Planning a move

[Ant]

Cool, good idea about adding substrate. Thank god I added this thread, I would have been screwed without it.

Thanks

Anthony

[GTR73]

And when you get settled, my advice is consider getting aircon for their room if feasible, to battle that 40+ heat out there.

I live in Brisbane, in an old Queenslander, and it heats up to 40 degrees some days. So we invested in a window aircon for $430, Kelvinator 2.7kw. So now the humans are comfy as well as the fish (or should I say the fish are comfy as well as the humans ). If you plan to house the fish in their own room, like a spare bedroom, a 1.5kw aircon should suffice and can be had for ~$200-$300.

Box type aircons for a window are so cheap these days no one needs to suffer the heat anymore, including many $$$ worth of fish.

(P.S. - I'd sooner spend $400-$500 on an aircon rather then on a water chiller! Except if there was no ther way, ie the tanks are in a non inhabited part of the house like the garage. Even then I'd consider an aircon.)

[Ash]

Is it really that hot where you're moving dude? if you're getting water from the Murray you're pretty darn south still, my fish survive summer in Townsville without A/C or chillers - you can't say anywhere in Vic/NSW comes close to as hot as here, surely?

I admit I only keep americans but if they can survive 32deg+ then why can't africans? Most of my tanks are about 29deg right now at night with no heaters switched on due to the ambient temp & my fish aren't dieing. Airation is the key.

[Ant]

lol....I understand that the pipeline from the Murray to Whyalla is the longest in Aus. It is quite some distance west from the Murray. It is not uncommon for Whyalla to have several 40+ degree days in a row each year. The weather is extremely dry with very very little humidity. I will try every thing else first before I get an air conditioner and chiller, including having a healthy supply of ice for the cannisters to sit in, power bills that are too high will not be an option.

Anthony

[Ash]

"but it's a dry heat!" /Bill Paxton in Aliens=off

Ice won't work, been there, done that.

Fans rock - my 2' planted tank (going to become a Nano-reef if this temp hold well) is sitting at 24deg right now when my 4x2x2 right next to it is 29deg. 2x12cm 12VDC fans only running on about 7 volts at the moment (variable speed controller) so plenty more crank it up room left. If you can A/C go for it but fans are uber cheap - just means you have to top up the water more often. with such low humidity they may be more efficent for you than they are for me. it's about 31deg in my house atm for reference too - summer isn't really started yet

[Eddie Salita]

Evaporative air con is all the rage in Adelaide area, due to the dryness which you speak of. Certainly alot cheaper to run than the refrigerated kind from what little I understand. On the chemicals, I like the easy life, IMHO it actually works. It also gives extra oxygen to the water.

HTH,

Jason

[GTR73]

Yeah Evaporative coolers will be good in the dry heat. That's the go.

[trofius]

THE WEEK BEFORE you move, buy the big 120l tubs from bunnings, clean them.

NOW buy the bubbler filters and get them going in the tanks. 2 each tank

add the tank water and filters and fish...and substrate, to the tubs

empty and claen out the old tanks ready for the move, this takes long enough by itself.

in those plastic tubs , be carefull if you lift them while they contain water you will snap off the handles, or split them... maybe.

TO MOVE THE FISH i would bag em in o2, or place them in 10-15l buckets with sealable lids, drill a 8mm hole in lid for the airline from the battery airpump, use the bubbler filters in here aswell.(works for me 8 hours brisbane to rockhampton, even for my foai adults when i bought them) .DO not place fish in a ute tray, they will cook, seen it done, tank water was 57deg! Inside the car aircon on will be best

TO MOVE THE TANKS, ute truck what ever, just make sure they are packed properly.

TO MOVE THE WATER,( and clean substrate,) get yourself a few water tight drums 200l would be good, but what ever you can find. pump or bucket water into them once they are on the ute/truck these can be obtained "pre loved" bubble them if you want , but really unless the drums are inside a truck, they will get very hot and kill off any bacteria present i think. maybe smaller continers inside the car..

WHEN YOU GET THERE..put fish back into the plastic tubs with the water and filters, some substrate, will be here for a few days.

set up the tanks, add some of the water back into them, if you have it. double this with fresh water, treat it. when deep enough add one filter. make sure its, give fish a 50% water change, put old water into tanks.and substrate. keep doing this every 4-7 days. until tank is 50% full next add fish and filter and gradually over a few days fill up the tanks,

Idealy you should have enough water to fill them 1/3 up. double this (50% water change) and make sure all is right , add fish. top up graguallyif you do just fill with fresh treated water,

hope that makes sence

ohh reverse cycle aircon rules, will make a nice comfy spot for you aswell, chillers are a waste of time.

[Ant]

Would love to shift the fish using O2 but I can't get hold of any. The fish need to be shifted in the tubs them selves. I will be able to shift about 150lrs of water in 25lr containers (easier to carry), if i can fit them in a vehicle . Thanks for the advice about the ute tray, I think I will give that idea a miss. The plan is to set it up so that i won't have to worry about much fish related stuff when i get to Whyalla, I just want to be able to unplug the air compressor/airpump, move the containers inside out of the way, put in heaters (if needed), attach air pumps and top up the water in the containers.

Surely the fish will be better off in a larger volume of water and with running filters, rather than in bags with O2?

I really do appreciate all this info, it has helped me work out everything I need to do. I know i'm knocking back some Ideas but I'm also taking on a lot of ideas.

Oh BTW I was able to pick up some cheap sponge filters that were on special for only $4, they have decent size medium and will stick to the side of the container, so I won't have to worry about them moving around during the trip. I have already placed these filters in tanks to get them established.

Anthony