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In a couple of weeks i will be moving from New York to North Carolina (the trip will be about 10 hours by car), so this is my plan for transporting my 40g and all of its inhabitants-

• I will fill a 30g plastic container with 20g of water

• I will place all of my fish in the container

• I will either stick a couple of corner filters or a sponge filter, run by a battery-powered air pump, into the container (the filters will be precolonized with bacteria before the move)

• I will drain most of the water in the 40g, leaving the gravel wet

• I will take the filter media out of the 40g's filter and stick it in the wet gravel

I will be using the sponge filter or corner filters in the 40g after the move just in case any of the bacteria in the gravel or filter media died. So am i missing anything? Any advice or suggestions is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Sounds like you've got everything covered and the move should be successful with the planning that you have done.

Good luck on the move.

Jim

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Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody. -- Mark Twain

zachf92,

Sounds good to me, althoug I am not so convinced that the filters would run on a battery powered air pump. If they do then I would suggest that you bring spare batteries with you, just in case.

Also - if you have any plants then let them float in the container with the fishies, it will make them feel more secure. If you don't have plants, maybe you could aquire some of the oh-so-ugly hornwort and let float, it should be cheap enough.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

I forgot about mentioning my plants in the first post. i was going to wrap them in wet newspaper and stick them in the 40g, but sticking them in the container with the fish is probably better as you said.

Well im going to get the most powerful air pump i can find today when i go to the LFS and hopefully it will be strong enough to power the sponge/corner filter.

Oh zachf92,

One thing I forgot to mention:

You are aware that 20G of water in a container is quite heavy, right? Isn't a 20G tank like around 200lbs?

Glad to hear that you have plants that can be added to the fish box as it will help with the shock of transport.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Yeah, personally(and I've moved 4 times in the last 4 years, not as far though) I'd use a couple 5gal buckets with lids. Otherwise 10 of your 20 gallons of water will be in your car. Most rubbermaid lids will not hold water tight. Poke 2 small holes in the lid, one for your air line, and one to let air out. Home Depot has buckets with lids for 5-6 bucks. As an added bonus the 5gal buckets are much more manageable weight wise. I'm sure you'd need 2 people to carry the 30gal container with 20g of water in it.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

I agree with Matt. I think the way to go is 5-gallon buckets!

-Josh

I am in the same boat as Matt. I have moved 4 times in the last 4 years. Moving tank sucks....to make it even better the last time my new house didn't have water yet!

Everyone seems to be on the right track. I would like to add a think or too though.

Don't feed your fish a couple days before the move. If they don't have food they don't have poop and no poo = no ammonia in the water for the trip.

It would also be good to give the transport water a dose of prime for safe keeping.

I also wouldn't worry about having a filter running with the fish. An air stone would probably work well enough to keep some O2 in the water.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Well...

there has been a slight change of plans, and it really is too complicated for me to explain why, but i will be leaving for my new house this sunday, bringing along my fish in an 18g container (im only able to bring 1 container, as my family and i are only taking 1 car, so multiple 5g buckets wont do), but i wont be able to bring the 40g to my new home until the actual moving date, 4 weeks from now. So this might sound crazy, but im going to have to buy a new aquarium the day i arrive at my new house. The overall cost of this aquarium must be under $700, and i am aiming towards a 75g. I want to buy most of the equipment and substrate online, most likely on http://www.drsfostersmith.com/ and ill buy the 75g when i arrive in North Carolina (luckily there is a very large LFS near my house, which i will be calling tomorrow to make sure they have a 75g in stock). To prevent the tank from going through a cycle, ill put my filter from my 40g onto the new tank, and dose the tank with Cycle. Until the new tank is setup, i will put my filter on the container and do 50% water changes daily (hopefully i will be able to set the tank up within 1 or 2 days)

Anyway, thanks for the suggestions

zachf92,

That is sure quite some change of plans, but sounds good as you may be able to eventually bring the 40G over as well. So - you gain a nice big tank out of this deal plus your old one.

I will keep my fingers crossed for you,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

I wish I got new and bigger tanks everytime I moved! Congrates on the new tank! Wish you the best of luck on the move. It is never fun....

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Thanks guys Im pretty excited abouth the new tank, as a 75g gives you so many more possibilities than a 40g. Discus and Eartheaters, here I come

Hi, just wanted to say that the move went well, and none of the fish died Now they are all swimming around happily in my new 75g, along with two new fish- polka dot botias to accompany my lonely one, who's friend died about a two months ago

By the way, tip for the future if you move again - if you can rig up a power line running from the cigarette lighter socket in the dashboard, it may be possible to power your 'battery powered' kit from that. Save you having to buy multipacks of Duracells. Al;ternatively, use NiCD rechargeables, and have spares charging off a charger plugged into the cigarette lighter socket.

Mind you, someone's going to work out in time that with all the electrical gizmos we now surround ourselves with, it might be a good idea to equip new cars with a selection of adapter sockets to plug such things as mobile phone chargers into ... which will solve a LOT of problems for aquarists as well


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Tops news about the successful move. Your careful planning paid off! Well done and hope YOU like the new digs too.

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~~~ My fish blow kisses at me all day long ~~~

Cheers to a successful trip!! When you get settled in, post some pictures of the new tank if you can. . .ok?

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"it's the neck, it creaks under the weight of too much heavy thinking."

Here is my ugly 75g:

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f187/zachf92/2wgfa01.jpg
(i know, i need a LOT more plants)

Here's my Amazon Sword after enduring .5 WPG for over a year:

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f187/zachf92/uglyplant.jpg
(thankfully its in a tank with much more light now )

For your enjoyment, here are some pics of my fish:

my bolivian ram
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f187/zachf92/ramrevised.jpg
my golden wonder killie
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f187/zachf92/2v9ekg8.jpg
my CL and polka dot botia sharing an algae wafer
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f187/zachf92/2ccqah2.jpg

I will try and post some more pics within the week, and hopefully i will get some more plants.

Oh yeah, and thanks for the helpful tip Cali. I will be sure to get a car outlet adapter the next time I move (hopefully that wont be any time soon).

Here is my ugly 75g:

You call THAT ugly? I've seen a LOT worse, believe me ...

Here's my Amazon Sword after enduring .5 WPG for over a year:

Actually, part of the problem with that plant appears to be snail damage - I know, you have Clown Loaches in there that should have eaten any snails that were in the aquarium, but I've seen plants looking like that after they've suffered snail dmage.

Plus, I have an Amazon Sword in my Panda Fun Palace. I did have two - one was the daughter plant thrown off by the original, and both of them ended up with 60+ leaves. And mine only received around 1 WPG (if you use US gallons as your measuring stick). Yet they grew like stink. I sold off one of the plants and kept the other - here's a shot I took about 15 minutes ago of the Amazon Sword I currently have, which is now nearly 12 years old and still going strong (attached to end of post):




Attached Image:


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

I agree that's not ugly! You are right about getting more plants in the there though.... and I would suggest a backround of some kind so that it keeps the attention IN the tank... i found my self looking at the wall while trying to see the fish. Just IMO though. Otherwise, looking good!

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"it's the neck, it creaks under the weight of too much heavy thinking."

I have been growing a sword in about .55WPG in my 55G for a few years now. I have found that they like a good root fert. and flourish excel. This really seems to make it grow well.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric