Moving a canister filter

[ensign_lee]

Hey y'all:

In a month or so, I'll be moving my clown loaches from their tank in Houston, TX to a new tank in Austin, TX (where I will be going to college).

The old tank will still be standing at home, just minus the clowns. The tank in Austin will be at least as big, if not bigger, than the standard 55 the clowns are in currently.

Now, I want to move the canister filter from the Houston tank to the Austin tank in anticipation of the clowns arrival in a month or so. This will probably occur in two weeks.

My question is do I need to do something special on the way up to Austin for the filter? It is a good 2.5-3 hour drive.

I'd like to keep the bacteria in my Rena XP3 alive on the way there, so I don't have to end up re-cycling the tank (otherwise, I'd just buy another canister up in Austin and leave the old one where it's at). To do that, I figure that I'll need water + oxygen.

What do y'all suggest? I know lots of you have had to move tanks before, so your insights would be much appreciated.

[Martin Thoene]

The important thing is to allow oxygen to get to the bacteria inside the filter. That drive is a bit lengthy so I'm not sure what the survival rate might be.
I would take the top off the filter and drain the water. Put the filter in a large sealed bag inflated with air. Part way through the journey stop and open the bag. Squeeze out all the old air and close off again trapping fresh air. This should allow the bacteria to breath in a wet-dry type condition plus stop any drying out which might happen if you left the filter open to the atmosphere.

That's how I'd do it anyway. At the new location you will of course need to "feed" the filter to keep it cycled till the fish arrive.

Martin.

[Diana]

Another option is to put the media in a 5 gallon bucket and run a 12v air bubbler into the bucket. These bacteria are more dependent on oxygen than water, but the water will provide some buffer for temperature changes. An empty bucket with damp media would provide better oxygen, but the bacteria could cook in there if the temperature starts climbing. Can you make the trip at night, when it is cooler? Or run straight through with the AC running, not stop?

[Emma Turner]

Most reputable LFS's will carry battery-powered air pumps, which might come in very handy for this task.

Emma