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Moving
>Date: Fri, 31 Dec 1999 15:09:44 -0600 (CST)
>From: Greg D Pillar <pill0020 at tc_umn.edu>
>Subject: Moving
>
>Hi all,
>
> I'm going to be moving from Minnesota to Kansas soon for graduate
>school. I have 3 tanks I have to move and one of them is a plant
>tank. Any advice on how I should pack my plants (and fish)? Feel free to
>send advice directly to me at pill0020 at tc_umn.edu
>
>Thanks in advance for the help
>
>Greg Pillar
Well, if you want to do it right, and frankly if you don't you
may as well just pack everything in boxes for a month, then there's
a few things you need to do.
1) IMO the most important thing is to have the new area ready
anf have the time to do it. Fishtanks end up getting a REAL
low priority when you can't find food and have to hook up
sewage or water, so you have to be really ready and able
and have the time to do it.
2) drain as much watr out of the tanks as you can. An inch
of water left is is good. Most tanks, unless they're huge
or have massive rockwork can be safey moved like this.
In general youcan move tanks with 1/3 water but people here
tend to use a lot of substrare so I'd stick with 1" or less.
3) Clean the glass on the inside throroughly.
4) drape newspaper (no color ink) on top of the plants.
5) Tale some polastic to the insode to seal all this. You
don't strictly need to do this and getting tape that will
work (duct tape) that won't leave a residue behind that
has to be cleaned carefully with lighter fluid may be
tough to do.
6) Move the tank. You need to keep it flat and level or
you'll have bloody awful mess. 3/4" plywood works wonders here.
7) Fish should be packed in double bags with eough watr to come
to an INCH above the tops of their bodies, no more. Fish breath
AIR not WATER and you're sealing them up so give them lots.
8) Pack these bags in fish shipping styros than you can get
from any decent fish store. Get the cardboard box they
came in too, it makes carting them around much much easier.
9) Once you get to the new place and you have somewhere to
put the tanks, power and water then just put it all back together.
If you look over at a tank or plant and say to yourself "I'll
get to that later" you may as well just throw it inthe trash right
there. So many unexpected surprises come up when moving and you're
so out of the "fish routine" and exploring your new suyrroundings
with new enthusiasm that it's tough to move fishtanks right.
I have a very imnpressive list of rare fish and plants i've killed
in my last two moves, but in my defense I had a lot of tanks. We
bought out fist house 3 years ago and I don't expect to move agion!
--
Richard J. Sexton richard at aquaria_net
Maitland House, Bannockburn, Ontario, Canada, K0K 1Y0 +1 (613) 473 1719