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Plans for Moving


DETAquarium

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Hey ShrimpSpot!

 

I need your help! I love to plan, budget, etc for future projects, and one of those will be moving at some point between the first and second quarter of next year. With that said, I am only moving about 2 miles or so, but all aquariums must be somewhat broken down and transported successfully.

 

All of my aquariums are rimless, and my hopes with your help is that I can just drain the water to very minimal levels, leave substrate and shrimp in the aquariums, pick-up aquarium without breaking and moving to new house. So the question of the day is, can I simply pick-up a rimless aquarium without any doubt that it would not break in my hands with substrate still in the tank? or Should I pick up for a short period of time, to transport on some particle board, or plywood and then move to vehicle and house from there?

 

Thank you for your feedback!

 

DETAquarium

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Hey Darryl, I would carry it on a piece of wood if possible.  You are going to basically drain it all the way just enough water to cover the substrate -for safety and peace of mind.I have personally cracked a tank by picking it up, from the pressure of my hands against the glass for just a few seconds. I would remove the shrimp or as many shrimp as possible. The substrate could move around too much and upset the balance of the tank or release ammonia Put the shrimp in buckets. This is just in my humble opinion.

I know everyone does it their own way but I've done the method draining and leaving shrimp in and I regret it.

Edited by dazalea
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I need to move in 4 months and the thought of moving 18 60ltr tanks to move and shrimps and discus is killing me. Will definitely be following this thread. Was planing to move in a similar way as said above shrimps in to bags and draining the tanks as much water as possible then refilling fresh water and adjusting water parameters. But I'm scared the tanks may start cycling again due to the move and also may loose bacteria on the sponge filters during the move. Any thought about that. Thnx


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I need to move in 4 months and the thought of moving 18 60ltr tanks to move and shrimps and discus is killing me. Will definitely be following this thread. Was planing to move in a similar way as said above shrimps in to bags and draining the tanks as much water as possible then refilling fresh water and adjusting water parameters. But I'm scared the tanks may start cycling again due to the move and also may loose bacteria on the sponge filters during the move. Any thought about that. Thnx


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Just throwing out some ideas [emoji4] If you have a ways to go you could use one of those battery powered air pumps on a gang valve to keep the filters running in a bucket on the trip. You could also get a power inverter for your car that plugs into the cig lighter and run your air pump to the filters. You could even put the shrimp/fish in five gallon buckets and run the filters in each bucket on the trip.

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Just throwing out some ideas [emoji4] If you have a ways to go you could use one of those battery powered air pumps on a gang valve to keep the filters running in a bucket on the trip. You could also get a power inverter for your car that plugs into the cig lighter and run your air pump to the filters. You could even put the shrimp/fish in five gallon buckets and run the filters in each bucket on the trip.

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Inverter can be sourced and I have big 4 outlet air pump. Thnx


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Hi All,

 I agree that some type of support under the tank is the best option.  5/8" plywood with a 1'x2" frame attached to the wood will give support and not allow the tank to shift.   I think I would also put together some support around the top out of 1"x2" lumber, so the tank can't twist out of square and compromise the corner joint.   A 10g or 60l tank, substrate, and some water is going to be somewhat heavy and awkward to handle.

 

I would also move the shrimp separately with the sponge and the shrimp in the same container.  That way the shrimp can hold on and eat off the sponge as they might be in the transport container while the tank is gotten back up to normal.  Substrate is most likely going to be suspended and probable mini cycle of NO2 and NO3

 

It might be a good idea to have several plastic or net breeder boxes as some tanks may take longer to get up to speed and the shrimp can at least be in a tank with stable parameters and good water flowing thru the netting but kept separate. 

 

Hobbies are way to expensive at times.  :notfair:

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Someone here had an idea to drain most of the water, then fit a piece of sponge material (think HMF) over the water to prevent it from sloshing around so much.

 

The last time I moved my tanks, I drained everything but an inch of water, moved all the plants, filters, and decorations to buckets, then left the shrimp in the tanks. They were 5.5 gallon tanks with braces, so I didn't worry to much about supporting them too much, aside from cardboard. As far as I know, I didn't lose any shrimp, but since your collection is so fancy, you should probably be more cautious. If I could, I would set up brand new tanks, cycle them, then move the shrimp over. I'm always looking for more reasons to buy tanks though...

 

Catching shrimp isn't fun, especially when the babies are at risk of being flushed away. I would probably catch/trap as many as possible in the weeks prior to the move, then move them to breeder boxes until it's time to take apart the tank. The last tank I moved took about an hour to catch all of the shrimp.

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Breeder boxes is also a good option. I ended up using a bunch during my move. For the reason OEM stated-

"breeder boxes as some tanks may take longer to get up to speed and the shrimp can at least be in a tank with stable parameters and good water flowing thru the netting but kept "

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I'd cooler the stock.

 

After that moving tank with substrate comes down to size of tank and amount of substrate. I have picked up a 55 with ~250lbs in it but I would never recommend someone with common sense do that. Sure the tank should support ~500 lbs of water plus that but it still seemed a little hinkey when I did it.

 

A 10 gal on the other hand I'd feel OK moving it if it was filled to the top with substrate.

 

If you are building you own acrylic tanks, some of those will stop a 30-06 but will scratch like no one's business with the wrong substrate nibbling on them. I would feel way better moving a glass tank with substrate in it than an acrylic in the same state.

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Thank you all for the suggestions! Really helps my planning and hopefully a successful end result!

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