Moving aquaria notes

Hi folks,
I've been lurking around here for the past several months and learning
quite a bit. We recently bought a new house about 8 miles from our
current location. Yesterday I began moving our/my freshwater aquariums
to the new house.

For my smaller community tank, 10 gallons, I siphoned all but
approximately 2 gallons of water. The water that I removed went into a
5 gallon plastic water jug. Removed the HOB filter and heater. Put the
filter and biosponge in a plastic bag to keep moist. Carefully carried
the aquarium out of the house and transported it in the front seat of
my vehicle. There was a considerable amount of debris that was stirred
up whilst walking out of the house. When I got to the new house, I
quickly replaced the water from the water jug and topped off the tank
with house water, then added water treatment. Rehung the HOB filter and
left things alone. Within an hour, the tank had cleared up and the
community fishes (male feeder guppies, 2 Rosie Barbs, 2 Glassfish, a
CAE about 6 inches long, and a Royal Plecto) were all doing fine.

The second tank, is a 30 gallon coldwater unit with both UGF and HOB
filtering. It has three goldfish (2 comets and one red feeder) and a
rubbernosed Plecto. Siphoned out 7 gallons of water to a 10 gallon
water cooler (Igloo)and put the fish in the cooler. Ended up taking
out the few plants (Java Moss, Java Fern, 2 Amazon Swords and 2 small
crypts and puttin them in a large plastic bag to retain moisture.
Removed the plastic plants and big rocks as well as about 2/3s of the
gravel. Then I finished removing all but about 3 gallons of water and
"grud". Moved the tank to new location, set up the plants, rocks and
filters then added about 12 gallons of water. Transferred the fish and
the retained 7 gallons of water, started up the filters and topped off
the tank with water treatment and more water. Fish seems happy to be
back in their big home and no worse for the experience. Scooped out
floating plant debris, and the tank cleared in about an hour.

Next time I have to move aquariums, I think that I'll spend a little
more time suctioning gravel before removing water and fish. I'm
comfortable with the notion that this exercise in moving would have
worked just as well for a longer distance or greater time. Not sure
that some sort of supplimentary source of oxygenation would be
necessary for short term moves. Probably advisable for multiple hour
moves though.

Today's agenda has me moving the 100 gallon turtle habitat. Oh joy!
This will require two seperate trips to complete the task.
--
Cheers,
Kurt

On Fri, 04 Nov 2005 15:10:59 +0000, Kurt wrote:

Next time I have to move aquariums, I think that I'll spend a little
more time suctioning gravel before removing water and fish. I'm
comfortable with the notion that this exercise in moving would have
worked just as well for a longer distance or greater time. Not sure
that some sort of supplimentary source of oxygenation would be
necessary for short term moves. Probably advisable for multiple hour
moves though.

Also note that you want the filter media moist and aerated on long trips-
the ziplock bag is good for an hour or two(if there is plenty of air) but
for longer I'd use a bucket.

~Empty

Top posted. That's great it turned out so well - keep up the good work!


"Kurt" wrote in message
...
Hi folks,
I've been lurking around here for the past several months and learning
quite a bit. We recently bought a new house about 8 miles from our
current location. Yesterday I began moving our/my freshwater aquariums
to the new house.

For my smaller community tank, 10 gallons, I siphoned all but
approximately 2 gallons of water. The water that I removed went into a
5 gallon plastic water jug. Removed the HOB filter and heater. Put the
filter and biosponge in a plastic bag to keep moist. Carefully carried
the aquarium out of the house and transported it in the front seat of
my vehicle. There was a considerable amount of debris that was stirred
up whilst walking out of the house. When I got to the new house, I
quickly replaced the water from the water jug and topped off the tank
with house water, then added water treatment. Rehung the HOB filter and
left things alone. Within an hour, the tank had cleared up and the
community fishes (male feeder guppies, 2 Rosie Barbs, 2 Glassfish, a
CAE about 6 inches long, and a Royal Plecto) were all doing fine.

The second tank, is a 30 gallon coldwater unit with both UGF and HOB
filtering. It has three goldfish (2 comets and one red feeder) and a
rubbernosed Plecto. Siphoned out 7 gallons of water to a 10 gallon
water cooler (Igloo)and put the fish in the cooler. Ended up taking
out the few plants (Java Moss, Java Fern, 2 Amazon Swords and 2 small
crypts and puttin them in a large plastic bag to retain moisture.
Removed the plastic plants and big rocks as well as about 2/3s of the
gravel. Then I finished removing all but about 3 gallons of water and
"grud". Moved the tank to new location, set up the plants, rocks and
filters then added about 12 gallons of water. Transferred the fish and
the retained 7 gallons of water, started up the filters and topped off
the tank with water treatment and more water. Fish seems happy to be
back in their big home and no worse for the experience. Scooped out
floating plant debris, and the tank cleared in about an hour.

Next time I have to move aquariums, I think that I'll spend a little
more time suctioning gravel before removing water and fish. I'm
comfortable with the notion that this exercise in moving would have
worked just as well for a longer distance or greater time. Not sure
that some sort of supplimentary source of oxygenation would be
necessary for short term moves. Probably advisable for multiple hour
moves though.

Today's agenda has me moving the 100 gallon turtle habitat. Oh joy!
This will require two seperate trips to complete the task.
--
Cheers,
Kurt