Moving canister filters and fluidized bed filters

[Curtis]

As some of the people who read this forum know, I'm moving my large tanks in the next couple of months or so.

The question of the day is ... how do you transport the following

1) canister filter
2) fluidized bed filter
3) bio balls - for wet dry

and have the filters still have living benificial bacteria in the media if you have to move over an hour away. I suspect if I just unplug the cansisters and fluidized bed filters and move them as is they will not survive the move. So how can I do this without recking all of my cycled tanks!

Thanks for all of your advice in advance.

[loachmom]

Hi Curtis,

Here is a great article that Emma Turner wrote on moving tanks.

Hope all goes well with your move.

Moving Tanks

[Tinman]

Your move will not be bad . Have your filters very clean before the time comes.Clean everything in the few weeks before moving. Unplug and just move the cannister. The bio balls will be fine out of the water and could be rinsed or transported in a rubbermaid container. your bed will be fine if it is not disturbed. Re-start your flow slow if possible. The real danger is flushing contaminents into your tank or a large dose of waste onto your bed when your pumps come back on . If everthing is clean before hand you will be at much less risk from this. I bought new trash cans for my new house when I did this and moved all the water from each tank in half full trash cans so the shock was minimal to my fish AND filters I also transported the fish in one of the cans also. Large quantitys of water do not change temp rapidly. Time the tank move to match air temp to tank water and no sunlight if possible:)

[Tinman]

Emma's article on this is excellent advice. I had not read this