Moving House - 30g tank?

[Laylah]

Hi

Moving in about 2 weeks, and I need to get my 30g tank to new house. How do you guys suggest the move? I can't just take the tank it weighs more than 100kg's there's no way. Should I remove a large amount of water making it easier to transport and leave the fish in? Or should I remove fish and try and keep 70% or more of the water in the tank itself (and hope it doesn't spill). :thud:

2 goldfish ( 1 x red cap 2" and 1 x shubunkin 1 1/2")

P.S. Could anybody suggest tank mates for these 2, they're still pretty small (I know they should get much bigger) and at the moment they look a bit lost in the tank (they seem so teenie weenie) :)

[russjet]

just a newbie here
but i think you have to take fish out
and take out water leaving enough to keep the gravel wet
and to try and keep your filter media wet
how far are you moving? if it is a short journey then it should be possible not to lose your bacteria

i have read a few threads on this subject here you could try a search and see if you can find your answers

but i know loads of people here will be able to give you the exact way to do this in the best way for your fish and for the interior of your car too

[Laylah]

It's like a 15 minute drive and fairly level (crossing no mountain ranges or anything) just moving to a nicer area about 10km away.

[ArkyLady]

Unless you know the new house is on the same water supply, you should probably go get some water from there and test it to see how different it is from the water you currently have. If the new water is the same, that makes things a bit easier.

Get 5 gallon buckets with lids. I'd get at least three (may need more if the new water is very different). In the first bucket put your fish and some plants or decorations. Be careful not to put anything in there that will be moving around wildly during the drive and may injure your fish. In the second bucket, put your filter media (paddings, biowheels, etc) and more decorations if needed. Then in the third bucket, put the gravel from your tank and more decorations can go also if you still need space for them. And of course fill the buckets with water from your tank :)

Do not move the tank with the gravel and even an inch or two of water. You can get by with that on a 10 gallon tank, but larger than that and it can be risky. I'm sure some have moved that way sucessfully with a 30 gallon, but all that weight can put a lot of stress on the tank when it's not supported properly, so I wouldn't recommend it. You don't have to get every last piece of gravel out, but at least get the bulk of it out.

Don't leave the fish or filter media sitting in these buckets any longer than necessary. The bacteria needs oxygen and food to survive, but will be ok for a couple hours this way. If it's going to take longer for some reason, put the filter media in with the fish and throw an airstone or something in there to help with oxygen. The buckets with lids shouldn't splash around or anything, mine didn't at least. Worked like a charm for me and now I have LOTS of fish buckets if I need them :D

[9tails]

I did the same as ArkyLady, but the buckets I used were square plastic containers with airtight lids. These won't fall over and you can even stack them in the trunk if you want to take more water. I took about half the water and gravel in 3 30 litre containers, left some gravel in the tank and put the fish in another container (with some of the tank water of course). Then I set it up as soon as I got there. The rest of the water went in just like a water change. Make sure that your kettle is close to hand so you can top up with the right temperature water.

[Laylah]

Thanks :bowing:

Fret not water supply is virtually identical...firstly all water in Cape Town comes from the same water supply an since I'm just moving to another suberb not out of town so I needn't worry about a different resevoir supply source. Second I did test just in case the pipes needed maintenance since our all our water is drinking water the last thing I wanted was rusty pipes giving stress. :soda:

I'll definately use some square containers with airtight lids (stacking would be useful) since the fish (and all paraphernalia) will be riding with me (I wouldn't want to know what would happen to them if movers got a hold of them) (no offence to movers out there :o )

Info is as always much appreciated