# Moving a Tank



## Kajendra (Dec 12, 2010)

Hey guys I was wondering what the best way to move a tank with live fish is? I'm buying a tank with fish inside, this will be the second tank I'll have. I doubt I'll be able to hold the fish in the tank I currently have (29 Gall). The tank I'm buying would be around 100 Gal+. It'd take around 1 hour for the fish to get home probably.

I've read online that some people stop feeding their fish for a few days then clear all the water and fill it with all new water to reduce amount of ammonia being transferred. Like in the following link:
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/transporting_cichlids.php

I was wondering what have you guys tried out?

I also noticed that... it'd be nice to have a library of useful posts for this forum :/
I should probably post that under the suggestions thread but yeah :/


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## gucci17 (Oct 11, 2007)

I usually double bag my fish and put them in a cooler or styrofoam box. Even better if you have bag buddy tablets for longer trips. 

Yes, it helps if the owner doesn't feed the fish a day before. Less poop to poison the bag.


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## Zebrapl3co (Mar 29, 2006)

For small tanks, I bag the fish or put them in a buchket and move them.
For the medium tanks, I even have to take out the gravels as that adds alot of the weight.
For the big tanks, I usually setup another tank and just move the filter and fish. That's the easiest.
Otherwise, doing the hard way take about 8 hours to do 1 tank and the fish has to be baged and then release in a temporary 20G bucket overnight. It's stressful for the fish and they have a tendency to jump. So you have to have a lid.

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## Kajendra (Dec 12, 2010)

Thanks guys,
I'm waiting on the deal falling through but wonder how helpful the owner would be.

Would it be a good idea to change the water very frequently once I bring the fish into the tank to counteract the ammonia buildup?


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## gucci17 (Oct 11, 2007)

> Thanks guys,
> 
> I'm waiting on the deal falling through but wonder how helpful the owner would be.
> 
> Would it be a good idea to change the water very frequently once I bring the fish into the tank to counteract the ammonia buildup?


Is this your only tank? I would preserve the existing filter media from the tank you are tearing down to move over.

You can also drip acclimate your fish to adjust the ph in their water slowly.

Frequent small water changes can help with removing some of the toxic ammonia as well.


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## Kajendra (Dec 12, 2010)

gucci17 said:


> Is this your only tank?


Maybe I should restate the details and be more clear. I think I'm more awake then last time 

I'm getting a used 100 Gallon Aquarium from someone with some fish included. This would be my second tank to my collection as I have one 29 Gallon. My 29 gal would be staying like it is unless I introduce the fish I'm getting into this tank.

I'm going to be setting up the tank this weekend most likely and was wondering if it would be better to save as much water as possible (save good bacteria) or get rid of as much water as possible (eliminate bad bacteria).

I'm going to try the cooler and double bag them, thanks for the tips


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## lybrian1 (Aug 10, 2010)

you generally do not need to save any water at all. it does not hold any beneficial bacteria. you need to preserve the filter media as this is the most important. even let it run if you dont plan to setup the tank right away. transporting is never an issue with me. also if it comes with gravel, try to resist washin it out as it also holds bacteria. hope to see a picture of the tank. good luck


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## Zebrapl3co (Mar 29, 2006)

If that's the case, then I would nuke the tank first and cycle it and then introduce my fish.

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## Tbird (Oct 5, 2009)

You really don't need to save as much water as possible. Besides even 50G of water would be hard to save and transport. How many fish are you getting from this new tank??


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## gucci17 (Oct 11, 2007)

Don't worry about saving the water as there won't be much benefit to that. Preserve the filter media from that tank and/or gravel if you want to get this tank up and running right away.

Will the fish fit in your 29g? 

Let's see, if I was in your situation...I would get the new tank up and running right away. The 29g might be overstocked when combining all the fish in there. Prepare as much water as you can ie. garbage can, food grade barrel or lots of buckets and use a heater to match the temp the best you can. Then, when you bring home the 100g, set that up where you want it and fill it with the entire contents of the 29g. Fill the rest up with the aged/treated water. Hook up the filter(s) with the preserved bacteria that was running from the 100g. You might be able to avoid a mini cycle this way.


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## Tbird (Oct 5, 2009)

gucci17 said:


> Don't worry about saving the water as there won't be much benefit to that. Preserve the filter media from that tank and/or gravel if you want to get this tank up and running right away.
> 
> Will the fish fit in your 29g?
> 
> Let's see, if I was in your situation...I would get the new tank up and running right away. The 29g might be overstocked when combining all the fish in there. Prepare as much water as you can ie. garbage can, food grade barrel or lots of buckets and use a heater to match the temp the best you can. Then, when you bring home the 100g, set that up where you want it and fill it with the entire contents of the 29g. Fill the rest up with the aged/treated water. Hook up the filter(s) with the preserved bacteria that was running from the 100g. You might be able to avoid a mini cycle this way.


This is very good info! But I think both tanks might still be kept running.

The only thing I would do different is get an extra bucket or two of the water from the 100G. When you get home, you now have some fresh water that the new fish came from and you can put them in that water to get them out of the polluted water they have travelled in. Just check the temps to make sure there is not a huge difference.

