Transporting a set up tank?

Do not transfer a tank that has water in it. You risk the tank cracking and the seams that bind the tank will also possibly break causing a leak. Empty the tank and only keep enough of the water to keep the media and the gravel wet so the bacteria does not die off too much. If the tank has filters you want to keep the media in them wet too so the good bacteria does not die. You can transport the fish in a bucket with an air stone going so there is some airation in there for them and the oxygen levels do not drop. When you get the tank to your home or where ever you are going to keep it then you can set it up and use tap water that has been conditioned with something like Prime water conditioner. Put the heater in the tank for about thirty minutes before turning it on. This will insure that the heater will not crack too. Then you can turn it on to the desired temperature. After the water in the tank is the desired temp. consistently and the PH and temp match as closely as possible you can then add the fish. Make sure to test the water on a regular basis for several days or a week to make sure there is not a mini cycle kicked in. If there is a mini cycle then do the proper water changes to keep things under control until all the levels are at 0 and stay there.

Good luck with it and congrats on the new setup.

Marinemom

Marinemom said:

Do not transfer a tank that has water in it. You risk the tank cracking and the seams that bind the tank will also possibly break causing a leak.

Marinemom

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often, and in every case i've ever seen, moving a tank with any water at all in it voids the warranty. (not that there is someone there watching, of course, but i'm sure theyre pretty good at differentiating between a tank that was broken in a move and broken by defect.

use glad press'n'seal ..... i swear by that stuff.

1. Trip to home depot 2 5gal paint pails with lids,roll of painters tape
before you go drill a small hole in one lid this is for air hose to go through.(pre fab this. air hose through hole then silicone in place 18" form lid.

head down to the pick up location:
first pail: 3 gal of water and fish with per made lid
second pail: full all the way
the last 2 gal stay in the tank with the filter media(pull it out of the filter and throw it in the tank bacteria very imp.)
next i X the tank with tape then 2or 3 wraps around just incase
now load it in the truck....

Get home and get the tank set up (filter back on heater back on) now get the pail with 5 gal and dump her in (U now have 7 gal in tank)
let heater sit in tank for 10 min then get it going
Now Ziplock your fish in there water and float in tank..(this will fill the tank the rest of the way and use all of there water)
Three or four hours start letting the fish out of the bags.

P.S. i would suggers a cap full of CYCLE to settle and destress the fish.. I did his process with a 180gal salt and made out VERY well Good Luck

i have moved tanks several times in my life, 6g to 55g so far. when i have to do it, i use 10g rubbermaid tubs. they are about $3 at wal-mart, and worth much more. use a small hose/syphon or whatever to transfer enough water into the tub to cover the fish, about 1/3 to 1/2. keep in mind that 1 gallon of water is a little over 8lbs. make sure you can lift it easily.

drain as much water out as possible - this will make netting the fish much easier. place the other items from the tank into a garbage bag, heaviest items on the bottom. if the heater is glass, you can put it back in the tank during transport to avoid breakage. take it out while catching the fish. once all the fish are in the tub, put the lid on it to prevent stress - they get scared if the lid is off and you are standing over them. drain the tank as much as possible, and move it out to the car. if there is a lot of gravel, ask someone to help you with it. shouldn't be too bad though. then move the garbage bag of decor and filter out to the car, and the fish last. when you get home, bring the fish in first to avoid high temps from sitting in the car. this will be the tricky part - acclimating the fish to new water.

the best way to do this would be to set up a separate bucket (or the tank) with new, dechlorinated tap water. using a separate container will be easier because you don't have to add dechor everytime you add water to the bucket that the fish are in. okay, so you have your treated 'new' water - add a couple cups of it at a time to the fish tub, like every 15-20 minutes for an hour or so. make sure the new water is within a few degrees of the fish water to prevent temperature shock. now that the fish have gotten a feeling for the new water, start taking water out of the tub and putting it into the tank, as much as you can remove easily and still leave water for the fish. catch the fish, put them back into the tank, and then add the rest of the water left in the tub. by this time they are used to the new water that you have acclimated them too, and you can fill the tank the rest of the way with new water. using the garbage bag keeps the decorations and filter media wet, so little to no bacteria is lost during the transfer.

I just used this method today while moving my 55 across to the other side of the room. it works very well. if you have the extra cash available, get more rubbermaid tubs! this way the other stuff (plants, decorations, filter media) can all go in a a separate bucket than the fish but still stay submerged, and i think a tub is easier to carry than the garbage bag, which may tear.

for two corydoras and an oto, you could probably just bag them in a ziplock and then put a brown paper bag for the ziplock bag.