Moving my tank, need help and advice

[dnas17]

So We're currently in the process of finishing off the basement in my house, my tank is currently upstairs and personally I think its just too nice to not have in plain site  so I really want to move it. I already know how I will do this, it is going to consist of moving all the rock and inverts into a huge tubaware full of most of my tank water however for my fish I don't really want to put them in a bucket. I only have 3 fish, two clowns and a foxface and I was wondering if it would be a good idea to grab a used tank that someone used for freshwater maybe 20-30 gallons and put the fish in there so there truly is no huge rush when setting up the new aquarium. The reason I want to do this is A) I want to be able to let the tank do any mini cycle it needs to and B) I'm probably going to kick up a duststorm with the sand when I refill the tank and overall would just like to stabilize the temp and water params. If this doesnt sound like a good idea to keep the fish in a 20-30 gallon tank does anyone know of any store or person who is willing to babysit fish? Thanks! Also if anyone has had experience with this please dont hesitate to give me tips or advice on how you did it.

[Papou]

if your keeping all the contents in the tank the move can be done in a day no mini cycle little cloudy water wont hurt the fish

[dnas17]

Thing is i have a feeling im gonna kick up a ton of  dust, also how long can the fish survive in the bucket

[Darth]

Thing is i have a feeling im gonna kick up a ton of  dust, also how long can the fish survive in the bucket

when I moved from NY to ottawa I had to leave my fish in a bucket for over a week =(

[Papou]

How big is the tank?
Adding water slowly with sand in tank shouldnt make water overly clowdy if done right .
When fish are shipped they can spend over 25 hours in a bag,so in a bucket your good for a few hours.

[dnas17]

Its 75 gallons, well if i keep as much tank water as i can will i have to acclimate them?

[Papou]

I would keep all the water for the move no acclimation,after everything is in the tank do 10% change if u find water to cloudy .

[dnas17]

Should i take the sand out its about 40 pounds

[Papou]

If its a live sand bed try not to disturb it to much ,if you vacuum it completely at water change  remove some if its to heavy,40 LB of sand 75 Gal tank two guys can carry with no problem keep it level as possible going up or down stairs .

[robt18]

The age old question of disturbing the sand bed....

Personally, I'd say there's (potentially) a lot of stuff in your sand that you don't want flying around your tank. If you can do it without disturbing it, you can try, but that's extremely hard to do (basically impossible). I would take it all out and thoroughly since it.

[Papou]

The age old question of disturbing the sand bed....

Personally, I'd say there's (potentially) a lot of stuff in your sand that you don't want flying around your tank. If you can do it without disturbing it, you can try, but that's extremely hard to do (basically impossible). I would take it all out and thoroughly since it.

It's not impossible it's very possible its a 75 gal tank I've moved bigger than that with no problem disassemble and reassemble using all contents of the tank .

And theres no debate , they didn't want to have a cycle .

[dnas17]

I have no live sand bed thought i should add that

[Papou]

If it wasn't at first it is now its full of life you just can't see it

[Feivel]

put a heater and a circulation pump in the bucket to keep it warm and aerated. i wouldnt disturb the sand bed much if i could help it, if you do disturb it too much i would recomend rincing it. the collapsing of the miniature tunnels will cause a lot of the bacteria to die off and you will get a cyano bloom. as for re-filling the tank, try and splash it on a plate or something and not disturb the sand bed. 10%WC afterwards would be recomonded let everything settle for a few hours and replace the fish once satisfactory sedimentation is acheived