As Gucci said then fill the new tank with as much preprepared water as possible. Then slowly accimilate the new fish into this tank.

**** Depending on how you are transporting the new tank (pick up truck vs. van), you might want to let it sit a little bit once in the house. This will let the glass get up to the room temperature a little. ****


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## Kajendra (Dec 12, 2010)

Tbird said:


> This is very good info! But I think both tanks might still be kept running.


Yes, I want to keep both tanks running, I just found out that I'd be getting 13 breeding cichlids. The cichlids that I have in the 29 Gal are quite small and they seem to getting a little crowded as they are growing in their tank. This is a huge change in bioload so that's why I was wondering to get some help with this.



Tbird said:


> The only thing I would do different is get an extra bucket or two of the water from the 100G. When you get home, you now have some fresh water that the new fish came from and you can put them in that water to get them out of the polluted water they have traveled in. Just check the temps to make sure there is not a huge difference.


I think I should make a trip to Big Al's and buy an extra heater or two.
It seems like a consensus to lose all the water so I'll try take just a bit of water for the fish to swim in after travelling. I'm going to have to try really hard not to clean the gravel before putting it in my tank :/



gucci17 said:


> Prepare as much water as you can ie. garbage can, food grade barrel or lots of buckets and use a heater to match the temp the best you can. ... Fill the rest up with the aged/treated water.


I can have buckets all around the house with water in them, it's just there would be too many buckets and it'd be hard maintaining a similar temperatures without enough heaters.



Tbird said:


> As Gucci said then fill the new tank with as much preprepared water as possible.


I don't seem to understand what you guys mean by preprepared / aged water. I can't seem to be finding anything on the forum regarding that term... :/ Would you mean if I had a SW set-up, the aged/treated water would be... salted? Is this the water that I would leave in a bucket for a few days for the chlorine to dissipate? Would using my Python to transfer water into the tank work the same way or be worse?



gucci17 said:


> Hook up the filter(s) with the preserved bacteria that was running from the 100g.


How would I preserve the bacteria from a Fluval?



Tbird said:


> **** Depending on how you are transporting the new tank (pick up truck vs. van), you might want to let it sit a little bit once in the house. This will let the glass get up to the room temperature a little. ****


I did not realize this at all, thank you so much :| I am taking a van but it's going to get a bit cold moving.

Sorry for asking so many questions...


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## Tbird (Oct 5, 2009)

Kajendra said:


> Yes, I want to keep both tanks running, I just found out that I'd be getting 13 breeding cichlids. The cichlids that I have in the 29 Gal are quite small and they seem to getting a little crowded as they are growing in their tank. This is a huge change in bioload so that's why I was wondering to get some help with this.
> 
> I think I should make a trip to Big Al's and buy an extra heater or two.
> It seems like a consensus to lose all the water so I'll try take just a bit of water for the fish to swim in after travelling. I'm going to have to try really hard not to clean the gravel before putting it in my tank :/
> ...


What kind of cichlids are you getting??

So we know what tank you are getting....are you getting a complete set up? If so, make sure you leave the media in water when transporting to your place. If not what will you be using for filtration?

Prepared water is water that has been sitting around for a day or two. some people treat it, some don't. I wouldn't worry too much about this. I usually just fill up my tank with water but I make sure that I use prime also. If you can pretreat some water that would still help. So when you dump the gravel in, hopefully you wont lose too much bacteria because the water will be treated. Also, make sure when you transport the gravel you have it underwater to try to preserve the bacteria.

As for maintaining similar temperatures, that is more when you have the fish in the tank. Don't add water that has a big difference in temperature. A few degrees is fine. Or don't add fish to a tank where the water they were in and the water they are going too has a big difference in temps.

Hope that answers some of your questions. If you have more, just keep firing away.


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## Kajendra (Dec 12, 2010)

I just came back to look at the forum and saw a reply so here it goes...



Tbird said:


> What kind of cichlids are you getting??


I'm getting 13 breeding Electric yellows, 2 of them are wild supposedly.



Tbird said:


> So we know what tank you are getting....are you getting a complete set up?


Yeah I'm getting the Fluval from him and the tank is currently running.



Tbird said:


> I usually just fill up my tank with water but I make sure that I use prime also. If you can pretreat some water that would still help. So when you dump the gravel in, hopefully you wont lose too much bacteria because the water will be treated. Also, make sure when you transport the gravel you have it underwater to try to preserve the bacteria.


I didn't immediately think gravel underwater but another great thing you've reminded me of  I think I'm going to go with the buckets all over the house with water in them  Prime is chlorine remover right? I'm also going to add the bio-support from big-al's to help, but someone mentioned on a previous post. How they keep bacteria alive without a food source in a bottle... might not work :/



Tbird said:


> As for maintaining similar temperatures, that is more when you have the fish in the tank. Don't add water that has a big difference in temperature. A few degrees is fine. Or don't add fish to a tank where the water they were in and the water they are going too has a big difference in temps.


