# Sticky  How do you empty/move a planted tank?



## Coyote24

Good afternoon all,

Not that I plan on moving anytime soon but the following questioin came to mind earlier today.

How do you empty / move a planted tank (like 90g size)?
I have Flourite and gravel in mine; if I was to empty the tank and remove the substrate I think I would have a serious mess in my hands trying to put that "mix" back in the tank after a move.

Flourite is rather messy all by itself at the bottom of the tank, I cannot see it being mixed with the gravel instead of sitting under the gravel.

So do one has to wash away and loose the flourite when you empty a tank like that?

Puzzled,


a.


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## wtac

One pretty much has to empty everything out. The gravel itself weight alot and though you empty out all the water, one wouldn't want to risk dropping the aquarium _and_ the gravel within.

If/when you have to move:
-drain 1/2 of the water into buckets
-remove plants and deco
-catch fish and place them in the buckets of saved water
-gravel vac
-add more water if water runs out and haven't finished gravel vac the bottom
-scoop gravel into buckets

In new location:
-add gravel and deco
-lay down a garbage bag over the gravel and deco/large dinner plate to not disturb the gravel layer
-slowly add new water (match temp of saved water) until water is 4" above gravel layer via hose onto the plate/bag
-add 3/4 of the saved water by carefully dumping or use a powerhead-hose
-remove garbage bag/plate
-put in plants
-slowly add remaining saved water and fish
-top-up w/ new water

That's a basic guideline of how I move an aquarium.

HTH


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## Ciddian

Thats excellent...!


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## Fishfinder

Well, i did something similiar to this when i bought a setup more or less, which included putting Flourite from that tank into mine. The gravel was put into buckets, from there i used a hose to pump water into the gravel to have all the 'dirt/wastes' to get tossed out of the bucket/float out as it overflows, this gets alot of the waste out to clean the gravel, it wont work completely unless you spend hours. So just a few minutes of it will do alot. Also, gravel vacing the bottom of the tank b4 you move the gravel doesnt really do much, b/c when you pull all the plants out alot of the debris will be free floating... Also, when saving water for the fish, remove that water BEFORE removing the plants/deco so that the fish wont be transported in the dirty water.


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## Merman

....just my 5 cents on the matter:

I guess it depends on the size of the tank - if the tank is really big 125 g. +/depends on how much help you have too.

I move my planted 75 gallon from time to time (new stand, moving) - mostly crypts so I REALLY didn't want to disturb the root systems or fool with the substrate too much. So I emptied the tank/siphoned and caught fish as the water level went down. I dug a hole to the bottom in one corner to got as much water out as I could/left a little and moved the tank/refilled/added fish. If I were going to be putting the tank in a vehicle to move it to another home I'd be inclined to cover the top of the tank over with plastic/maybe a plastic drop cloth kept on with masking tape as this could possibly prevent damage from leaves drying out.


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## freddymp

If I can add my few cents...

It will also depend on how long do you plan to have the things taken apart.

The root system is delicate. In our (terrestrial) garden, we would always try to preserve the root system (as Merman pointed out) as much as we can, and this is critical in the survival of the plants.

Also, I am not sure how good is a tank in handling the load during transport. In your living room it is in static condition, but during transport the bump on the road etc. plus the mass of the substrate may be high enough to cause damage. Depending on how it is moved, the tank may flex during the move and this can be bad.

If it is a long and complicated move, after you remove the fish, you may wish to divide landscape and try to scoop it out as intact as possible, into buckets -- similar to the way you would dug up a plant from your garden and put it in a temporary pot. This will help preserving the root system and reduces damage to the foliage. This will also keep the substrate moist, keeping all of the good bacteria alive. This will also reduce the weight of the tank. Once you reach your destination, you can put the landscape puzzle back together and probably you can restore much of the ecosystem back.


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