How To Upgrade To Bigger Tank Using Same Location?

[jenny6165]

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[Loko17]

Yep you hit the nail on the head. Thats what you gotta do.

 

[jenny6165]

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[fenwoman]

will i need to get a big bucket? i mean, theres quite a few fish that will be in such a small space. my current bucket is just a small domestic one, i guess about 5 gallons.

will that be ok?

how long will they be ok in the bucket for? given that it'll take me a bit of time to set up the new tank!

You can't keep them in a bucket for 2 weeks while your new tank matures can you? I would look around for a spare tank which you should have anyway for quarantine. Set up this new tank somewhere and use the water from your current tank in it. Put the heater and filter etc in. Then set up the new tank using some of your old filter material and water to start the bacteria off. The test for water quality before putting your fish into the new tank. Otherwise it'll be like putting all your fish straight into a tank of new water.
Or have I misunderstood something?

 

[jenny6165]

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[Tolak]

I recently moved a dozen or so tanks in my fishroom, Fish in a bucket with a heater & airstone works well. Make sure to put something over the top, you don't want any jumpers, and don't feed them for 24 hours before the move. Less food means less waste.

You can take the same fish from one tank along with the filter, and move them to a larger tank. The filter supports the bio load, the tank is a box that holds water.

You can also split the fish & cycled filter media between two tanks. If you divide the bio load, meaning the fish evenly, putting half of them in one tank, and half in another, you can divide the cycled filter media in half and run half in each tank. This is known as cloning. It doesn't have to be an even 50/50 split with fish & media, and it doesn't have to be mathematically perfect. I do this all the time with angel spawns, it works out quite well.

Your tank water holds no nitrifying bacteria in a cycled tank, it needs something to attach to. It is mainly in your filter media, and to a small extent your substrate, as well as on any decorations including the tank itself.

 

[gsta13]

so in theroy if the new tank is bigger than the old, the old filter, even though it is not powerful enough for the new larger tank should support the same bio load as it did previously? in other words i have a 15g atm and am starting up a 55g will the same ammount of fish be ok with the filter from the 15g while the other filter matures in the larger tank?

 

[Tolak]

so in theroy if the new tank is bigger than the old, the old filter, even though it is not powerful enough for the new larger tank should support the same bio load as it did previously? in other words i have a 15g atm and am starting up a 55g will the same ammount of fish be ok with the filter from the 15g while the other filter matures in the larger tank?

Yes and yes. If you were to use the same 15 gallon filter on the 55 gallon with the fish it supported in the 15 moved to the 55 it would support the bio load, it would be lacking in mechanical filtration. The larger filter will pick up the slack in the mechanical filtration department, and after a few weeks be cycled.

I do this all the time with angels. I hatch a spawn in a 10 gallon, with a sponge filter once they are swimming. After 2 or 3 weeks they go in a 29 gallon, 100% fresh dechlorinated water, with their sponge filter. I put in a second uncycled sponge filter at this time. after 2 or 3 weeks they get split, half go into another 29 with one of the sponge filters. I add a new sponge filter to each 29 gallon. After a couple of weeks the same thing happens, and one of the sponge filters goes in a 10 gallon with a new spawn.

In the summer I'm down to about 1/4 production, sales are slow. Tanks get shut down, I often work on new pairs starting the end of spring. End of summer/beginning of fall sales pick up, so I start pulling spawns & the same thing repeats.

 

[gsta13]

sweet thanks alot tolak
hope your breeding pairs prosper
Greg