I did it the opposite way, last thing i moved.
There is a part in the library section thats gives you a good run down of how to go about it. HERE IT IS
http://cichlid-forum.com/articles/moving_tanks.php
Basicly you bag the fish up in fresh declorinated water (not from the tank but roughly the same temp.
Place the fish in a large container like a Cooler or something.
Empty the tank entirely of all water, substrate....Everything.
Take the tank to were it needs to be and position tank were you want it (which is why its good to do it last, because once its full your not going to want to move again because you under estimated the size of your furniture).
Add your substrate and rocks etc.. and fill it with clean fresh water (100% fresh), try to get the temp correct. (Try not to change the heating temp that your heater was already set to....helpful hint) another helpful hint is put a face down dish on your substrate and poor your water onto this to stop it from getting stirred up
If you need to buffer your water to help with parameters there is a rift lake buffer recipe which is very helpful......HERE IT IS
http://cichlid-forum.com/articles/buffer_recipe.php
Empty the fish only not the bag water into the tank.
Keep a very close eye on your temp and parameters for a few weeks
Oh and another thing, it's important that you don't let your filters dry out to much. you don't want all that good bacteria dying so keep all filter medie in a bucket of your tank water....VERY IMPORTANT.
The best thing to do is look at the links that i have added to this post and follow the steps. It's really spot on. I followed it without any deaths so i was wrapped
Good luck buddy :thumb:
