tank you are running. Filter bacteria will consume as much oxygen as the fish that they support, so a small external, or one that just the right size for the tank and runs alone, will end up suffocating the bacteria if it is left switched off for a prolonged period of time. Likewise with fish, in smaller set-up's where the move will be quick, you can just move them into a bucket with live plants and their filter added. This will cool quite quickly though, so a judgement call is required Never add a heater to a bucket with livestock in, unless the container is large, and the heater appropriately sized as it will make the temperature bounce around all over the place, due to the small water volume, and put the fish under un-necessarily increased amounts of stress 
Finish draining the tank and remove all equipment that remains, along with the substrate to a bucket. If the substrate is to be used in the new location or set-up, give it a really good wash under the tap as if it were new substrate being prepared for it's first use. If the tank is being moved and not upgraded, give the inside a really good clean with a sponge and water while you have the chance. If you are upgrading, you want to rinse out the tank now to remove any dirt that may be in it.
Do not rinse the gravel under the tap if you are using an Under Gravel Filter in your tank! This would kill your filter bacteria and force you into a fish-in cycle
Setting-up again….
Now that the tank is empty and clean, position the stand in it’s new location and check it is level. If the tank is floating based (has a plastic support frame around the bottom, raising the base off the stand a little way), place it strait onto the levelled stand. For all other tanks, place your new polystyrene sheets on the top of the stand, and make sure if you are using more than one, that they rest against each-other snugly I would not trim them to size yet, as it’s easier to do it later after some weight is on-top of them. Next up, place and centre your tank, ensuring that the polystyrene sheets are all still touching each other.
Next add the substrate and solid decoration (where applicable) to the tank. If you are using a UGF, you will need to fit the plate before adding the substrate, along with the riser tubes Set-up your ‘scape as you like and then half fill the tank with water. If you are using old tank water for all or part of the re-fill, it should be added here. After partially filling, add your plants, as it usually makes it a little easier to work with them Position your heater(s) and place as much of the filter as is practically possible back into the tank (for an external, this would be the pipe-sets. UGF filters will already be assembled and internals won’t be able to be positioned until the media is out of storage…). At this point, I’d use a sharp knife to trim the supporting polystyrene under the base, where applicable.
If you are using new water, de-chlorinate before you add any livestock or filter media back into the tank. In a UGF system, the gravel is the filter media, so all water must be de-chlorinated before adding to the tank
Now, follow below, depending upon how your fish are stored.
1) Open up the boxes with your filter media and fish in. Place the media into the filter and start it up, along with the heater. Make sure the heater is fully submerged before you start it, likewise with any internal pumps… Leave the lights off. Float the bags with the fish in, in the tank. Fill the remaining space with water to the maximum point (de-chlorinate the water if you are using fresh water at any point beyond adding the filter media and/or fish). Once full, commence your usual acclimation technique.
2) Half empty your container, and then start a siphon with some air-line from the tank into the container. When the container is full, net the fish back into the tank.
After the move and/or set-up
Now that you have successfully moved or upgraded your tank, you need to keep the lights off and not feed for the rest of the day. Every day for the next week, check a sample of water for ammonia and nitrite to ensure you have not entered a mini-cycle. If this is the case, you will have to proceed with a standard fish-in cycle regime. It is very unlikely that you will get a mini-cycle if you keep the media wet at all times, and if one does occur, it should be way shorter than a normal new tank’s fish-in cycle, as all the media is mature Feed sparingly for a few days after also.
For more information on fish-in cycling (or for a refresher just in case), please see the articles below;
Miss Wiggle’s Article on fish-in cycling…
My Article on fish-in cycling…
It would be a good idea to read both, as each of us miss a few small details…
Miss Wiggle's thread is the more common working article though
With thanks to;
Miss Wiggle, for points about catching fish, turning off equipment and storing livestock and filters, as well as pre-move cleaning.
RDD1952 for points about storage of fish in containers other than bags and storing water while moving house
Related threads
Miss Wiggles "setting up a tank" thread for a reminder of how to set-up a new tank. Some can be transferred to here.
Any comments and/or suggested improvements are welcomed
HTH
Rabbut
Questions about how to move or upgrade a tank come up quite frequently, so I thought it would be a good idea to write a little post on how to do it… I will cover both in this, as the methods for doing each are almost identical. This is just how I do mine when needed, and there are many variations on how to do it
You cannot move a tank with anything in it, as it risks cracking the base and/or side panes. Though all Aquariums are made to hold a large amount of weight (almost always in excess of 100KG) they are designed to hold it stationary, and not move once set-up. This is why an existing tank needs to be completely stripped before you attempt to move it anywhere.
