What To Do When Moving House

[Marclau]

Our house is on the market and we will be renting for approx 12 months befroe we build again.

My tank has settled nicely since January but now have a new headache.

What is the best thing to do with my tropical tank as far as moving is concerned and how the hell do I move 59 Gallon tank, with 80 kilos just in gravel and approx 15 fishies??
I want to keep the fishies but how do we transport them (in buckets, empty tank, and then start again?) or is the best thing to give to someone, and wait till we move into our new place once we have sold and built again??

Any advice would be awesome.....

cheers

 

[bitteraspects]

how far are you moving?

 

[Marclau]

Sorry, and good point.........

It will be the same suburb....so renting probably 5 kms away for 12months (whilst building) and then move again into the new house (also same area).........we just purchased just under 1/2 acre and love the area but now selling our house.

Everything is local thankfully.........

 

[bitteraspects]

if you have buckets to hold both your stock and your substrate, you should be fine. you might also ask your lfs about a mild sedative for your stock, to reduce the stress of the move.

keep your filter media in a bucket of tank water. i might suggest a battery powered pump during the move, but youre not going far, so its not necessary.

 

[Marclau]

Yeah thanks.........buckets it might just have to be..........wow, even the gravel........thats a lot of buckets.........
Obviously empty the tank of water..........but not empty the water from the canister filter.........is that correct?

And then once moved........fill tank up with new fresh water and add fish once tempature begins to reach around 22 - 24 degrees.........??

 

[bitteraspects]

your gravel as well as your filter media house your beneficial bacteria. keeping this bacteria alive id key to your move. if this bacteria is killed or stunted during the move, you will basically need to re-cycle your tank before adding the fish back.

i would suggest putting the canister media into a small bucket with an airstone (batt powered air pump) to make sure it is still getting oxygen during the move. this should help retain as much of the beneficial bacteria as possible. maybe add some of the substrate as well.
if you dont have enough buckets for everything, you can just put the substrate into a garbage bag. if it drys out, the bacteria in the gravel will be killed (most likely), but as long as your filter media is ok, it shouldn't be a problem.

you will want to test your water before adding the fish. but if everythig went well, your tank should be ready to fill.

 

[shroob]

This article might be of some use to you:
Here

 

[Marclau]

Thanks people and many thanks for the link Shroob............