[pjhoyle]

Hi everyone, I'm planning on upgrading my tank from 96l to 250l/300l. I'm fairly confident on what I need to do get the water etc ready for moving fish over but I'm wondering how I go about the manual logistics of using the same space to remove the old tank and get the new tank into place. As I will need to have both tanks running for a while I would have thought but then how do I move a massive tank into place without emptying it again?!

 

[NotThePainter]

buckets

The fish can live quite a long time in buckets, you may need to heat them or even aerate them, but buckets work really well. Don't feed the fish for a few days before the move.

Plan plan plan but you'll need to do something like this. (I just did this, twice, over the Christmas break, since I was tearing down and resetting my 75 gallon tank.) I'm going to write out what I did, you'll need to do something different, maybe with buckets maybe with 2 moves.

The important thing is to keep your filter bacteria alive!

1. Setup 65 gallon tank, build a temporary cinderblock stand, level, leak test.
2. Transfer half the water from the 75 to the 65.
3. Transfer heater and filter to the 65.
4. Start catching fish. Realize that this really stirs up a lot of mulm and I can't see the fish
5. Remove most of the water from the 75, remove all plants and driftwood, this all goes into the 65
6. Catch all remaining fish
7. Sleep
8. Catch all remaining fish, yeah, some hid really well.

At this point I tore down the 75, cleaned, etc... which you won't have to do. Then I put it all back together. I got it done in 2 days but allocated 3 for it, just in case something went wrong.

I'm guessing you would do something like.

1. Fish into buckets, keep all the water (might be optional, if you fish are used to huge water changes this shouldn't be an issue.)
2. Preserve the filter bacteria, maybe run it off a buckte
3. Drain the 96, remove it.
4. Install the 300, substrate, plants
5. Add the water you saved in step 1
6. Add the filter, heater etc.. You probably have a new filter, so put the bio media from your old filter into the new filter.
7. Add the fish

Plan it out. 300l is a big tank, think about what can go wrong. Is the new tank level? Can the floor handle the load? Did you leave room behind for hoses. One you have the gravel in it, even without water, you will likely not be able to move it.

You've got this, you can do it!

 

[minorhero]

Its not that bad to move tanks over. How you do it depends on how long you plan for the process to take. Personally when I scape tanks for the first time I like to do it slowly over the course of a few days. Much less stressful then trying to cram it all into one day. So here is what I do when I was rescaping my 40 gallon breeder.

Get a plastic storage bin. They are pretty cheap and hold water just fine, especially for only a few days. Fill it with water and literally take your filtration off your current tank and move it over to the storage container.

Next drain the existing tank down this makes catching the fish MUCH easier, trying to catch them in a full tank is a real pain. Drain till you only have a few inches of water and get them out.

Put the fish into the storage container.

Finish draining the existing tank.

At this point you can remove all plants and hardscape. Plants can either float in the storage container or in buckets or both.

Empty substrate and clean up old tank for storage or whatever.

Install new tank including any and all hardscape. Like I said, I prefer to do this part slowly over a few days. Your fish will be absolutely fine during this period as they are still getting the same filtration they were before. If its going to be longer then say 2 or 3 days you will need to provide light and ferts for the plants floating.

Anyway once you are happy with the scape you go ahead and plant the tank and then install the media from your old filter into the new filter and tada you are ready to fill the tank and move over the fish.

If you use aquasoil you will have large ammonia spikes in the first few weeks so you will need to regular large water changes just like if this were a brand new tank (cause it is).

Hopefully this is helpful.

 

[pjhoyle]

buckets

The fish can live quite a long time in buckets, you may need to heat them or even aerate them, but buckets work really well. Don't feed the fish for a few days before the move.

Plan plan plan but you'll need to do something like this. (I just did this, twice, over the Christmas break, since I was tearing down and resetting my 75 gallon tank.) I'm going to write out what I did, you'll need to do something different, maybe with buckets maybe with 2 moves.