Before you start
The water in the tank holds nothing that you need to keep. All filter bacteria are in the filter, and can be moved with that. Where possible, discard the old tank water down the drain. Before you tip it away however, just ask yourself if you can heat all the water you will need for the setting-up of the newly positioned tank inside a couple of hours… If you cannot heat enough water in the time available, you will have to store the old tank water to make it less of a chore and stop it from being as time consuming when you get to filling the tank up
you will also need to store some water when you move houses.If you are moving house, you will need to keep at least 50% of the water to avoid issues with acclimation at the other end. I generally would scrap the water if you were not moving house, if it is possible, but house moves require the old water, such that the fish don't have to quickly change from soft acidic water to hard alkaline stuff, or visa versa
You can store fish in one of two ways;
1) Try to get two bags for each species of fish you are moving, and one polystyrene fish box for every 16 bags you get. (8 bags fit a box, and you will be double bagging) It will be easier to acclimate the fish into the new set-up if they are bagged, but you will likely be working at the setting-up part for a couple of hours unless it is a very small tank. For this reason, you need to bag the fish and store them for a couple of hours. A box will keep the heat in better than a bucket IME, though a larger container could be used with filters and a heater attached... A cooler could also work instead of a box... Aim for medium-large fish to be bagged separately and smaller fish like Neon’s to be bagged in 10-20’s. This will ensure they have enough air to last for the time they are being stored for. Fish with sharp fins should be placed into plastic or glass containers, as they will pierce a bag. Large fish can be placed into a box on their own if you cannot get bags large enough…
2) Use a large container of at least 20l to store the fish. If the container is significantly smaller than the tank, you will want a smaller heater to avoid temperature fluctuations within the container due to the heater being overpowered. For tanks over the 30g range, two containers may be preferable...
Moving the tank will take a few hours, so it is best to do it when you have the whole day spare
Make sure you read all bolded sections before following the section you are reading, and there is an important (IMO at least) point being made in those bolded words… Finally, make sure you have enough man or woman power to lift the various bits and pieces. A tank weighs more than it looks to if you can’t remember when you first set it up… My 4ft’er took 4 of us to get into position… When you know you have to move the tank, make sure you start doing some thorough gravel cleans and water changes a couple of weeks in advance. One week before the move is a good point to clean out your filters as appropriate. Some members associate stirring up a lot of rubbish with mini-cycles after a move, so if you get rid of this rubbish, you reduce the chances of a mini-cycle occurring.
Turn the heater off 1/2 an hour in advance, as a hot heater will crack if suddenly exposed to air while draining. This gives it ample time to cool off. Turn off the rest of the equipment before you go into the tank as is recommended to every time you place your hands into a tank
Preparing to move the existing tank
Because a tank cannot be moved full, you must first empty it (well, it goes without saying really
)Before attempting to round up the fish, take out all easily removed ornaments, like live plants, rockwork, wood and any plastic objects. This will make catching fish a lot easier, as suddenly they won’t have anywhere to hide
With shoaling fish like Tetras though, you might find it useful to leave one fairly square rock in the centre, such that you can “herd” the shoaling fish into a net more easily. Next up, drain the tank down to about 2/3 full, again to make catching fish easier... For faster fish that do not herd easily, remove all decor and use two nets. Use a scissor type action to force the fish into one net or another. This method will take some practice to acquire You can also herd fish into a large net, using a smaller one Once that prep work is done, do one of the following, according to how you plan to store your fish while you work;
1) Catch the fish and bag by species. They may well get along fine in your community, but when under stress in a bag, they may become more aggressive than usual. Bagging by species gives all the fish a fair chance and avoids them coming out of the storage container with half the bags occupants shredded
You want no more than 1/3 of the bags' contents to be water, and really, the less water the better, as it is the air the fish need Stand the bag, untied, in the box you are using to store them. Hold the bag’s neck open and grab where it is level with the box top. Twist and tie the bag where it no longer holds air, and then slip a second bag over; you don’t want any leaks in storage 2) Catch the fish and transfer to the large container with their living decor added also. Larger containers over 20L can have a small heater of 25W added and their filter can also be ran in here if you require... For the avoidance of doubt, a container is pretty much anything that is water-tight and can be used for holding water. Ideally you want to have a container of 30l for a larger tank, or more... Heat to one watt per gallon, and no more than two watts per gallon, or the temperature will "bounce" stressing the fish. Larger tanks may require you to double up on containers and heaters, and you may choose to periodically switch the filter between the containers if you are running it during your transfer.
