New Apt. New Tank, Same fish

muse435

I am moving across town next week and want to take my fish. I thought that this would be a perfect time to upgrade my tank. I now have a new 37 gal tank (gave up on the idea of a used tank) and will be setting it up on Saturday at the new place. I have an a few days after before I have to be out of my current apt. I was wondering what would be the best way of setting up my new tank. If it was a second tank I know how to set it up from scratch using new gravel, plants etc. But since I am on a bit of a time crunch any advise is welcome. My current tank is 10g w/ a Zebra Danio and 2 glofish.

My current plan is to set up the new tank at the new place adding only the new washed gravel and making sure everything is ready on Friday (We get the keys late that night). then on Saturday remove the gravel from my ten gallon tank and put it in a 5 gallon bucket with enough water from the tank to cover it. drive across town and add the old gravel and water to the new tank and fill it up then using aqua safe for the tap water, then turn on the filter and let it run for 24 hours. Finally on Sunday I will bag my three fish and drive them to there new home.

Is there anything I should do different? Should I get one or two more zebra danios for the start up (I plan on getting more eventually)?

I know that the move will be stressful to the fish so anything I can do to keep them happy is great. Thanx in advance.

Jayy

To speed up your cycle you can use gravel and/or water from your old tank. Once there I would say let your fish stay in their old tank for a couple days. Moving the fish in a cooler filled with water and plants, etc, can help reduce stress for fish. I would wait a week or so to add any more fish, just to be safe.

zof

Sounds pretty good, only thing I would add is to move everything all at once, gravel, livestock and old filter. This way your biological filter moves over with the ammonia source (the fish). Its a symbiotic relation ship and one really can't survive with out the other, if you move the gravel a day ahead of time then your beneficial bacteria will die off after a few hours without the ammonia source.

And still be prepared for a mini cycle, so test test test.

CamryDS

If you want to reduce the stress of fish, buy either a bottle of "easylife easy start" beneficial bacteria starter or seachem stability and dump about 1/2 the bottle inside the new tank as you are introducing fish, use your old tank's water in the new tank (make sure it's heated properly) and you shouldn't feel the cycle as much.

with the movement of gravel, etc you'll introduce things in the watercolumn that may be nasty, careful about that -- rinse the gravel in old tank water to reduce loss.

All I can really advise since you are on a time crunch.

AbbeysDad

I agree with Zof - move rinsed gravel, filter and fish in the same day, but slowly acclimate the fish to the new fresh water (much like if you just brought them home form the LFS - I prefer drip acclimation).
All said and done, all your really changing is the glass and the water!

Hoping you and your fish will enjoy yer new home!

muse435

What I take from these responses then is:

siphon off about 5 gallons into a bucket and seal it. Place the three fish into three bags of water air (1:2) and set them in a cooler. siphon off about 2-3 more gallons of water into a second bucket. use the remaining water in the old tank to "wash" off the gravel, then place the gravel into the second bucket along with the filter media, decorations, and fake plants. Drive to the new apt with the fish and buckets. Dump the second buckets into the new tank (that will already have ~27g of water [it's a 37g tank]). Add the decorations and plants. dump in the first bucket then top the water level with treated water. Use the drip method to acclimate the fish to the new water. Finally add the fish.

zof

Pulling the gravel out of your old tank while water is still in there should pretty much clean any lose stuff off the gravel. And using the old water isn't necessary but will help the fish acclimate easier since it is a portion of the water they are use to. But yea basically you got it down.

Actually I just though its only a 10 gallon tank, so you can probably leave the gravel in the 10 and take the whole tank over to the new place with just about a half inch of water over the gravel and you should be good.