Help - how do you move your tanks

We will be moving in the near future, and I would like to get some ideas from the people that have done it recently, on how they did it. Currently we are staying on a farm and rely on a borehole for our water, so there was no problem with chlorine or any other chemicals for that matter. The place that we are moving to, has water supplied by the municipality, so some form of dechlorinator will have to be used, and the municipal water will have totally different parameters than the water the fish have been living in. Obviously there won’t be time to cycle the tank, as the fish will go straight back into it when it is set up again, and that would be the same day as the move (I hope). I was thinking that it would be best to move the fish in a dark container to try and minimize the amount of stress on them, but how do I give them chance to acclimatize to the new water conditions. I will try and get a sample of the municipal water to test it and see just how much it differs from the water that I am using currently. The other option would be to take as much of the tank water with when we move to try and minimize the amount of “new†water that I have to add to the tank. Any ideas will be welcome.

 

Get a drum setup at the new place and heat the water + add an airstone. put all of your filter media in a bucket with a battery operated airstone during the move - this should keep most of the media alive...

 

Is there any chance of getting a large container of water from the new place about a week or so before you move? That way you can do a water change and add the 'new' water to your tank, then do another one and add more of the 'new' water - fish will then acclimatize to the new water. +1 for Henks plan as well.

 

Ja the best way of reintroducing fish to new water is to take the old water with and add some new water to the old water so they can get use to it and try to safe some old media filter so you can get some bacteria (good) into the new tank that should help

:top:

 

Thats How I was taught.

Take as much of the old water along as possible.

Then your water changes do the gradual change to the new water.
So silly 80% or the such.
Rather do more frequent smaller changes over a month or so..

 

Ja one should gradually add new water

 

Gradually doesn't have to be over a month period - a few days is fine. But definately try and get some of the 'new' water before the time and take along as much of the water in their tank at the time of the move as possible.

 

just as a thought , have you tested the new waters PH to find out if your fish will be fine in it?

 

Have not tested the pH of the new water, but will as soon as I get a sample.

 

Good luck. This one can be quite an exercise. How big is the tank you need to move?

 

What area are you moving to?

 

I have recently moved all my tanks to my new flat, what I did was draind as much water in to a big container to transport the fish in every tank had its own +/-100lt drum
when I got to the new flat I I setup my tanks in the right places and emptied the container into the tanks and added tap water slowly till the tanks were full over 2 or 3 hours but at the same time I had my filters running as well and I added water conditioner to the tap water... I have lost no fish yet... touch wood

 

The other option is of course just buying another tank.

Set it up at the new place a week in advance, maybe even two if you can, transfer some of your current filter media across so that it start cycling the new tank and so on.

Transfer fish, move old tank and ta da!

 

How do I move my tanks....hmm...with my hands?:eviltongue: :stupid:

 

The tanks that I will be moving totals about 650 liter. Worse case scenario, I will have to move them twice. First to the rented house, and then to the new house once it has been built. But they will be going into a fish room as there final resting place, which is a good thing. And hopefully there they will multiply. Thanks for all the advice, it has surely given me a few more ideas on how to tackle the move. :idea:

 

Good luck with the move.... Hope you get it right with out loosing any fish.

 

Strongs hope everything goes well