How to best move a 55 gal freshwater at-capacity planted aquarium?

J

JCKey618

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First of all, I'm moving to another apartment no more than 2 miles away, so the commute won't be long.

The glass aquarium is plants, has about 2 inches sand substrate, is freshwater, has HOB and cannister filtration, and contains the following fish:

4 angelfish
5 roseline sharks
15 rummy nose
5 corys
10 shrimp
and a couple other (small) bottomfeeders I have forgotten the name of.

Is it suggested that ALL the water/material be out of the tank or just most of it? For example, can I move it with the sand still in it? Or no?

Here are my thoughts:

1. Remove all non-living ornaments
2. Remove all plants
3. Put all fish in fish-store bags. Recommendations on how many fish per bag?
4. Fill 2-3 5 gallon buckets with enough water to keep the sand and filter pads submerged.
5. Empty the tank of water.
6. Put the sand in the buckets (any ideas on best way to do this? Some kind of suction? Or good old scooping?) along with filtration pads. Should I also put plants in here?
7. Move everything. Canister filter would remain full of water.
8. Set up tank, add substrate, fill it up, dechlorinate, hook up filtration, heater, etc.
9. Add fish
10. Add plants/decorations

How does this sound? Is this good enough to avoid problems with the nitrogen cycle (my tank, obviously, is fully cycled)? I was originally thinking of filling the buckets with the tank water and having the fish in those, but since the other place is close, i was thinking bags might be easier.

Let me know any thoughts. Open to answering any questions. I just want to get through this apartment to apartment move with NO casualties. During or future :)
 
I've moved several tanks with substrate in them, it is risky though. If you have plenty of time then take all the substrate out, keep it wet, and add it back to the tank after its set up in the new place. Keep the filter media wet also and you probably won't lose the cycle.
 
Recommend a 55 gets fully emptied....to easy to twist a 4foot tank and damage the seals...
 
For the sand, I've used a trash bag inside a cardboard box. You can siphon out almost all the water if you push the sand away from a corner, then scoop sand, a square plastic dish works well. You don't have to get every grain out but as much as possible, you probably have 50lb of it. Box & bag also works for wood, rocks etc.

The filter media just really needs to stay wet, it doesn't have to be submerged. Same for plants, a plastic grocery bag is what I use for large amounts of plants. Throw in some wet paper towels if you think it may take a while or to wrap stem plants for easier sorting.

I just took some corys to my lfs in a bucket with ~4 inches of water. Remember they have spines that can puncture bags. Might work with jumpy roselines too, in a separate bucket. Because of their height angels would be best in bags, 1 per if fairly big, maybe 2 if small. Rummies all together if the bag is big, half if small bags. Shrimp all together. Since you don't know what your bottom feeders are, bag each separately, double bag plecos (spines).

I would set up the tank, add sand, water close to temp & dechlor (turn the sand bag inside out to rinse when you have several inches of water. Set up equipment, give the heater 15 min or so to adjust before plugging it in.

Then I'd add the decor & plants before the fish. That way they don't need to be stressed while you do a quick scape. The fish will be fine off to the side, fish bags in a box for ease of moving. It'd be best if you slow acclimate them by adding small amounts of new tank water, the temp & tap parms may be slightly different. Leave the lights out for a while to let the fish adjust.

Good luck!
 
Your tank should still be cycled provided that your filter is wet. You do not need to keep the old water as little bacteria lives there. Your other tank at your new place should be up and running. Add the substrates and then drop your fish bag into tank to let them acclimate. You shouldn't lose any fishes in the process. Good luck.
 
It depends on how your moving it I suppose. My buddies and I have moved planted tanks this size and larger by catching the fish, putting them into a bucket with tank water, and draining the tank to the substrate and plants. Then loaded it into the truck sideways, got to our destination, set the tank up and then just added water and the fish. It works well if your hard headed and don't like to rescape. lol
 
I would add plants/decor and then add fish so the fish won't be stressed out, and can immediately go hide behind/in plants/decor. This way your fish won't stress out while replanting/adding decor. Good Luck:)
 
Or you could have Superman move it for you! No need to drain it at all.
 
Update: Tank moved! I lost one roseline shark in the process, though. Sucks because I cared about those making it the most. I don't know what happened but he started going belly up while he was in the transport bowl. I think it may be one that flopped out onto the floor out of the net when I was capturing them. Other fish did that, too and they are fine but it's the only reason I can think of. All the other fish look really great, though.

The hardest part, believe it or not, was capturing all the fish. In the future I'm going to drain about 90% of the water first and then I think they're a lot easier to get.

Thanks for the advice everybody! Now I just hope I don't have a problem with ammonia/mini-cycling. I kept the substrate and HOB filter media wet and just left all the water in the canister, so hoping for the best.
 
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