Getting A New Tank And Some ?'s

[LookingToLearn]

Hi, I have 2 goldfish in a 10 gallon tank, which I know is way too small. I am picking up my new 55 gallon tank today (or tomorrow, I am waiting for my husband to get home as I need his truck to get my tank home).

I was thinking doing a fishless cycle with my new tank would be safest but that means my 2 goldfish will have to stay in the 10 gallon tank for a few more weeks. I am wondering how often you recommend for me to do 25% partial water changes for the time that they are in this small tank. Do you think 2 a week are OK? I have been testing the water and the results are coming back OK and my fish seem healthy and active (so far).


Also, should I be testing the water daily just to be safe, considering I have them in the smaller sized tank?

Do you think it would be safer to do a cycle with fish in the bigger tank just to get them out of that small tank?


Thanx so much for your help and advice. It is much appreciated.

D

 

[AngelOfDeath]

Hi, I have 2 goldfish in a 10 gallon tank, which I know is way too small. I am picking up my new 55 gallon tank today (or tomorrow, I am waiting for my husband to get home as I need his truck to get my tank home).

I was thinking doing a fishless cycle with my new tank would be safest but that means my 2 goldfish will have to stay in the 10 gallon tank for a few more weeks. I am wondering how often you recommend for me to do 25% partial water changes for the time that they are in this small tank. Do you think 2 a week are OK? I have been testing the water and the results are coming back OK and my fish seem healthy and active (so far).


Also, should I be testing the water daily just to be safe, considering I have them in the smaller sized tank?

Do you think it would be safer to do a cycle with fish in the bigger tank just to get them out of that small tank?


Thanx so much for your help and advice. It is much appreciated.

D

i would say do a 50% water change per week, and yeah, go for a fishless cycle, i'd expect it to be 4-6 weeks in a 55 gall

also, what fish are you putting in your 55 gall? personally i would put atleast 1 silver shark in, they look awesome and are a very lively fish

http/www.fishlore.com/Profiles-BalaShark.htm

 

[Splatter]

Hey!

If you want to move the goldfish into the 55gallon straight away, take the filter material from the 10gal and place it into the filter being used for the 55gal - It will cycle the tank instantly (in a sort of...Off, way of putting it). But it would work Alternatively you could just put the entire filter into the 55gal, that would work just the same

As for your other questions - testing everyday seems fine to me, it's always good to know your water quality! And if anything goes wrong you'll at least have a feel of what went wrong and how it happened.

As for an in-fish cycle, if you take the filter media out of the 10gal, this won't be neccesary! However, if that's not possible I think an in-fish cycle does have reason to be done, but you will definately need to check the water everyday and almost definately change it every few days (if not everyday ). But I'm no expert on in-fish cycling, I'm sure someone else could help

Hope that helped!

 

[fishyfreak]

Anything you can use from the 10g tank such as filter media, gravel, rocks and water will speed up your cycling time considerably. But don't go stripping your 10g bare while your fish are still in there!

 

[seangee]

Anything you can use from the 10g tank such as filter media, gravel, rocks and water will speed up your cycling time considerably. But don't go stripping your 10g bare while your fish are still in there!

If you do decide to move everything you will only have enough bacteria to support two goldfish. If you do this still test the water regularly for at least two weeks. If everything is ok add fish slowly (and keep testing)

 

[waterdrop]

I would keep them in the 10G and do a 50% water change once per week and do frequent testing with a liquid based test kit to see if the water changes need to be more frequent.

Meanwhile I would read the fishless cycling article here carefully and do a fishless cycle on the new 55G. Get your ammonia in the 5 to 6ppm range, not 8ppm or above. Watch your pH and if it gets down to 6.0 then do a water change and recharge the ammonia. Since you only have goldfish you probably don't have a heater, but if you do then raise the temp into the 80s F and bubble air through with airstones.

A 55G is a pretty nice home for a couple of goldfish. Now would be the time to think about rehoming them and starting with tropical fish if you wanted to. But goldfish are nice and water changes are indeed one of the big secrets to long-living goldfish - be sure you stay in that habit of saturday morning changes (or whatever) each week!

~~waterdrop~~