The important thing is to keep your filter bacteria alive!

1. Setup 65 gallon tank, build a temporary cinderblock stand, level, leak test.
2. Transfer half the water from the 75 to the 65.
3. Transfer heater and filter to the 65.
4. Start catching fish. Realize that this really stirs up a lot of mulm and I can't see the fish
5. Remove most of the water from the 75, remove all plants and driftwood, this all goes into the 65
6. Catch all remaining fish
7. Sleep
8. Catch all remaining fish, yeah, some hid really well.

At this point I tore down the 75, cleaned, etc... which you won't have to do. Then I put it all back together. I got it done in 2 days but allocated 3 for it, just in case something went wrong.

I'm guessing you would do something like.

1. Fish into buckets, keep all the water (might be optional, if you fish are used to huge water changes this shouldn't be an issue.)
2. Preserve the filter bacteria, maybe run it off a buckte
3. Drain the 96, remove it.
4. Install the 300, substrate, plants
5. Add the water you saved in step 1
6. Add the filter, heater etc.. You probably have a new filter, so put the bio media from your old filter into the new filter.
7. Add the fish

Plan it out. 300l is a big tank, think about what can go wrong. Is the new tank level? Can the floor handle the load? Did you leave room behind for hoses. One you have the gravel in it, even without water, you will likely not be able to move it.

You've got this, you can do it!

😂👍Nice one thanks a lot for that really helpful. Now I just need to convince the wife a new tank is needed over a new carpet!

Its not that bad to move tanks over. How you do it depends on how long you plan for the process to take. Personally when I scape tanks for the first time I like to do it slowly over the course of a few days. Much less stressful then trying to cram it all into one day. So here is what I do when I was rescaping my 40 gallon breeder.

Get a plastic storage bin. They are pretty cheap and hold water just fine, especially for only a few days. Fill it with water and literally take your filtration off your current tank and move it over to the storage container.

Next drain the existing tank down this makes catching the fish MUCH easier, trying to catch them in a full tank is a real pain. Drain till you only have a few inches of water and get them out.

Put the fish into the storage container.

Finish draining the existing tank.

At this point you can remove all plants and hardscape. Plants can either float in the storage container or in buckets or both.

Empty substrate and clean up old tank for storage or whatever.

Install new tank including any and all hardscape. Like I said, I prefer to do this part slowly over a few days. Your fish will be absolutely fine during this period as they are still getting the same filtration they were before. If its going to be longer then say 2 or 3 days you will need to provide light and ferts for the plants floating.

Anyway once you are happy with the scape you go ahead and plant the tank and then install the media from your old filter into the new filter and tada you are ready to fill the tank and move over the fish.

If you use aquasoil you will have large ammonia spikes in the first few weeks so you will need to regular large water changes just like if this were a brand new tank (cause it is).

Hopefully this is helpful.

Hi, that was really helpful thanks a lot. I've got an old large bin I was using for office waste paper so can use that. Good tip! Was slightly over thinking the logistic.. Can't wait to get it sorted now. 🐠

 

[mourip]

I just went through this. I went from a 25 gallon tank to a 75 gallon tank. Basically I tossed in the towel and slid the old tank to a spot nearby and then set up the new tank completely, including cycling, before moving over plants, fish, and shrimp. It was not cheap and took time but everyone survived.

 

[NotThePainter]

Of course, storage bins! I used bucket because I was moving 300 miles and needed lids and the ability to carry them. When my wife and I are at Home Depot and they have end caps with the big Rubbermaid bins we say, "Oh look, a 50 gallon aquarium!"

 

[pjhoyle]

Of course, storage bins! I used bucket because I was moving 300 miles and needed lids and the ability to carry them. When my wife and I are at Home Depot and they have end caps with the big Rubbermaid bins we say, "Oh look, a 50 gallon aquarium!"

😂