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i'll have to move my aquarium in a month or so.
i have to rebuild my small tank (7G) now because of a deadly desease.
i was thinking of using layered substrate for my plants.

how to move the tank without ruining the layers, the plants or the tank itself?

Hi,
The absolute "safest" way is to drain the tank,
place the plants in plastic bags with just a
tiny, tiny bit of water. Seal the bag so no
air/water can escape, wrap in newspaper, and
pack. Take all the gravel out, wash it, and
leave it out to dry as well. Scrub the tank
with a diluted mixture of chlorine bleach
(unscented) rinse throughly and dry.
Scrub the heater and other parts as well.

In other words, to move, the safest way is
to start over. If it is a "fast move,"
a couple of hours at most, you can try
draining the tank (dig a hole in the gravel
and drain the water down to the bottom glass.
Then, using two people, slide the tank on top of
a 3/4 inch piece of plywood at least the same
size as the tank, and pick the tank up with the
plywood carry out to the car, and move it that
way. If it is a short time, you can dump the
tank water into a container and take most of
it with you, so you are only "topping" off the
tank when you arrive and place the tank in it's
new location. Same with the fish, put them in
a bucket and cover it so they don't jump out.
Buy a DC air pump like folks use to keep bait
fish alive. Hook it up to an airstone and let
it run in the bucket.

Hope that helps...
Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

I recently moved a 55g, 32g, 30g, 29g and four 10g tanks, all planted, some heavily, about 25 miles. The 10s weren't so bad, fish, plants and water in one 5g bucket and another 5g bucket for the rest of the water and I left the substrate in the tank. The 29g only had Ricca and Duckweed floating on top but was filled with 50lbs of honeycomb limestone and 5 Labidochromis Caeruleus, as they were getting over 4" they were moved to a new 55g tank. The 32g acrylic tank was very heavily planted and I used many 5g buckets to move the plants, fish and water and removed 90% of the substrate. The 30g and 55g had gravel over laterite and were fairly heavily planted with lots of crypts. I tried to keep the layers of substrate separated but was not successful but it doesn't seem to have hurt anything. The crypts all melted but seem to be coming back okay. Of a 100+ fish I only lost two Neolamprologus Ornatipinus who, I think, got stuck in their shells and one Diamond Tetra, who was a few years old. They died in the week after the move. I moved it all in 3 trips, using two cars, with a total of about 24 hours of work from tear down to up and running. It was a lot of work but went pretty smooth. I only put about 25% new water in the tanks when I set them back up as the water was a bit different from the old to new locations. My one piece of advice, buy extra buckets and do not fill them up all the way and wear padded gloves, my hands still hurt from carrying all of those buckets of water and especially gravel.

Oh, and I'm never moving again

Alex

thanks, i'll remember that.

actually, i forgot to say it's a small tank, making it possible to keep the gravel inside that tank (only 4-6kg of substrate and about 30Liter tank).
i am planning to get another 120Liter sometime soon, and i'm sure to keep moving every year or so, so i'll keep your advice in mind for next time too!