Moving house, help wanted!

[kenw]

Hi all,
I will be moving house next weekend and I'm looking for good advice on moving my two fish tanks and their tankmates.
I will be moving just an hour away but its the break-down/setting-up of the tanks Im worried about.
The tanks are as follows:

1 50 Gallon planted tank with 4 Apistogramma Cacatuoides,
1 Apisto Hongsloi, 2 Angels, 1 Gibbiceps Plec and 6 Neon Tetras.

1 25 Gallon tank with 1 Dwarf Gourami and 1 honey Gourami, 2 red claw crabs.

My original plan was to move the occupants of the larger tank into the smaller tank, then move and setup the large tank in the new house.
Then transfer fish to large tank in new house with 80% old tank water.

However, the smaller tank is more mature and frankly a bit grubby, the PH is 6.5 but is 7.2 in the large tank. Both have very soft water.
I am undecided whether it would be better to move fish and large tank in one foul swoop, or subject the fish to the stress and hassle of moving to a stuffy smaller tank and then cross country to the large tank. I am bringing the Gouramis back to the LFS and will be buying another tank as a aqua-terranium for the crabs.

I would love to hear from other people who have done this or anyone who has helpful suggestions, the rest of the move is nightmare enough!!

Thanks in advance,

Ken

 

[tjudy]

My advice is always to move the tanks first or last, and to do the entire breakdown, move and set-up in one day. I would age some water at the new place first. Then drain the tanks down to the gravel, which you should leave wet. Place all fiter cartdriges or sponges in a plastic bag to keep them healthy. Put the fish in a bucket and the plants inbetween damp newspaper in a plastic bag. Move it all and set it back up with the aged water.

Good luck!