Moving a tank

[nerdyguy83]

I have a 10 gallon tank with 3 guppies, 3 platys, and a pair of otocinclus. It is currently running on a Penguin Bio-Wheel 100. In the next 4 or 5 months I need to move it 3 times (the trials of a college student). My current thoughts are to siphon out at least 60-70% of the water into a large plastic bucket with a snap on lid, add the fish, leave some water in the tank to keep the gravel from getting baked, and then putting it all back together when I get settled in at the various locations. I have no live plants to worry about, and the packing, travel, and re-setup should only take 6-7 hours. I plan to put a couple tank decorations in the bucket for the 'cincli to suck on and some aquarium salt to ease stress.

Is this a terrible idea? Am I going to run into some problems I'm not thinking of? Do I need to keep the wheel from the filter wet?

 

[Puffernewbee]

If you are talking about the fish being in the bucket 6-7 hours, you may want to look into one of the battery powered aerators you can put in with the fish. You also want to drop your bio-wheel in the bucket with the fish to keep it wet. Overall your plan seems OK to me.

 

[Zeromason577]

I see problems allready, how are you going to suply them oxygen on the journy?
you could buy a battery powered pump and hook an air stone to it, but they still might not make it.

Is the tank fully cycled?
what are your matenence routines?
water paramaters?

have no live plants to worry about, and the packing, travel, and re-setup should only take 6-7 hours

That is a very long time, and doing that only once is puting a huge ammount of stress on these fish, but 3 times is asking for bad things to happen.

maybe you should sell the fish back to you LFS, wait till you get a almost premanent location, then re-setup the tank and such.

as for the filter wheel,I think most of the good bacteria on it will most likley within a few hours.

Im not a pro at fish keeping, so dont go on my advice alone wait for others to answer back also

 

[khombre]

we moved swordtails once.. 4 hour journey i think.. we had a portable (batt-operated) aerator and they made it

not sure about 6-7 hrs though

 

[rrkss]

Put the biowheel in a ziplock bag with a little water (just enough to keep it wet but enough air to keep it oxygenated). You would want to transfer your fish in fish transport bags. They sell certain ones that allow oxygen to diffuse through the package. Fill it with 1/4 tank water and 3/4 air. You also would want to add some API Ammolock to the bag (since I know 100% that this product will prevent ammonia poisoning and can be overdosed 10x without any ill effects on the fish. This knowledge is based on first hand experience). Don't keep any water in the tank. Just drain it completely and leave the damp substrate in it. The last thing you need is water sloshing around in a tank on a bumpy road. Most of the bacteria will be safe in the ziplock bag with the biowheel and will repopulate the gravel should it dry out. Pack each fish bag with a single fish and store them in a way where they will be secured and not risk being damaged. I would double bag my fish just to be safe. During the actual move keep your car temperature at around 74*F and keep the fish in the dark. If done correctly you should not have any problems. When you setup the tank again, acclimate the fish as if you bought them new (drip method for example) and transfer them to the tank (its best not to transfer any of the old water into the tank since the ammolock in the bags could slow down the restart of your biofilter). A biofilter kept damp and airated should survive up to 48 hours.

Good Luck.

 

[nerdyguy83]

Further questions...

Is the problem with an extended time period in a bucket or whatever I use the fact that there will be no filtration? I have one of those car jump start power pack things with an AC outlet that I could probably use to power a filter for the duration of the trip.

If the lack of filtration isn't the problem, then what is? I understand there will be stress, but I don't really understand the source. Is it the movement or the new surroundings? If I keep the water the same and get a portable air pump and rig up some kind of filter, I don't see how its different from my tank other than the movement.

 

[chinnp]

I moved recently (although it was less than a mile) and had to break down 3 tanks. I moved the fish into bags and all the decorations into buckets. Then I drained the tanks completely (though the gravel stayed moist because you never get all the water out). I then moved the tanks and immediately set them back up. I put tap water in at the temperature I wanted it and then added dechlorinator immediately to the tank. After that, I put my filters back on (which were still moist) and added the decorations (which were still moist) then floated the fish and adjusted them to the water before re-adding them. I had one tank crash and burn on me a week or so later though I had no problems with the other two. Hopefully that helped some.

 

[nerdyguy83]

Thanks

I was posting the above reply when rrkss posted his/her reply. I think it answers most of my questions. The only concern I would have is if I'm basically throwing out most of the water, will the bacteria on the wheel be enough to skip over the ammonia spike and subsequent nitrogen cycle of a new tank?

Also, is there a difference in quality/a preferred brand for the transport bags?

Thanks for the help.

 

[rrkss]

The process of catching the fish and the bumpy ride with temperature fluctuations would be stressful for the fish. If you follow the moving directions I gave above, chances of fish death is much reduced but not 100% eliminated.

 

[rrkss]

I was posting the above reply when rrkss posted his/her reply. I think it answers most of my questions. The only concern I would have is if I'm basically throwing out most of the water, will the bacteria on the wheel be enough to skip over the ammonia spike and subsequent nitrogen cycle of a new tank?

Also, is there a difference in quality/a preferred brand for the transport bags?

Thanks for the help.

Nitrifying bacteria are lithotrophic (they like to attach to something). This means that very little of them will be living in the water, so removing 100% of the water will not affect their populations as long as the sources containing the bacteria are kept moist and oxygenated (biowheel, gravelbed). Your biowheel is the primary biofilter and needs to get special care hence the ziplock. The gravelbed will most likely stay damp enough to preserve the bacteria on a 12 hour trip but if you want, you can leave a little bit of water in it to keep it wet but still airated. As long as you keep the fish in the dark and don't feed them for 24 hours before the move any fish bag will do as their oxygen demands will be greatly reduced. The 3/4 air to water ratio also gives enough air to meet the demands of one fish for the 12 hours. The problem with transporting them in a bucket with an airstone is the water sloshing around in the car. If you need to suddenly stop (like someone cutting you off on the highway) the water could cause the bucket to tip possibly killing your fish. The fish bags eliminate this problem.