Moving tank to other side of room
- Thread starter LOSTinRI
- Start date
I would move the fish to a bucket and drain as much water as you can, it can cause a lot of stress to the fish and the tank. The tendency is for the water to slosh and your fish will get bounced around. I had this happen and lost a lot of fish. I wish I had spent a couple of more minutes and moved my fish to a bucket and saved them. Better safe than sorry...
Just this last Monday I moved all my tanks around (put the two 29s on a 3 high cinderblock and board stand with the 10 and 20 underneath.)
Put 5 gallons of water, plants and fishies into rubbermaid totes, hung the filters on and kept them running. Pythoned the rest of the water out. Tried to lift the tanks with the gravel still, but was a tad too heavy (could have done it with some help, but was working solo) gravel into 5 gallon buckets.
Tanks in new spots, added the old gravel, added 6 inches of water, replanted, filled rest of the way with fresh water and netted fishies back (lost a brand new Dalmation Molly-I KNOW she went into the tote, but nowhere to be found when putting fish back!)
All fish doing good, water readings good this evening, so no mini cycle (filters and gravel wet all the time).
Took about 2 hours (including a quick lunch).
No problems!
Will be repeating the process next spring. Using tax refund to spring for two 55 gallon tanks to replace the 29's.
Put 5 gallons of water, plants and fishies into rubbermaid totes, hung the filters on and kept them running. Pythoned the rest of the water out. Tried to lift the tanks with the gravel still, but was a tad too heavy (could have done it with some help, but was working solo) gravel into 5 gallon buckets.
Tanks in new spots, added the old gravel, added 6 inches of water, replanted, filled rest of the way with fresh water and netted fishies back (lost a brand new Dalmation Molly-I KNOW she went into the tote, but nowhere to be found when putting fish back!)
All fish doing good, water readings good this evening, so no mini cycle (filters and gravel wet all the time).
Took about 2 hours (including a quick lunch).
No problems!
Will be repeating the process next spring. Using tax refund to spring for two 55 gallon tanks to replace the 29's.
aside from the molly it sounds like everything went smoothly :clap: lucky for me i get to do pretty much the same thing sometime in the not too distant future. my tanks are in the basement and me and my brother are planning on redoing the whole basement... walls, floors, ceilings, the whole 9. so when we get to the area where the fish are im gonna have to move my tanks about 5 feet or so and then move them back a few days later when we finish... oh its gonna be fun.
The biggest thing to do would be to put the fish in a different container while moving. Make sure to fill the contanier up with the tank water and add the filter to keep the water clean. I would say to drain at least half of the water from the tank. If you can move it from that point then go ahead and do it. Be careful not to jerk the tank around alot though as there will still be a good amount of weight and it could cause the tank to crack. Best bet would to have someone help you move it so it can be done alittle more steady like. If you have to drain more then half the water try to at least keep enough in to cover the gravel or you could end up getting a mini-cycle when you set it back up. Make sure to try and use as much of the old tank water as you can when you fill it back up. After you get it all moved and everything back in place keep the lights off as to allow the fish to settle from the move.