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I will be moving across town in a few months and am curious as to how I would do that?? Any advise would be really helpful. Like how do I or even can I keep any good bacteria for the new set up or do I have to cycle it again?? Also should I cleen everything like the gravol?? By the way I have a 72 gallon. Thanks again!!

what kind of fish do you have housed in your tank?

when i moved my 55 gallon and my 29 gallon to my current residence, it was only about 5 miles, but i pretty much netted all my fish into a 5 gallon bucket (with water from their tank) i left the 55 gallon about 1/6 of the way full, and moved it that way... when i got to my current residence, i filled the tank the rest of the way, i let tank run for a couple hours, (with the same filter and bacteria) waited until the temps were back up.. then i replaced the fish.. i know i probably didnt do it like you're supposed to, but none of my fish died in the move.

*Chelle*
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I love the fishes cuz they're SOOO delicious...

I've moved tanks a few times, admittedly only a 23gal but I used lots of freezer bags placed in tupaware to keep them upright for the small fish, and buckets as described above for the big fish...I guess if you keep as much water as possible in buckets then the amount of bacteria in the gravel and filter will quickly have any extra water up and running within a couple of hours?
I have moved tanks about 3 times and am yet to loose any fish in the process.

I moved just over a year ago with at least 6 tanks. I was lucky that friends of my husband had recently moved and gave us quite a few large Rubbermaid totes. Substrate and some tank water went into each; some had fish and plants, others had filter cartridges.

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There is water at the bottom of the ocean

I have platys, otos and weather loaches. I like the idea of the big rubbermaid totes. Thanks!!

yeah thats a great idea... plus after you're done.. you can ALWAYS use the storage!! lol.

good idea theresa!

*Chelle*
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I love the fishes cuz they're SOOO delicious...

If you have a tank of nearly the same size or 2 smaller ones sititng around and can make 2 trips I would set that up on the floor 1/4-1/2 filled with the new water if your using tapwater, then go get all fish out of the 72gallon, put what you can including filter material in bags, take down filters and pack those, move as much water as you can to finish filling the temporary tank and setup the fish and filters on the temporary tank(s). I've used plastic storage containers as well when no tanks were available but you can't run as many different types of filters on them and any container over 15gallons will bend too much.

After fish and filters with bacteria are safe go back and drain the rest of the 72gallon. You then have plenty of time to pack up the substrate, any plants, any other equipment, move the tank, and get it set back up without worrying about the bacteria dying or the fish running out of oxygen. You can try to move it all at once but bacteria starts to die off within about an hour of not having water moving over it and I found I was just too rushed to get it all done.

I have other tanks but the next size down is only a 20 gallon so I don't now how much help they are. Would the filter I have on the 72 gallon be safe to run on the 20 gallon??? I hope so cause the trip should take about 20-30 mins. So I will be taking as much of the tank water with me as possible. Should I add some "Stability" to the tank when I set up in the new place??

The problem is most cannister filters won't run on tanks or containers sitting on the ground. The water has to be above them and you'd have to cut the tubes to fit so if you have a cannister that idea won't work unless you have a tank at least as tall as a 55g. If your tank only has 1 filter it might be too much to run on a 20g anyway. I did just run a penguin 330 on a 15g storage container for 3days because I had to tear down my 90g. All the fish were fine but in that container I put my tetras and rainbows. The slower fish like my gouramis were in another container with a small water pump. You could just use the tank/containers, lay the media in the bottom, and then run some air pumps. All you need is to keep the media in oxygenated water so alot of water or water with an air pump will work fine. Also hardier fish can stay in bags or buckets for an hour without any problems if someone just plain won't fit or won't get along in a 20g. It was a bit tight for my royal plec to sit in a 15g container for several days but I ran an internal filter that had been running on my ram tank so it was cycled. I've had to tear down and move more tanks than I'd ever thought possible but I've never lost a fish. The worst one is going to be when we move out of this apartment and I have to take down the new reef tank.

The fish I have are 3 weather loaches, 2 otos, 9 adult and 2 baby playts, and 8 black neons. I also have a 12" bubble wall. Would that be sufficient to keep the bacteria alive?? Thanks for the help

Those guys should fit in a 20g just fine for probably up to 12 hours. It shouldn't take you nearly that long but put a top on the tank. If you can't find anything solid plastic wrap or mesh screen door material works well. The weather loaches will be all excited about the new surroundings and I've had a couple go carpet surfing when suddenly put in shallower water instead of my 2' high tank. The bubble curtain would work fine to keep the temporary tank oxygenated for both bacteria and fish. I'd just float any biomedia you have or if your running powerfilters the cartridges can be laid on the bottom of the tank. Large cartridges such as from my penguin 330 don't fit in bags for transport so I had to lay them in a shallow plastic container with water and tape down plastic wrap over it.

Bacteria starters might be useful but unless you have biospira they generally take several days to start working. Some prime or other ammonia binding product might also be good to have just in case but if you add the media to the tank and oxygenate right away it shouldn't be much of an issue. I would rinse out the gravel. I highly regret not doing so on the last tank I moved. Despite gravel vacs there's an amazing amount of junk collected in there and the chances you'll get it moved and setup in time to save most of the bacteria aren't all that high.

well I've been thinking about doing a gravel change, would this be an opportune time??

Yea, if you want different gravel I'd just do it now. Any bacteria you manage to save in the substrate will probably just take care of the ammonia from the junk that you can't clean out without rinsing it all really well under tapwater.

So basically I just have to be prepared to re-cycle my tank when I move.