Moving Day

[matthewh2]

Well the time has come and we are movig, looking forward to a new location, not looking forward to moving 5 tanks two with juvies, one 6 ft with discus, one with 4 week old juvies with parents, one fry with parents, and a new tank for rearing all the juvies, i think i will move them first so don't stress them out too much,
Does any one know how long can a cannister filter last without being turned on whilst moving fish, i heard if for too long the beneficial bacteria goes bad and can poison your fish, need some advice on this

[joanr]

If you leave the media in water that is not being circulated the bacteria will eventually die from lack of oxygen. Better to pull it, place in plastic ziplock bag keeping it moist but not submerged. It will be ok for a long period of time that way.

[Jhhnn]

I think what Joan offers is probably a very good approach, maximizing the available oxygen. OTOH, I've inadvertently left canisters off overnight with no ill effects...:o

And, no, I've never had to move discus...

[Discus master]

I have a book on discus that says if you leave your canister filter off for more than 30 minutes it could kill the benifical bacteria and when turned back on it can pollute your tank with sulfade from the decaying bacteria or something like that I know for sure it said about the 30 minutes thing. But maybe that is only in water that not being curculated I never thought of pulling the media in zip loc bags and just keeping them moist if that would work that be a real good idea if it works. good luck!!