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Aquarium guides/Moving an aquarium

Moving an aquarium: fish, filter and tank

Never move a tank with water in it. Bag or bucket the fish in their own water, keep the filter media wet in tank water so the bacteria survive, drain the tank completely, move it empty, then refill, restart the filter with the old media and return the fish.

A standard 60 cm tank with its lid and light
Shown: a standard 60 cm tank with its lid and light. Photo: 16toki, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

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Step by step

  1. Stop feeding the day before.
  2. Catch the fish into bags or lidded buckets of tank water; keep them dark and at a steady temperature.
  3. Put the filter media in a bucket of tank water with a lid.
  4. Drain the tank completely and remove decor and substrate if it is large; a full or wet-substrate tank can crack.
  5. Set up again, refill with dechlorinated water at the same temperature, restart the filter with the old media, and test for ammonia over the next days.

Longer moves

For moves of more than a few hours, use fish bags with air, an insulated box and a battery air pump for the media bucket. Check the cycle after setting up.

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