Advice Re New Tank.

[Fintastic!]

So I'm expecting my new tank (Juwel Rio 180) any day now and I'm not sure how to start it up. My intention is to put my much-rinsed sand in, then half fill it with de-chlored water, then add plants and background. Then what do I do about the filter? I have a 10 gal tank running with 9 little fishies and my filter is a Fluval 2. Do I take the sponge out and put it into my new filter and away we go?

 

[waterdrop]

It is indeed possible to simply "upgrade" the volume of your fishes home by moving the "biological system" (the fish themselves are the "bioload" and the beneficial bacteria in their present (we presume "cycled" media, the mentioned sponge) state.. these are balanced and so the fish and filter could move together to the new tank. This is quite a slow process however, as the beneficial bacteria will just stay put in the old filter, leaving the new filter to take ages to eventually cycle itself months down the road.

A really nice way to think about the whole thing might be to think about using the present 10g as a "Q-tank" (quarantine tank) for staging small groups of new fish that you will be eventually introducing to the new big established tank (your present fish will be the first batch of estabished fish to move into the new tank after it is fishlessly cycled.)

The way to accomplish this is to get some fresh sponge of the type that fits your old filter and then use scissors (or whatever works) to divide off about 1/3 (by volume) of your mature sponge to serve as a "seed" inside the bigger sponge area of the the presumably bigger new filter. Replace the removed portion with some of that fresh sponge you bought so that the sponge will still fit firmly in it's space in the filter.

The point at which you do the sponge move is after you've already begun tu perform a standard household ammonia fishless cycle (which the members can help you with as many of them have done this and helped others with the details) and you want the 5ppm ammonia concentration to be nice and stable and the temp to be sitting at 84F/29C in the new tank and all to be at the beginning of this new fishless cycle. With the mature media (MM) in your new filter, the fishless cycle should proceed to the qualification week stage very quickly and you'll then have a nice environment ready for your first batch of existing fish, to be moved after you've picked out and brought home the next batch ready to occupy the Q-tank and keep -its- bacteria alive!

This is just one of a number of ways your situation could be handled but its one I've found to be really nice in the long run.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[fishyfeet]

will the old filter not fit on the new tank and then run both filter side by side fo a while, then you can safely add the fish. di

 

[Fintastic!]

Thanks for the advice guys!! Could I just put both filters in the new tank and add my current fish straight away? Then again as Waterdrop said the 10 gal will be a quarantine/hospital tank so the other filter will take a while to cycle.

 

[Fintastic!]

Sorry for dragging this thread up again. Can I put take my old filter and run it in the new tank with the new filter? I will use the 10 gal as a quarantine/hospital tank but can I work the new tank straight off with both filters and the fish in safely, then wait til the new filter is cycled to put the old one back into the 10 gal so I can quarantine new fish?

 

[fishyfeet]

yep thats exactly how it should be done takes a couple of months though as the new filter is getting half the stuff if that, but perfect for fish etc, di

 

[Fintastic!]

Great, thanks Di. Should I not add any other fish for a couple of months? Pardon my ignorance.

 

[fishyfeet]

Yes take it easy for a few weeks, and all should be fine, reduce feeding too until the new filter really starts to get a good growth of bacteria and when you remove the old fiter and leave the new filter on its own again reduce feeding and dont add any new fish for a few weeks, water changes are a good idea to increase.

 

[Fintastic!]

Thanks Fishyfeet!