Jabba
Fish Fanatic
OK some may know that I acquired a 25 gallon tank as part of a house move, a tank not without problems that I have been working to resolve.
Although it is doing a lot better since I cleaned every grain of gravel and reversed the water flow through the under gravel filter I looked around at various tanks and finally came to the conclusion that I needed to replace the tank .... nah OK I admit it I wanted to replace the tank.
I am therefore picking up an Aqua One AR980 50 gallon tomorrow ....
My plan is ....
1, Remove all decorations and as much gravel as possible from the old tank, keep in a 120 litre storage box with 50 to 60% of the tank water so they stay wet, drop in an air stone and heater.
2, Disconnect filters etc and move the old tank to it's new location complete with occupants.
3, Reconnect filters etc on old tank in its new location and top up tank water with fresh treated water from tap.
4, Replace some of the original decorations and some of the gravel back into the old tank.
5, Place new tank in position and set up with new gravel, under gravel heater cable etc etc.
6, Put water from the old tank into the new one and then add remaining decorations from old tank, place some of the old gravel in the tank in a nylon with an airstone in side it.
7, Top up tank with 'Aquasafe' treated tap water at around 24 degrees, throw in one of those aquarium starter cultures such as the Interpet Aquarium Startup and enable heater and filter.
8, Let tank settle for a few hours and if water quality is OK move the fish or should I allow longer for the new tank to settle? after all I am really only changing the tank, would there be enough bacteria etc in the old decorations and gravel to kick start the tank reasonably quickly?
I also need to maintain or induce fairly quickly some algea growth for the Otto's ... they are doing well and I don't want to sacrifice them ... my idea was to leave them in the old tank with it's algea until the new tank has started producing their dinner .....
What does the team think?
Although it is doing a lot better since I cleaned every grain of gravel and reversed the water flow through the under gravel filter I looked around at various tanks and finally came to the conclusion that I needed to replace the tank .... nah OK I admit it I wanted to replace the tank.
I am therefore picking up an Aqua One AR980 50 gallon tomorrow ....
My plan is ....
1, Remove all decorations and as much gravel as possible from the old tank, keep in a 120 litre storage box with 50 to 60% of the tank water so they stay wet, drop in an air stone and heater.
2, Disconnect filters etc and move the old tank to it's new location complete with occupants.
3, Reconnect filters etc on old tank in its new location and top up tank water with fresh treated water from tap.
4, Replace some of the original decorations and some of the gravel back into the old tank.
5, Place new tank in position and set up with new gravel, under gravel heater cable etc etc.
6, Put water from the old tank into the new one and then add remaining decorations from old tank, place some of the old gravel in the tank in a nylon with an airstone in side it.
7, Top up tank with 'Aquasafe' treated tap water at around 24 degrees, throw in one of those aquarium starter cultures such as the Interpet Aquarium Startup and enable heater and filter.
8, Let tank settle for a few hours and if water quality is OK move the fish or should I allow longer for the new tank to settle? after all I am really only changing the tank, would there be enough bacteria etc in the old decorations and gravel to kick start the tank reasonably quickly?
I also need to maintain or induce fairly quickly some algea growth for the Otto's ... they are doing well and I don't want to sacrifice them ... my idea was to leave them in the old tank with it's algea until the new tank has started producing their dinner .....
What does the team think?
