Moving houses....tips for moving my tank

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JoeBoxer

Candiru
MFK Member
Nov 9, 2012
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Canada
Just bought a house (woohoo!) so I'm trying to think of the best way to move my tank. Thankfully it's only a 35 gallon. That's all I have right now.

Thinking of saving half the water in a big tub of some kind, moving the fish in that, emptying the rest of the tank and then moving it to the new house. Obviously will keep my filter media submerged in tank water during the move.

Any tips for this? Going to move it as the last item.
 
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Congrats on your new home. If the move is not far I personally would empty aquarium place in vehicle and go.
 
Congrats on your new home. If the move is not far I personally would empty aquarium place in vehicle and go.

Thank you. Very excited but also sad to leave my first house.

Yes it's about a ten minute drive. Not far at all. I'm just concerned with how much water I need to save from my tank so that I'm not doing a 100% water change. And also wanted to make sure the fish are okay in a bucket or tub for an hour or so.
 
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Thank you. Very excited but also sad to leave my first house.

Yes it's about a ten minute drive. Not far at all. I'm just concerned with how much water I need to save from my tank so that I'm not doing a 100% water change. And also wanted to make sure the fish are okay in a bucket or tub for an hour or so.


The fish will be fine in that time frame, as for the water take what you can. :)
 
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Setup a new/bigger tank at ur new house 1st :) . Ive same day moved many times with multiple tanks aswell tho. I agree ur size tank should b a breeze. Some tips i can give is if u have gravel, wash it well before u re-setup at the new place, dont just leave it in the tank or ur askin for a mess when u refill it. Fish are fine in buckets/totes for 12hrs+ no prob with aeration. I often have fish in aerated totes even at home moving tanks across the room for 4-8hrs. Ur only lookin at 3-4 buckets of water to transport, dont sweat it.
 
Time to take opportunity to setup a bigger tank :P
It's easier to find space for bigger tank in your new house before move in everything! hehehe
 
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Why would you save tank water? Just treat is like a large Waterchange with out the fish. Treat the bucket you keep your fish in with prime along with the new water for the tank. As long as your TDS isn't something crazy you should be fine.
 
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When I did my house move earlier this year I used it as an excuse to upgrade my tank. Makes life a lot easier.. And when your dealing with £100ks what £3-4K on a new 220g set up lol... Well that's how I sold it to the misses.
 
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Hello; I did this about six years ago. The fish were among the last things moved.

I was fortunate to have empty tanks on hand. I knew the move was comming so began to break down some excess tanks. I set up a fresh tank in the new house with fresh washed gravel and cleaned or new accessories and filled nearly to the top with fresh water. (I did not use any old tank water at all)
After I got the power turned on at the new place, I got the new tank filled and with the equipment running, some live plants and snails from an old setup, for several days before moving the fish. It took over two weeks for me to move all my stuff from one place to the other as I did it myself.

After becoming satisfied the new setup was running smoothly I put some beneficial bacteria (bb) media in a bucket of water from the old setup. I caught and bagged the fish much like when getting them from a fishstore. I transported the fish about an hour to the new house. I acclimated the fish much like when getting them from a fish store. I also took the step to not transfer any of the old tank water by pouring the fish and old water thru a fish net, only adding the fish to the new setup. (this is also what I do when getting fish from a fish store.)

After the fish were in the new setup i was left with going back to the old house and breaking down the old tanks and finishing my move. I had the leasure of several weeks to move and the new place being about an hour away.

good luck
 
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