Help With New Tank

[James Squire]

Hi all,

New guy here.

I have been running a small 30 Litre aquarium for a little over a year now with much success but due to ever increasing numbers of guppies and platies in the tank I've been forced to look into upgrading. I have just purchased a new 3ft aquarium that I'm very excited about and am just a few hours away from picking it up. The 'new' tank is actually a secondhand tank that is up and running with a couple of fish still in it (going to donate them to lfs).

For the sake of saving the beneficial bacteria that currently reside in the gravel I have asked the previous owners to leave the gravel and a couple of inches of water in the tank. Aside from the added weight I expect that this will help me out a lot. Now my question is, by keeping this bacteria alive and in water will this significantly reduce the time taken for me to get the tank running? It has an undergravel filter running which will obviously will also remain in the tank. The tank is being 3/4 emptied this morning (Im in Australia, its morning here!) and will be filled again in the new location this afternoon. How long should I expect before the tank is safe for slow introduction of fish?

Thanks in advance for your help,

JS

 

[demonmagus]

well if it's an undergravel then your idea sounds great although I would personally get an internal asap just because when you do clean it, you have to disrupt the entire tank. Your plan is good and I think maybe 3 or 4 days would be good, as long as you kept the filter 'fed' with some food or a shrimp (dead)

 

[James Squire]

I was thinking about a future filter upgrade to a small external cannister filter... I'll see how things go once it's running...

So 3 - 4 days should be ok you think... That sounds brilliant. When you say dead shrimp is that for a source of ammonia?

Another quick question, I've read somewhere that introducing some guppy fry first could be a good idea. Im guessing the idea being that as they grow bigger so does their waste output hence the bacteria gets slowly fed more and more. Is this a good idea? Does it suit my situation when the bacteria colony should already be established?

Thanks for help,

JS