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Aquariums: How do I Move it?


I(21F) have an 180L aquarium right now. I LOVE my community tank.

but. I've met a problem. we're moving May 26th, and are supposed to be done May 27th. we have most of the house packed, And thankfully my step-dad has an Van we'll use. our new house is also just 4 Streets away so we're definitely able to move everything within a day.

the only problem is that I have no Idea how I'll move my aquarium????

I don't have MANY fish in it. 6 Neon tetras, 5 Corydora's, 2 Gouramies, 3 Platys(and their many many babies) , and 5 Guppies. I also have a few Shrimp though I have no Idea how many. I bought 15…like 2 months ago. and 2 Snails. I know I can take out most of them. move them into buckets and take them to the new house. but..

am I supposed to throw out all this water? cuz I don't want the little ecosystem to fall apart…I have so many plants, the sand (I think) Has so many good bacterias. should I just fill up like 70% of the water into buckets to take with me??

and the many plants đŸ«ŁđŸ«ŁđŸ«Ł.

Posted by _bambi0713

9 Comments

  1. TimelyBlacksmith92 on

    Maybe you could drain the water into buckets with lids? They sell them at Lowe’s or Home Depot.

  2. GalaxyNinjaGamer on

    Move all the living things you can in a bucket but move it with everything inside still with a little bit of water for whatever you don’t get and pick that heavy thing up and put in its new spot obviously take the stand at the same time or after if u can. Since it’s so close nothing will happen and since you wanna keep the water u can keep it in buckets with a lid

  3. feminova on

    I have moved big tanks, and I put the filter with all sponges/ bacteria in a bucket with water.
    And the tank with external filter just moved with all in place.

    It went ok, lots of stress though.

    Best of luck!

  4. Mindless_Childhood32 on

    I would add to rent those glass suction thingys in a hardware store. That way it’s much easier and safer to carry it

  6. GiraffePretty4488 on

    The water isn’t really where the micro ecosystem lives, and you can do a 100% water change no problem. 

    Take out the fish, then drain the tank completely. 

    Leave the plants in place but spray them with a spray bottle of treated or tank water every half hour or so. You can also put a big piece of plastic wrap or something inside just to slow evaporation from the leaves so you don’t have to do as much spraying. 

    Move the tank, then refill with treated tap water. All good. 

    Depending on your maintenance schedule, your fish may have an adjustment period. If you do regular water changes anyway, they probably won’t notice a difference, but if you take a low maintenance approach, they might be a bit disoriented for half a day or so. 

    The particular fish you have are actually well suited to new water, and especially changes to softer water (your tap water most likely is softer than your tank water). They will be fine. Some of them might even be triggered to spawn. 

    Edit: I went back to check if you have invertebrates and you do. For the shrimp and snails I would keep them in their bucket longer and slowly acclimatize, possibly even over a few days, before re-adding them to the tank. You may miss some when transferring fish and I suspect they’ll be fine, but they’re more sensitive to big water changes than fish. 

  7. PhoenixBisket on

    Get a few 5 gallon buckets.
    1 for fish and plants.
    1 for sand.
    1 for any miscellaneous things you want to keep wet.

    Drain the tank and remove all the inhabitants. Remove as much sand and any hardscape as you can. The lighter the tank is, the easier it’ll be to maneuver and position in its new location. It looks like it’s a little bigger than a 40G, so 2 people should be able to move it pretty easily.

    You’re not going very far, so you shouldn’t need to put any extra effort to keep the filter cycled. You can keep it in one of the buckets.

    Move the tank off the stand, move the stand first, or both depending on room. Refill tank with sand, water, filter, and acclimate the fish and plants to the new water since the temperature will likely vary.

    Fish should be fine in a bucket for a few hours unless they’re kept in a very warm location. As far as they know, you just did a 95% water change.

    Water holds very little beneficial bacteria. The filter holds the most, the sand 2nd, and the hardscape 3rd.

  8. H_Mc on

    PSA: if you’re buying any of the medium sized buckets from Lowe’s/Home Depot. Hold them up to the light and make sure they’re watertight. I’ve never had that issue with the big buckets, I thought the medium buckets would be the same quality but easier to carry 
 I was wrong.

  9. Flyrainbowcorn on

    Fun fact, I bought a huge tank several months ago and shortly after purchasing it found out we might be moving. It is still empty because I don’t want to deal with trying to transport a huge tank đŸ« 

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