Alright now youre getting all technical lol. I didnt mean stagnant water as in never moving.. transported those fish in a 29 gallon tub for the hurricane.. most water ended up in my back seat but we arent going to discuss that lol basically what I'm getting is keep it in aquarium water, which I'm going to try to bring the most of anyway.
Transporting filter media
- Thread starter TheNewSeverum
- Start date
Air lines don't work that way, .5 airlines is just a U shaped piece of plastic.
When I do deep cleanings I remove all media from my wet/dry and put it in buckets submerged in old tank water. I used to use a conventional air pump but often got an ammonia spike days later. The last time I performed a deep cleaning I used an oxygen concentrator to supersaturate the water. There was no ammonia spike that time.
Hello; I have not transported bb loaded media for 12 hours only 10 hours or so, so my response will be a guess to some degree. I have kept filter parts and media in buckets for a day or so. Keep it wet is likely the key.
The beneficial bacteria (bb) are sessile. By that it is my understanding they form colonies on surfaces as a bio-film. This film is reported to be fairly sticky which to me means it stays on those surfaces fairly well.
You have not defined the type of media so I will speculate a bit. The filter bodies and the tubes which move the water around are, to me , prime real estate for bb colonization. I would give such things as the tubes a gentle rinse in tank water to remove any loose gunk and put the tubes in a container of tank water. I suspect the bb bio-film will be largely intact.
Another guess being that while some of the bb may be lost and some may die, is that most will be viable.
Other surfaces in a tank should have bb on them. I would take such soft things as floss or sponge filters and give them a few squeezes in a bucket of tank water to remove the loose stuff and then put them in a container of tank water for transport.
Other solid media such as bio balls be given a simple rinse and again kept wet for transport.
Not sure you need to carry much water. I never have taken more than what is needed for bagging my fish. Good luck
I guess I should have specified my filters, sorry about that I am running 2 AC110s. Sponge and Bio cubes only. I was bringing water with me due to the rather hard change in water ph and hardness going from Florida to North Carolina.
hello; Carry the water if you feel the advantage. I never have. I do go thru a long acclimation procedure much like any time I transport a new fish from a distant source.
Hello; If you could use a transporter (star trek like) to move the entire set up as is then no problems at all.
As with the rest of us there will be some things to consider. The fish may have to be in bags ( containers for a day or few) so the air pumps are a good idea. I would also fast the fish for say three days before putting them in a transport container.
Likely the best you can do with the bb loaded media is to get a decent percentage moved. The current setup is in a balance between the bb and the bio-load, so the coming new setup will likely start out of balance a bit. Maybe a short period for the bb to catch up in the new setup but not like starting a cycle from scratch.
If you have a few weeks before the move my next suggestion is to run a few air operated sponge filters in the current setup. The sponges will take on some bb. Those sponge filter can then be in the moving containers with the fish and run by the battery air pumps.
As with the rest of us there will be some things to consider. The fish may have to be in bags ( containers for a day or few) so the air pumps are a good idea. I would also fast the fish for say three days before putting them in a transport container.
Likely the best you can do with the bb loaded media is to get a decent percentage moved. The current setup is in a balance between the bb and the bio-load, so the coming new setup will likely start out of balance a bit. Maybe a short period for the bb to catch up in the new setup but not like starting a cycle from scratch.
If you have a few weeks before the move my next suggestion is to run a few air operated sponge filters in the current setup. The sponges will take on some bb. Those sponge filter can then be in the moving containers with the fish and run by the battery air pumps.
I would take all of the media out of the AC and keep it in a 5 gallon bucket with a lid.The sponges in the AC hold bacteria as well. The movement of being in a car will allow for oxygen exchange.