Next remove the media from the filter and bag it like the fish, with just enough water to cover it and the rest air
This will keep your bacteria alive and wet while you finish off the move/transfer. If you are using a large container, you could alternatively run the filter in that with the fish/old tank water For short transfers with large (for the tank it's running) external filters, you can get away with not removing and bagging the media If you leave the external as-is though, it will only go for a couple of hours safely, without having it's water within changed, unless it is kept unusually clean, or you are "over filtered" by a long way on the tank you are running. Filter bacteria will consume as much oxygen as the fish that they support, so a small external, or one that just the right size for the tank and runs alone, will end up suffocating the bacteria if it is left switched off for a prolonged period of time. Likewise with fish, in smaller set-up's where the move will be quick, you can just move them into a bucket with live plants and their filter added. This will cool quite quickly though, so a judgement call is required Never add a heater to a bucket with livestock in, unless the container is large, and the heater appropriately sized as it will make the temperature bounce around all over the place, due to the small water volume, and put the fish under un-necessarily increased amounts of stress Finish draining the tank and remove all equipment that remains, along with the substrate to a bucket. If the substrate is to be used in the new location or set-up, give it a really good wash under the tap as if it were new substrate being prepared for it's first use. If the tank is being moved and not upgraded, give the inside a really good clean with a sponge and water while you have the chance. If you are upgrading, you want to rinse out the tank now to remove any dirt that may be in it.
Do not rinse the gravel under the tap if you are using an Under Gravel Filter in your tank! This would kill your filter bacteria and force you into a fish-in cycle
Setting-up again….
Now that the tank is empty and clean, position the stand in it’s new location and check it is level. If the tank is floating based (has a plastic support frame around the bottom, raising the base off the stand a little way), place it strait onto the levelled stand. For all other tanks, place your new polystyrene sheets on the top of the stand, and make sure if you are using more than one, that they rest against each-other snugly
I would not trim them to size yet, as it’s easier to do it later after some weight is on-top of them. Next up, place and centre your tank, ensuring that the polystyrene sheets are all still touching each other.Next add the substrate and solid decoration (where applicable) to the tank. If you are using a UGF, you will need to fit the plate before adding the substrate, along with the riser tubes Set-up your ‘scape as you like and then half fill the tank with water. If you are using old tank water for all or part of the re-fill, it should be added here. After partially filling, add your plants, as it usually makes it a little easier to work with them
Position your heater(s) and place as much of the filter as is practically possible back into the tank (for an external, this would be the pipe-sets. UGF filters will already be assembled and internals won’t be able to be positioned until the media is out of storage…). At this point, I’d use a sharp knife to trim the supporting polystyrene under the base, where applicable.If you are using new water, de-chlorinate before you add any livestock or filter media back into the tank. In a UGF system, the gravel is the filter media, so all water must be de-chlorinated before adding to the tank
Now, follow below, depending upon how your fish are stored.
1) Open up the boxes with your filter media and fish in. Place the media into the filter and start it up, along with the heater. Make sure the heater is fully submerged before you start it, likewise with any internal pumps… Leave the lights off. Float the bags with the fish in, in the tank. Fill the remaining space with water to the maximum point (de-chlorinate the water if you are using fresh water at any point beyond adding the filter media and/or fish). Once full, commence your usual acclimation technique.
2) Half empty your container, and then start a siphon with some air-line from the tank into the container. When the container is full, net the fish back into the tank.
After the move and/or set-up
Now that you have successfully moved or upgraded your tank, you need to keep the lights off and not feed for the rest of the day.
Every day for the next week, check a sample of water for ammonia and nitrite to ensure you have not entered a mini-cycle. If this is the case, you will have to proceed with a standard fish-in cycle regime. It is very unlikely that you will get a mini-cycle if you keep the media wet at all times, and if one does occur, it should be way shorter than a normal new tank’s fish-in cycle, as all the media is mature Feed sparingly for a few days after also.For more information on fish-in cycling (or for a refresher just in case), please see the articles below;
Miss Wiggle’s Article on fish-in cycling…
My Article on fish-in cycling…
It would be a good idea to read both, as each of us miss a few small details…
Miss Wiggle's thread is the more common working article though With thanks to;
Miss Wiggle, for points about catching fish, turning off equipment and storing livestock and filters, as well as pre-move cleaning.
RDD1952 for points about storage of fish in containers other than bags and storing water while moving house
Related threads
Miss Wiggles "setting up a tank" thread for a reminder of how to set-up a new tank. Some can be transferred to here.
Any comments and/or suggested improvements are welcomed
HTH
Rabbut
Left them on while draining before and that deffinately caurses issues 
Painful, and not always just for the wallet 
