An aquarium provides tranquility in any area. It’s also a great hobby especially for those who love animals. Caring for and maintaining an aquarium does entail a bit of time and dedication but the payoff is worth it.
One of the dilemmas faced by aquarium owners though is when they decide to move their aquarium to another area. There’s a proper way of moving an aquarium and it begins days before you even move it.
First, you need to stop feeding your fish a few days before your planned move. The reason for this fast is to make sure the fishes’ digestive systems are empty so they won’t expel too much waste when they are moved. Fish will usually expel a lot of excess waste whenever they are stressed and moving is a stressful situation for them. Waste is bad for the water because it depletes the oxygen levels. (Read more fish-care tips from articles like how to take care of goldfish)
Have a Styrofoam cooler handy. Make sure that it is large enough to store bags of water and fish. A wide cooler is what you should look for because you can’t stack the bags. Your other option is to get more than one cooler so you’ll have the space that you need. You should also have bags on hand, which will be used for transporting the fish. You can either use bags with zip-locs, or regular bags that you’ll just seal with rubber bands.
Now it’s time to move the aquarium. This is a multi-step process with the last one being the aquariums’ physical transfer to the new area you’ve chosen. What you need to do is to put the fish in the bags, trying to put each school in one bag. Make sure that there is enough water in the bag that the fish will still be submerged when the bags are placed inside the cooler.
Now, disassemble the various parts of the aquarium. Remove the media from the filter and place it inside a bag filled with water. Make sure that there is enough air in the bag. The reason for this is that the media contains the bacterial culture that keeps the balance in the aquarium. This bacteria not only grows in the filter but also in the pebbles, gravel and plants that you’ve put inside the aquarium. That’s why you should keep it the same way you did with the filter. You can’t keep them out of the water because the bacteria will die.
Now completely empty the aquarium and make sure it is packed securely. While you are packing and transferring the aquarium make sure that the temperature in the cooler is constant. Make sure the coolers are not stored in direct sunlight.
When you’ve transferred the aquarium to the new area, set it up immediately. Fill it with conditioned water, put back the filter and media and allow it to run for a while to make sure that it is not malfunctioning because of the disassembly.
Slowly introduce the fish into the aquarium. Put the bags with the fish into the water and allow it to float there for at least fifteen minutes to allow the temperatures to equalize. After this, open the bags and fill the bags with a cup of water from the tank. Keep doing this in ten minute intervals. If the fish are reacting positively you can allow them to enter the aquarium. If they are darting around or if they look like they’re gasping for air then you should continue doing the acclimation process.
Photo from inetgiant.com