moving a fishtank

inocybe

I have to move my coldwater aquarium, can anyone give me advice on how to minimise stress to the fish? Should I refill with the old water?

ZiabR

inocybe wrote: »

I have to move my coldwater aquarium, can anyone give me advice on how to minimise stress to the fish? Should I refill with the old water?

Yes, keep the water if possible. Put it into buckets. If you don't and refill the tank completely with fresh water you are going to force the tank into a mini cycle and this is going to stress the bacteria and fish. What size tank is it?

godtabh

at the very minimum keep the filter material and gravel and dont wash/clean either . Both of them have lots of bateria.

inocybe

logik wrote: »

Yes, keep the water if possible. Put it into buckets. If you don't and refill the tank completely with fresh water you are going to force the tank into a mini cycle and this is going to stress the bacteria and fish. What size tank is it?

100 litre, I'm going to need to buy some more buckets then. Thanks for advice.

Cookie_Monster

keep as much water as possible.
do it as quick as possible to minimise stress.
take the fish out if it's going to take some time, you run a bigger risk of injuring or stressing them in a tank with only a little amount of water.
remember even with the water removed the tank is going to be heavy with all the media in it!

James.feenan

if i were u i buy a 80L plastic barrel or ask someone with a water but place half the water into the barrel then fish then the rest of the water move your tank and if its possible keep the filter running in the barrel just make sure everything is 100% clean and you should have no bother hope this helps this is a example of what you need http://www.adverts.ie/other-home-garden/barrels/4452467

inocybe

James.feenan wrote: »

if i were u i buy a 80L plastic barrel or ask someone with a water but place half the water into the barrel then fish then the rest of the water move your tank and if its possible keep the filter running in the barrel just make sure everything is 100% clean and you should have no bother hope this helps this is a example of what you need http://www.adverts.ie/other-home-garden/barrels/4452467

Great idea, thank you!

Marcin_diy

inocybe wrote: »

Great idea, thank you!

90 euro for a barrel you will use only once?
waste of money.

If you live close to Dublin go to Seahorse aquariums, be nice, and borrow 25 L canisters ( 5 euro deposit per canister required - refundable)

or buy 25l canister from them for 10 euro.

other than that - get your family and friends to save fizzy drinks and mineral water bottles for a week , rinse with fresh water, and use to store water from your tank.

or buy 15l buckets in B@Q for 3 euro each.

ps. your filter can be kept without running water for 2-3h with no problem it is enough time to move it.
or keep it in a bucket.

James.feenan

Marcin_diy wrote: »

90 euro for a barrel you will use only once?
waste of money.

If you live close to Dublin go to Seahorse aquariums, be nice, and borrow 25 L canisters ( 5 euro deposit per canister required - refundable)

or buy 25l canister from them for 10 euro.

other than that - get your family and friends to save fizzy drinks and mineral water bottles for a week , rinse with fresh water, and use to store water from your tank.

or buy 15l buckets in B@Q for 3 euro each.

ps. your filter can be kept without running water for 2-3h with no problem it is enough time to move it.
or keep it in a bucket.

did u read the add right

Selection of barrels,8 big 10 euro each ,2 small 5 euro each
I have a big barrel i think its 80 or 90 L not sure i use it for water changes
and i use it for moving cold water fish if i am moving a tank i got mine for 10 euro if you are doing a big water change it comes in handy to have the water in the barrel over night with a heater and air stone and its less stress on the fish when doing a water change i know you can do a change with cold water and most tanks will only drop a few degC if its a small water change.

how did u get on did you move the fish after ?

inocybe

thanks, the move went without a hitch - I ended up scrounging enough small buckets from friends to keep about 75% of the water, had a few minutes of panic when the filter wouldn't start up again (had reassembled it incorrectly).
Hope I won't have to do this again for a long time though. Thanks for the advice:)

ZiabR

No problem! Glad it all went well.