moving a tank

[omegafish]

Hi I might be buying a 49 gallon bowfront aquarium with stand and live rock and fish.
THe tank has a grouper and 2 other saltwater fish and live rock and some sort of substrate what would be the best way to move the tank with limited space but i want fish to still be alive?

i was woundring if we drianed the tank half way put water in buckets and most of the live rock in bucket and left fish in tank with remaining water would that suffice i am only going to go 61 miles?

 

[Wolf3101]

I wouldnt try it...Move the stock along with the live rock in a rubermaid tub. You can keep about 10% of the water in the tank but I wouldn't recomend any more than that.

 

[KenyanSandBoa]

I wouldnt try it...Move the stock along with the live rock in a rubermaid tub. You can keep about 10% of the water in the tank but I wouldn't recomend any more than that.

I know a few people who have learned their lesson the hard way moving tanks that are partially drained.

What I did to save a lot of the cycled water was set up a rubbermaid bin in my truck and bucketed the water into that and then put the fish in there. That allowed me to use it as a mobile tank (filtered, heated, airated) so I could take the time to set up the new tank properly instead of rushing to "beat the clock" and risk making a stupid mistake.

 

[revkkoolaid]

I know a few people who have learned their lesson the hard way moving tanks that are partially drained.

What I did to save a lot of the cycled water was set up a rubbermaid bin in my truck and bucketed the water into that and then put the fish in there. That allowed me to use it as a mobile tank (filtered, heated, airated) so I could take the time to set up the new tank properly instead of rushing to "beat the clock" and risk making a stupid mistake.

Ditto. I like to use large ice chests. If your transporting container is heavily stocked battery powered air pumps are good for traveling. They're less than 10 bux. But yeah like kenyanSandboa said. . use it like a mobile tank. Hook some equipment in the container(ie powerhead or canister etc) when you get there so you can take your time and set the tank up properly. . . .and trust me. . inevitably during some move you will forget something or lose something or break something and you need to never be in a situation where you have to beat the clock.

 

[omegafish]

k if i have it planned out and ready how long do you think it will take to sipon water out of tank to the rubber maid i could use buckets or gravel cleaner?
so i put live rock and fish in the rubber maid?
and leave only like a couple gallons in tank
sounds goood!

 

[revkkoolaid]

k if i have it planned out and ready how long do you think it will take to sipon water out of tank to the rubber maid i could use buckets or gravel cleaner?
so i put live rock and fish in the rubber maid?
and leave only like a couple gallons in tank
sounds goood!

If well prepared if should take you about 30min to break down the tank once you start. Buckets are faster IMO for a smaller tank like that. You can always do what I've done with bigger tanks. . . both. Get the siphon going and use a pitcher to manually scoop water out while the siphon is going, make sure you just don't drop the water level below the siphon's "end" in the tank and it will keep going. Trust me it gets hard scooping out water once it gets less than 4 inches deep or so but the siphon will hold as long as you can keep it submerged.

Be careful putting A LOT of rock and fish in the same tub. Make sure no one gets squished is what I'm getting at. If you have to use 2 tubs then so be it.

Better than dead fish ya know

 

[omegafish]

thx guys i followed ur advice and left like 10 to 12 percent of water and everything went well all fish are alive tank has been set up and works well!
thx and for sure the advice about the rubbermaid helped, with taking everything out including gravel exept for like 10 percent of water the tank weighed alot it would of broke the seals so thx for advice ill post pics of my tank today!!!!!