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I'm going to be moving my tank and my fish to a new apartment soon and I'm wondering what is the proper way to go. I have maybe 30 fish and it's a 55 gallon tank. I bought some giant plastic tubs to use as storage at the apartment, but I'm wondering if I can use them in my aquarium transport? I was thinking about filling them up with the tank water so I can re-use it, but would it be possible to put my fish in there as well or do I have to put them into bags? I'm only travelling two miles away from where I am living now, so the fish wouldn't be out of the main tank for too long. If I do have to put the fish into bags, should I float the bags in the containers of water to help keep them correct temperature? Any info would be great. Thanks!

try to keep the filters alive as long as possible, they shouldnt have a stop for more than one hour, prob less than an hour, try to keep as much water as possible, but its not nessesery, because of the bacterias you have in the filter is the most important to bring on.

mallemalle

Thank you! That's good to know about the water. I just didn't want to make the move into a gigantic water change, but I didn't know how much of the regular water was necessary. I will definitely try to keep the move to under an hour. I don't want to stress anyone (including me!) completely out.

I guess my main concern was about the moving of the fish, whether or not I could just put them into the tub of water or if they had to be in bags?

They don't need to be in bags for the kind of distance/duration you are talking about. Plastic buckets with snap-on lids are best for this.

Oh, fantastic! That is so great to hear. I was really not wanting to try and bag all of the fish. Thank you so much!

See THIS THREAD on the subject.

Good luck with your move. Keep the filters wet, the fish in buckets or totes and don't stress. They'll do fine....

When I moved my fishroom, like yours just 2 miles, anything 1-2 people could carry with a few inches of water (10g-75g) all the fish just went for the ride! Of course you would bring what biological filtration media that was set up for the tank. The replacement water is up to you! I do 80% + water changes every week! I just had new water ready at the other end with similar parameters.

Good luck!

Thanks to everyone here I'm feeling better and better about the move, which I had really been dreading. Hopefully the fish weren't reading my mind and thinking we were moving across the US or something. I appreciate the replies!

i presume living in alaska it's going to be pretty chilly?? make sure you insulate them well for the journey. polystyrene or bubble wrap will do. best of luck.

If it was cold I would do that, but lately we've had straight weeks of mid-70s weather, so I'm not too worried about the climate. They'll get to the new apartment pretty quickly. It takes about ten minutes of driving. If it's rainy the day I move them I'll do the bubble wrap because the temps will be in mid-50s then. Good idea, though. I wouldn't have thought of that.