I'm moving, tips for a healthy tank?

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melgado22

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Hello everyone,
so i'll be moving 4 hours away and will need to completely empty my tanks in order to do so. I won't be able to move the tanks until the day i move which results in me not being able to have a running tank available for my creatures. I have 2 axolotls and a small tank of fish. I ordered Kordon bags for my creatures but as far as the water goes i'm a bit concerned about my parameters getting all screwed up. I just wanted to know if what i'm doing is the best that i can do for them.

my plan: to empty tanks leaving about 1" of water, not touching any plants or the filter. once i arrive, filling them all with dechlorinated spring water and hoping for the best... i'm not sure how long i'll be able to keep my creatures in the kordon bags before having to put them into the tanks.

suggestions?
 

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Id be curious to see what people suggest as well I'll be in the same boat as you in a few years. Something I was considering was buying some large gallon buckets and putting about half of each tanks water in there and transporting it to the new home, that way you'd only be putting in 50% new water which would basically be a water change. Not sure how practical this idea is though depending on the size of your tanks.


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i have actually considered that too. i have a 20 g and a 15 g but not sure how transportation would go..
 
The bucket idea doesn't sound very good... sounds very messy and since no beneficial bacteria live in the water column, kind of useless, sorry. But if you just bag the creatures up (axolotls with half air half water, and the fish and what not probably more like 75-25 but someone else could probably give you better advice on that matter, they might need 50-50 too) and then maybe put a towel in a box and put the bags in the box it would keep them from sloshing too much, and then acclimate them correctly and carefully (by replacing the bag water little by little with the new water over a couple hours) when you get there you should be okay.

You could try to keep the filter media in a bag (like a ziploc) with dirty tank water you might be able to save some of the bacteria but honestly it's likely that most of the bacteria will be lost (at least that's what I've been told, when I moved I didn't really know too much about the bacteria so just planned to recylce after the move).
 
ok thats good to know.. i was unaware about the bacteria and the water. so it sounds like no matter what, i'll have a bit of a shock with the parameters. I'm assuming the filter media goes into a ziplock to protect bacteria from drying up?
 
I've heard that advice but I'm still unsure why some people say to never do a 100% change (maybe to save the bacteria in the substrate/make sure there is still something for the bacteria to "eat" before the creatures can be put back in to continue producing waste? and maybe because people don't want to take the creatures out because it's stressful? I take my axies out every time because it seems more stressful for them to be pushed around with the water going out and in). I actually just did a 100% change yesterday morning and rinsed my sand, turns out it was holding onto a lot more debris than I realized, just keep the filter media wet (with ditry tank water/always dechlorinized water! chlorine will kill the bacteria as far as I understand), and some bacteria will live in your substrate so I will probably have a little hiccup in my cycle.

And yes to the ziploc bag, I feel like that would be your best bet but also I feel like the bacteria are more fragile than we'd like >.< hopefully someone with more experience can comment further on this topic though!

best of luck though guys and be sure to update us on how the moves go and your methods and if you do save your cycle!
 
If you do a 100% water change you lose all the natural and good bacteria in the water, this can shock axolotls because, like many amphibians, they are sensitive to water quality. But the 100% water change would be even worse for your plants because you would lose all the nutrients in your water necessary for them to grow. Personally I think the bucket idea is the best.
 
I'm sorry, I've just never heard that bacteria live in the water, I've been here for a while and read pretty much everything I can about cycling and a lot of people here seem to be in consensus with me but if someone has proof otherwise I'm glad to admit when I'm wrong! but until then I'm gonna link a few things saying that the bacteria doesn't live in the water as well as general cycling information, the first link is from a betta forum because I like the way it's worded. The others will be posts from this website.

CYCLING: the two-sentence tutorial

http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-be...rate/91397-moving-new-tank-advice-please.html

http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-be...ycling-can-someone-explain-thicko-please.html

http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-be...lters-substrate/99169-cycling-tank-sizes.html

and this is just caudata's guide to cycling (which I like because of the adorable picture, but it just tells you how to cycle) Caudata Culture Articles - Cycling

So I think the buckets of water would be a waste of time and a lot of effort and potential mess. I think you should focus your time and energy on your filter media and saving the bacteria that live in it.
 
Since you didn't know why you shouldn't ever do a 100% water change I've attached an article for your liking. Basically if you acclimate your salamanders correctly and match the ph and chemistry of the water you should be okay. You can always recycle your tank, that's never out of the question. I'm just trying to think of ways to avoid that, buckets seem like a pain in the butt if anyone's got some better solutions that'd be fantastic.


http://www.myaquariumclub.com/why-s...rium-be-given-a-100-water-change-2021394.html


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I actually said that and then did list a couple reasons to not do a 100% change lol sorry for the confusion, and normally, no, a 100% change is not ideal, but only a couple of those reasons are really applicable for someone moving, you have to empty the tank and remove the creatures anyway...

I read through the thing you posted though and most people just said it was to avoid the drastic changes in ph and general hardness which change over time anyways, and to avoid the stress of capturing and moving the animal, which they're going to do anyway...and most people said as long as they were acclimated correctly it's really not too big of a deal.(sorry I thought the original concern was more for keeping the tank cycle)

Axolotls are pretty good with a variety of ph and general hardnesses so they aren't really particular as long as you have a nice long acclimation time it should be okay I think. (personally the 4 times I've moved with mine I really didn't know anything so I didn't acclimate them very well at all, just let them float for 10 minutes and plopped them in, and they weren't any worse for ware, but everyone's situation is different and seeing as I stayed within the same state the water quality probably wasn't too too different except when I first got them and they came from clear across the country)
 
Great, I appreciate all the helpful links and information everyone posted :)

we will be using store bought spring water (dechlorinated) to refill the new tank because Dallas, TX tap water is very... well.. gross.
 
we arrived a couple days ago,
i think the whole process probably stressed me out more than it did them. i used the generic breather bags, when i got to the house i immediately set up their tanks with a mix of spring water from the store and tap water (both dechlorinated). i almost thought it was like they couldn't breath(?) it seemed like they were dazed and really stressed once i let them into their tanks, their gills were really red and they weren't moving very much. just a theory of mine, since they have both gills and lungs is it possible that they need the oxygen air bubble instead of the breather bag with no air? not sure.. anyway today, everyone is alive and well. eating and happy, I'm glad its done and over with!
 
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