How to Move an Aquarium

By Scott Boone

Image courtesy of Pixabay

Having been a former aquarium owner myself, I thought I would take the time today to tell you the right way and wrong way to move your fish tank.  To start off with, an aquarium is touchy, to begin with since it’s made of glass.  While there are other fragile items that you will no doubt be moving, nothing comes close to the fragility of an aquarium, especially since it won’t exactly be empty when it gets moved.  While you will want to drain the tank 95% of the way, you will need to leave enough water in the bottom of the tank to keep the gravel or other bottom media moist. 

That doesn’t mean you are going to pour the rest of the water down the drain.  Far from it.  Gather several clean 5-gallon pails with lids and fill them with 3 gallons of water.  This will be the transport system for your fish.  (Fill the bucket any further, and you risk giving yourself a hernia when you pick it up, since water weighs 8-pounds per gallon.) Unless you only have goldfish, which don’t mind swimming in unheated, unaerated water for hours on end, you will want to move your fish tanks as either the first thing or the last moving day.  The reasons will be obvious as you read on.

There’s Something Fishy Going On

Image courtesy of Pixabay

Before you even think of moving one or more fish tanks, you need to temporarily evict the fish.  The thing about fish, whether they live in fresh or salt water, is that they are sensitive to change.  Should the temperature, the pH or the salinity of the water suddenly change, you risk winding up with a lot of dead fish.  That’s why you need one or more transport buckets.  (I also recommend you avoid feeding the fish for 24 hours prior to transport. This will reduce stress and mess since your finny friends will be cooped up in a bucket for 4 hours or so.) 

Provided that your fish are not predatory, you can feel free to fish them out of the aquarium and place in the same transport bucket.  If you own any aggressive fish, you will want to segregate them in their own bucket.  When I moved my tank, I put my Oscars in one bucket and the rest of the fish in another bucket.  This ensured they all arrived alive. 

Image courtesy of Wikimedia

Then you can begin the dismantling phase.  By dismantle, I mean removing the hood, the filter, and any other external equipment.  Wrap and box these items, then drain the tank until there is less than a gallon of water remaining in the bottom.  With the weight of gravel, the under gravel filter, not to mention the weight of the tank itself, you are looking at having to heft somewhere in the range of 50 pounds with a 30-gallon tank.  This means it will take two people to move the tank.

I recommend you pack the tank, the stand, the hood and the fish in a van or SUV, provided there is ample room in the back.  Regardless of the time of year, you need to get the tank and the fish into the van as expediently as possible.  If you are making your move in summer or winter, you need to run your vehicle’s air conditioner or heater for 10-minutes prior to packing the fish, since a sudden thermal shock can easily kill them.  (That’s also why you should never pack fish in the trunk.)

I also recommend you wrap the tank in a blanket and sit it flat on the floor to keep it from being jostled during transport.  The last thing you want to do is arrive at your new location only to find that the tank has a big crack in it.  You also need to ensure that the transport buckets are secured, so there is no chance of them taking a tumble.  The best way to do this is to turn the tank stand on its side and tie the buckets to the legs.  Bungee cord or rope is best for securing the buckets.  Try to fill in any empty space by adding pillows or even the box that contains the tank’s accouterments.  The trick is to make sure that the buckets are prevented from sliding around when you drive. Last but not least, make sure you secure the lids on the buckets.  (Poke a few holes in them to allow fresh air into the buckets.)

Once you hit the road, you need to practice defensive driving since the last thing you want is to slam on the brakes with several buckets of water in back.  Also make your turns wide, since neither fish nor kids like to be jostled when riding in the back of a vehicle.  While fish are not known to get car sick, they are easily stressed.  If at all possible, try not to stop until you arrive at your destination.  Leaving your fish parked in a closed vehicle is the worst thing you can do to them. 

Image courtesy of flickr

When you get to your new location, set up the tank immediately.   Instead of filling the tank all the way, I recommend filling it only halfway.  While you can use fresh water straight from the tap, even better would be to have taken a few extra buckets of the original tank water with you.  This will keep the fish from being stressed.  Once there is water in the tank, reattach the filter, heater and air pump. 

While some people say you should net the fish when you are ready to return them to the tank, I found the best thing to do was pour them slowly out of the bucket into the tank in the water in which they were transported.  The less their environment changes, the better.  You can refill the tank gradually over the course of the next few days.  Feed your fish the following day as well.  This will help them get back into the swim of things.

Provided you move your fish as carefully and expediently as possible, the probability is high that you won’t find any casualties floating at the top of the tank the day after the move.  If you do detect that any of your fish has been stressed, consult your local aquarium.  They can recommend additives that contain vitamins and immune-stimulants that can help fish recover their vitality.  Because just like people, fish can be stressed out by a move.

With over 4,000 moves, Scott's Discount Movers has handled moves of all sizes, including local and cross country. If you are looking to move your home or office, you can depend on Scott's Discount Movers to provide a stress-free relocation.