Can I Add My Fish Now?

[Lazerus]

Hi all...

Ok, the brand new shiny tank is set up since this morning...gravel done, bogwood in place, water filled up, heater on, plants planted.....I haven't turned the filter on yet as I currently have my filter sponge in my other mature tank for a couple of weeks..

So, My question is.....If I add a mature filter to this tank along with my half cycled one, can I add my fish to this new tank straight away?

Or is there a reason I should wait?

Does new tank syndrome only apply to un-cycled tanks...or does it mean ALL new tanks regardless of whether they have mature filter media or not.

I'm just worried my plants will suffer from not have any surface agitation. Or will they be okay for a few days?

 

[waterdrop]

The irony is, surface agitation, if anything, helps lower the CO2 in the water, making conditions for plants slightly worse. Which is just a roundabout way of saying no, I think your plants will be fine for a few days.

It depends on how urgent you feel I guess. You've probably still got ammonia from your other cycles, so you could pretty easily run a fishless cycling test for a few days to confirm that the filter has moved over to the new tank and is operating properly. On the other hand, if you know the filter is mature and was able to handle the number of fish you're going to be putting in or that you're going to be putting in fewer, then there's no reason not go just go for it. Hopefully you rememberd conditioner before moving the old filter over to the new water, right?

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Lazerus]

Hi there Waterdrop...

Now when you say conditioner, do you mean de-chlorinator? Because yes, I added Stresscoat+ to every bucket when I was adding the water. Unless there is something else? I can do it today if that is the case.

As for the tank, I have done nothing with it...

I have put my filter casing in the tank but I don't have it running. My new tanks is still just a tank of water with plants in it! The filter sponge is still happy in my other tank waiting for its transfer.

You see the trouble I'm having is that I don't have a spare sponge filter for the filter in my new tank, and I'd like to give a run through for a day or two, just to take out any debris or whatever. I'm currently online trying to source a replacement sponge for it at the moment...its an Eheim 2010 which is actually out of production now.

I don't want to take my maturing filter sponge and put it in an empty ammonia-less tank, as the bacteria will die off.

And...I don't have any pure ammonia. But perhaps I can get some today...that would be the answer alright. My local chemist must have some.

Then I could add a few drops in daily to keep up the bacteria production safely while I'm 'polishing' the water in my tank.

Perfect!!..that's what I'm going to do....you've just sorted it out in my head for me.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

for the missing sponge go and get a replacement sponge for a pond filter and cut it down to the right size

 

[Lazerus]

Hi again....

Yes, I was trying to do that today....i.e look for a large sponge that I could cut down to size, but there wasn't any in the LFS I went to....and they didn't have ammonia either - in fact, they never heard of it and the lad was looking at me quite strangely when I was trying to explain it. Doh! (This is the dodgy 'Cardinal tetra & Rummy nose tetra' shop by the way! Miss Wiggle will know what I'm talking about! )

Anyhoo...I went to two pharmacys & my local D.I.Y...but no joy. So I gave up!

But then, to my amazement, and totally a coincidence, while doing some shopping in my local supermarket just this evening I spotted a bottle of 'Kleen off' Ammonia multi-purpose household cleaner...I had NEVER seen there before in my life!!! So, I grabbed a bottle (€2! yay!) and now on reading up, it seems to be exactly the right stuff to use...how funny! What are the chances of that!

I also went across to the chemist and got a '10ml' measured dropper.

Now I'm all set to put my filter sponge in and dose the tank with Ammonia....

So I'm off to the 'fishless cycle' thread to see how much I need to pop in....

 

[Miss Wiggle]

excellent, glad you sourced some, i'ms urprised you can't find a big sponge to cut down though..... do you have a specialist pond supplier anywhere around you?