Help Re-Setting A Currently Functioning Aquarium Up

[markandjanice]

Ok help and advice would be greatly appreciated here please.

On Saturday I am going to be collecting my new tank (140 litres). The catch is it is fully functioning and will be when I arrive to take it away ie: internal heater and filter running, gravel, water, tropical fish (neons, silver sharks, to name a few) in place. The lady has just done her water change at the weekend and said everything is how it should be.

Now I have done a little research and I am going prepared I believe. I have 2x 80 litre containers to siphon as much of the water as possible into and also 2x 22 litre containers for the fish.

I have asked the lady NOT to feed the fish after Thursday tea time.

I will be arriving at 8am to collect and upon arriving my first job will be to turn her heater and filter off, I will then start siphoning the water into the two smaller containers. Once I have a reasonable amount in both the containers I will catch the fish in a net and place evenly between the 2 containers ready for transport.

I will then siphon the rest of the water into the larger containers and place the heater and filter (obviously switched off) into the water ready for transport (to keep the bacteria in the filter)???

I will then scoop the gravel up into large bags etc along with a piece of bogwood and plastic plants.

Once the tank is empty I will carefully place this into the van (we have padded blankets and support straps for this) and transport the short distance to my house (1 mile).

Upon arriving at my house I will place the tank into position and start the process of arranging the tank items, gravel, wood, etc and then start siphoning the water back into this. Once the water level is at the right height I will replace the heater and filter and switch back on.

I will leave it for a few hours to heat and filter through as I am led to believe the fish will be ok for up to 12hours? Once I place the fish back into the tank I will transfer the rest of the water also.

PLEASE IF AT THIS STAGE I AM NOT DOING ANYTHING RIGHT PLEASE SAY.

The next part of my query is this

By next Saturday I will have taken delivery of my new external filter tetratec ex1200 and hydor external heater (300watt).

I want to know if I will be ok to rig this up and have this running along with the internal heater and filter for a period of time before removing the internal heather and filter (if so how long should I leave them all running before removing the internal items) OR will I be ok to just rig the external filter and external heater up and just run solo from the start with that?

Sorry there is a lot to read and questions being asked but please note as I started by saying I want to do right by the fish.

Regards.

 

[Tizer]

You dont have to keep all the water, a 22 litre container full will be fine, then just add temperature matched water when you get home with dechlorinator in it.

you don't have to use the same gravel either, all the bacteria ( 99.999%) will be in the filter anyway. So if you wanted sand/cat litter or any other colour gravel it will be fine to ditch it in favour of new. personally i would start with new, the existing gravel will be filthy (im willing to bet)

Depending on the fish, you might do better to bag them up like a fish shop might when selling you fish. Small fish especially, as they can easily get crushed.

I would also drop by the local fish shop on the way home and give them the silver sharks, they need large tanks and grow pretty fast.

 

[markandjanice]

You dont have to keep all the water, a 22 litre container full will be fine, then just add temperature matched water when you get home with dechlorinator in it.

you don't have to use the same gravel either, all the bacteria ( 99.999%) will be in the filter anyway. So if you wanted sand/cat litter or any other colour gravel it will be fine to ditch it in favour of new. personally i would start with new, the existing gravel will be filthy (im willing to bet)

Depending on the fish, you might do better to bag them up like a fish shop might when selling you fish. Small fish especially, as they can easily get crushed.

I would also drop by the local fish shop on the way home and give them the silver sharks, they need large tanks and grow pretty fast.

hi mate, appreciate this info, i'm looking to off load the sharks to be honest and also theres 3 pearl gouramis which am not keen on if honest, ive spoken to them and they said they would take those from me and do me some kind of deal on maybe some neons or cherry barbs ... re gravel thats brilliant news, thanks. ive got some nice natural stones which i am going to use but wasnt sure if ok so i'll clean them and stick that in i will do that re: water and keep the filter in the water until i get my new one up and running.