Storage tubs part II!

[Maize-N-Blue-D]

I am also interested in storing my fish temporarily,  my basement flooded (sump pump failure) and now we are replacing the carpeting.  So I will be looking at getting several tubs to hold my fish for a couple of days.  I talked with a couple of people here on the MCA and they suggested the following:

Empty the tank water into the tubs, do not use fresh water
run the HOB filters in the tubs
run circulation pumps to keep the water moving in the tubs
Do not allow any of the decor to dry out, keep it submerged at all times
Also let the heaters run in the tubs to maintain the temp.

My plan is to tear down the tanks (180 and two 55's) in one day, place the fish from each tank in separate tub/tubs. Place all decor and gravel in tubs as well.  Empty the tanks as much as possible and move everything into the storage room until the carpet has been replaced.

Question:  do I need to worry about fumes from the glue when the new carpet is being laid ?  if so, how do I keep the fish safe from the fumes?

[Steve]

Question:  do I need to worry about fumes from the glue when the new carpet is being laid ?  if so, how do I keep the fish safe from the fumes?

My main tank is in the basement office which is connected to my workshop area, and I also have a smaller tank in my workshop area. I've done quite a bit of work with various glues, solvents, epoxies, varnishes etc etc with in a matter of feet of some of my tanks and have never had any sort of issues with fumes harming the fish. I've even done some light spray painting in there as well with no issues with the fish. Always best to take every precaution you can, but long as nothing is actually falling into the tank to contaminate it I think you will be fine.

[cranialdisturbance]

Make sure not to let the heaters contact the sides or bottom of the tubs. They could get hot enough to melt them with direct contact.

[Regalblue]

Beneficial bacteria is NOT free floating...  use new water, not old, as long as parameters are the same.

[Ron]

Beneficial bacteria is NOT free floating...  use new water, not old, as long as parameters are the same.

x2. The parameters being close is the only reason to ever consider using old water IMO.

Not sure about the "keep all the decor wet" part either. If you've got an underwater castle, who the heck cares if it stays wet or not?! Silly. The main intent of that point IMO was to keep the beneficial bacteria alive ... underwater castles don't have the surface area that a good biomedia does.

[Marty]

If he has rock work, that may be a good surface area for bacteria.  He doesn't strike me as a castle kind of guy.

[Maize-N-Blue-D]

lol Thanks Marty, that is correct no underwater castle's, mostly rocks as my decor, I don't even have fake plants ...

And I agree about being careful using the heater in the tubs, that would be ironic wouldn't it.

"Help all my fish are now flopping on the ground due to a mis-placement of heater in the tub !"

Ok, so fresh water it is... Should have remembered that,  I think I've seen that discussed several times on this site.

Good to know about the glue fumes,  was not sure if that would be a concern or not.

Thanks all for the feedback. 

[LanaK]

The only other thing you might do is split them into more than 3 tubs.  I know when I have done big tank moves, I try to separate out the fish into small groups because they are stressed out already and I have had problems with them beating on each other in the tubs.  Other than that, this mostly seems spot on.

[mibwb]

You could cover the tubs with plastic wrap, until any fumes have dissipated. I've done this when I fumed my house for fleas......was stated to do so on the can if aquariums were present.