Moving an aquarium?

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scottracy

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Jan 3, 2004
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I need to move my 55g community tank to another room in my house.

I was thinking that I could drain most of the water and remove all decorations and with help move tank/stand together with a furniture dollie.

Another plan is to use an empty 55g that I have. Could I set this tank up and use the old filters, equipment and decorations and just transport the fish to new room and tank? Would I risk a mini cycle by doing this? The only material not being used from the old tank would be the gravel.

Scott
 

twentyfourpaws

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Jan 1, 2005
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Bartlett, IL
Yes, Scott, your tank would most likely "crash" and recycle if you don't use at least some of the gravel -- you need to use the bacteria in the old gravel to help prevent your new setup from completely recycling. I moved my 150 gal. FW tank 2 years ago, and even with using most of the original gravel and some of the water, I still had a lot of problems with recycling, including an ammonia spike and an algae bloom, and I lost a couple of fish. Granted, my setup is larger, and it uses a combination trickle filter and a Magnum, so my problems were magnified.

Bottom line: Use some of your original gravel and some of your original water if possible, and be prepared for a mini-cycle. Good luck!

Doug
 

twentyfourpaws

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Jan 1, 2005
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Bartlett, IL
Sorry, I neglected to include the issue of using filter media -- my error. You're right, filters have tons of bacteria that will help. LFS staff I've dealt with, and articles on the subject however, have strongly recommended using some of the old gravel, because of the nitrifying bacteria there also. If you don't have gravel, then your filter will be fine.
 

TonyN

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Mar 31, 2004
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I once moved a 20 gallon from one room to another. I just siphoned out all but a couple inches of water. Then used a prybar to lift the corners one at a time to put some of those furniture sliders under each corner. Then just slide the whole thing to the other room, refilled it and got the filters going again. Back in business. I left plants, decorations, rocks, etc. all in the tank during the move.
The whole thing took less than one hour. The fish weren't too happy with only two inches of water, but it was only one hour, and they were fine when I refilled the tank.
Just plan out the whole operation, so you know exactly what you're going to do, and when. Have everything you need on hand so you don't have to waste time looking for stuff.
Worked fine for me.
 

scottracy

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http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=23909
· Remember your softballs of substrate? Bury those about halfway into the new sandbed, spaced apart in the new sandbed. I’d leave them in for about two weeks, moving them around a bit every other day. This will maintain your bacterium while seeding the new sandbed. During this two weeks, gently stir the new sandbed with a long wooden dowel to help evenly form the biofilm. When you’re ready to pull the softballs, do so gently. You may have developed some small holes by escapees or curious fish. By virtue of design, the nylons will hold together well.
Thanks for the replies. I thought the filters would suffice. Eight months ago when I was thinking about replacing some substrate for a planted tank someone from the forum gave me the above link. The thread concerns changing the substrate in a marine aquarium. Its well written and interesting if not a little over the top for what I have in mind.

Scott
 
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