I'm probably going to leave the heaters and filter running for a while but would it be a good idea to take the bags and put them in my 29 Gal to stay warm or better to just release them into the bucket of water that from their tank? Should I release a few of them into the 29 Gal?

Thanks again for answering all my questions and it's been a lot of help. 
Just worried about the move and hope the fish don't die


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## gucci17 (Oct 11, 2007)

Kajendra said:


> I just came back to look at the forum and saw a reply so here it goes...
> 
> I'm getting 13 breeding Electric yellows, 2 of them are wild supposedly.
> 
> ...


Hi sorry for the late reply. Tbird got you covered anyways.

I am a little skeptical on the wild caught yellow labs. Far as I know, it's almost impossible and would have certs if they truely were. You should ask your seller about the origins of the wc labs. Regardless, yellow labs are very vibrant. I've always liked them.

Don't quote me on this, but I'm pretty sure you can keep your beneficial bacteria alive by keeping your fluval filter intact. Assuming it's not going to be offline for too long. Even have it start running in a bucket when you get home so there is new oxygen running through the filter.

I think you're wasting your money on the BA's bio products. Just pick up a bottle of Prime and like I said, keep the bacteria alive in the filter and gravel as well.

Do you have a larger rubbermaid container to store the labs in for now? That way you can have a heater in that tub along with the running filter and airstone.

I don't recommend mixing the new fish into your current tank right away. You want to quarantine them in a way. You don't know if they are infected with any diseases and can pass it along to your fish in the 29g. You also said the fish in your 29g are smaller no? They could get bullied as well. Yellow labs can be quite aggressive.

Don't worry, yellow labs are pretty hardy. Just move everything over with the best you can. Good luck


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## Tbird (Oct 5, 2009)

gucci17 said:


> Hi sorry for the late reply. Tbird got you covered anyways.
> 
> I am a little skeptical on the wild caught yellow labs. Far as I know, it's almost impossible and would have certs if they truely were. You should ask your seller about the origins of the wc labs. Regardless, yellow labs are very vibrant. I've always liked them.
> 
> ...


I've heard of people having wild caught labs but have never seen them. I was at the big als in Oakville and one of the guys said their supplier had WC labs. I look at the juvies they have and I don't think they look that good so who knows.

Anyways as Gucci said, don't waste your time or money on that bio stuff. if you have a rubbermaid container then I would use that to keep the labs in once you get home. You can keep them in there for a while. Try to get enough water to fill up at least half of it. Then you could add some treated water to this if you need to. Will be almost like a water change. Just make sure you try to put a lid on this so that you have no casualties from jumpers.

Do you know which Fluval you are getting?? If its a 404 or 405 you could probably set that up to run in the rubbermaid container. If it is one of these, you will probably want to add more filtration in the future. They are only rated for 100G and that's best case scenario. If its a FX5, I'm not sure you could run that in the rubbermaid, might be too much. Maybe someone else can chime in on this.

Anyways, make sure you take some pictures of the setup and your labs!!


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## Kajendra (Dec 12, 2010)

gucci17 said:


> Hi sorry for the late reply. Tbird got you covered anyways.
> 
> I am a little skeptical on the wild caught yellow labs. Far as I know, it's almost impossible and would have certs if they truely were. You should ask your seller about the origins of the wc labs. Regardless, yellow labs are very vibrant. I've always liked them.
> 
> ...


Yeah, I'll try remember that and this wasn't really a selling point and he didn't mention it till later but I'll keep it in mind 

I currently have 6 small ones in my other tank so I think I have just a tad too much yellow 
Thinking of getting some saulosi's or demonsi's later on for the blue and yellow but not sure if I can fit enough in this tank but that seems like a month or two away 

I have this huge blue one I'm going to use to hold them as per your advice.

Yeah I got the BA products a couple of months ago when I first changed to cichlids. The bulk ones too :/
I never could decide what else to get but thanks for the recommendation!
Yeah my other cichlids are pretty small but I have no idea what size his are so I'll have to decide then...
Thanks 



Tbird said:


> I've heard of people having wild caught labs but have never seen them. I was at the big als in Oakville and one of the guys said their supplier had WC labs. I look at the juvies they have and I don't think they look that good so who knows.
> 
> Anyways as Gucci said, don't waste your time or money on that bio stuff. if you have a rubbermaid container then I would use that to keep the labs in once you get home. You can keep them in there for a while. Try to get enough water to fill up at least half of it. Then you could add some treated water to this if you need to. Will be almost like a water change. Just make sure you try to put a lid on this so that you have no casualties from jumpers.
> 
> ...


Yeah that's what I thought, it would be similar to just a normal water change so it wouldn't be that drastic for the fish. Thanks for the tip on the lid, I wouldn't want to get so far only for them to jump out 

No idea what type of fluval, that's something I'll need to ask him. I might need to add that to the list of things to buy...

Oh I certainly will 

I just realized... idk how I thought that this thread would fit into the General Marketplace Discussion lol!

Thanks everyone for the plentiful advice and support and hope this move is successful


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