Cycling Needed? Jewel Rekord 70

[Carp4U]

Hi, i'm getting a Jewel Rekord 70 for my birthday in 6 days.

Erm basically i have 1 tank, 1 is a 11 gallon, my new one which i hope to get is a 15 gal.

I am moving the fish from the current tank into my new one when i get it. I also have a smaller tank, a 9 gallon. But, i don't want to add any fish from this tank to the new tank as these are being given away. And i don't really want to add any of this water because it's quite high in nitrate. Should i basically add all of my water from my bigger tank into my new tank? i will have the substrate and decor prepared and will add the plants a while after. There will be about a 4 gallon gap so should i add 4 gallons of dechlorinated tapwater into the tank first for a day or so to settle, then add the tank water the day after??

any advice is helpful

cheers

 

[rdd1952]

First, Happy Birthday a few days early.

Depending on the filter you have and the new one you will be getting, if you can move the media from the filter on the 11 gallon into the 15 gallon, the tank will basically be cycled for the fish you currently have. As for the water, you can lower the nitrate in the 9 gallon tank by simply doing water changes (unless you have high nitrates in your tap water and then you certainly won't be able to get the nitrate lower than the tap water).

What I would suggest is that you do a normal water change the day before you plan to move the fish and water over. Then when you move everything, move about 7 or 8 gallons of water over and then top the tank off with fresh, dechlorinated water. That will be about the equivalent of a 50% water change. You won't have to go through any acclimation for the fish and they will have a new tank with fresh water. Good luck.

 

[Carp4U]

I wanted to keep the filter i already have? is this recommended? also i think the jewel rekord 70 comes with a built in filter. any advice?