How to Move Your Aquarium
Moving your aquarium can be stressful for both the fish and the hobbyist. Preparation is the key and if planned and done correctly it can be relatively easy with minimal harm to the fish or the movers. Most people understand and plan for the physical move correctly but often the real problems show up afterwards due to a loss of filter bacteria. Preparation is one of the keys to a successful and relatively stress free move for your wet pets.

Bags, buckets and boxes
For any move you will need some buckets at the very least and if you are going any distance then bags, a cooler and some boxes to transport fish, equipment, and the decorations. We can supply proper bags, styrofoam lined boxes and buckets at extremely competitive prices so give us a call. Excellent buckets with tight sealing lids can be bought at Colangelo Wine's up the street from us at 657 Old highway 2 for $1 each. (They have been used for wine so they are fish safe.)

Moving a short distance
Moving your aquarium to a different location in the house is pretty straight forward.

Turn off all of the equipment and begin removing all the decorations checking to make sure no fish are hiding in them. The water can be siphoned into a plastic garbage can or some buckets leaving just a few inches. Keeping as much aquarium water is important for the health of the tank as discussed later on.

If your aquarium is small
If your aquarium is 20 gallons or less then you and a fit friend move the aquarium with a enough water in it that you will not have to remove your fish.

For larger aquariums the fish should be removed and the tank drained and possibly the substrate removed as well.

Once done, you can move the aquarium to its new spot and refill it, get the filter running immediately and start replacing the decorations. Your fish will be stressed from all the activity so don`t feed them and leave the lights off for the rest of the day.

Moving more than 30 minutes away
The basics are the same but Your fish will need to be properly caught and transported and it is likely your filter bacteria will be damaged. This might be a good time to upgrade to a new tank if you can arrange the sale of your old one to coincide with the move.

Losses to your bacteria colony
The biggest problem with a move is the damage or complete loss of your filter bacteria, the effects of which often does not for several days or even weeks later. The bacteria in the filter of a well stocked aquarium takes a long time to establish to a level capable of processing the waste produced by your fish. Changes in temperature, water chemistry, and oxygen levels will all kill filter bacteria and additionally change to ph can drastically increase the harm caused by that waste. All these factors are generally at work during a move.

If you experience a significant loss of filter bacteria you will have to cycle your tank the same as when you first set it up. The difference now is that likely have have a full load of fish that are producing lots of waste and with an impaired filter it will not be able to process it. That means a spike in ammonia and nitrite levels and since your fish are already stressed out health and disease issues can flare up quickly. Another danger of a soured filtration system is that if you hook it back up to the aquarium and turn it on you will flood the aquarium with a relatively toxic mix of decomposing bacteria dramatically increasing the entire problem.

Protecting the filter bacteria during a move

The best solution is to keep the bacteria alive. If it is a short move of less than 30 minutes you can generally transfer your filter directly from one location to the next will a minimal loss of bacteria. Canister filter are the exception as the available oxygen will be used up quickly and the bacteria colony will start to collapse around 15 minutes or so and decline very quickly after that.

Catching and transporting fish
Everyone knows how to catch a fish and yet a large percentage of people do it wrong. We always use the largest net possible and move as lowly as possible. The idea is to not panic them any more then required. When moving your tank it is simplest to remove all the decororations and equipment and then drain the water to a few inches making catching the fish a lot easier. It is often easier if you use two nets and herd them with one into the other.

Stay patient and do not chase them with the net. If you use bags to transport them they should be double bagged and remember that air is much more important than water so keep a ratio of a quarter water to three-quarters air. Spiny fish like catfish or loaches should be packaged individually to avoid damage to other fish.

After the move
Now that the move is complete many people think they can relax but of course that is not the case. The fish have been heavily stressed, their environment completely disrupted, water chemistry changed and there is likely at least some loss of filter bacteria. This is in fact when the majority of deaths to your live stock will occur.

It does not matter whether the aquarium is the last thing you pack or the first but it should probably be the first thing you set up at the new location. You should never move the fish in the aquarium unless it is a small system that can be placed in the passenger compartment of the vehicle.When moving less than one hour from your home you might consider bagging your fish individually the same way your pet store does. Once bagged you should keep the fish in the dark to reduce stress.