Intimidated

[Fintastic!]

Hi guys. Warning-slightly long-winded post coming! I spent some time last night reading through various posts that caught my interest and I came away feeling intimidated about the whole thing. I didn't understand some stuff and I'm now worried that I don't quite know as much as I should for the job at hand.
As some of you may know, I currently have a ten gal that I recieved already cycled, but I now have a Juwel rio 180 that I want to switch my current fish to and use my 10 gal as a hospital/quarantine tank.
So step 1 was setting up the filter, which I hadn't a clue about but it's done now.
Step 2 is adding the sand. I have a bag and a half of well-washed playsand in it now but think I need more as I want real plants.
This is my plan and where I need your advice as I'm sure I've got it wrong.
When all the sand is in (it's currently over 3 inches at the back and almost 2 in the front) I plan to get a good long piece of hose and a thingy to fit over the kitchen tap for refilling. I then plan to fill the tank about a third full with dechlorinated water and add my lovely hunk of redmoor wood that's soaking in the bath as we speak. Then I'll some new plants. I'll also add my coconut caves with moss.
Then I'll fill the rio up and wait for the water to reach the right temp.
I then plan on taking my filter from my 10 gal (it's a fluval 2, well-cycled) and putting it straight into the rio. I then plan on moving my fish in but I'm unsure how.
I'll end it there for now but please feel free to pick this apart but advice needed and most welcome!
Thanks in advance.

 

[Xraymark]

Interested to see some images of your tank.

 

[Cazgar]

From what I've learned here, transferring your cycled filter & current fish should be fine, but as you add new fish, do it slowly & keep checking your stats.
Look forward to seeing pics

 

[KittyKat]

Sounds fine, remember to drip acclimatise your fish as if they new from the shop unless you're in the habit of doing large, regular water changes or your tank and tap water have same KH, GH and pH (which is unlikely in a normal setup).

Why you should do this: http/aquariumadventure.wordpress.com/2011/10/07/importance-of-acclimatisation/

How to do this: http/aquariumadventure.wordpress.com/2011/10/13/methods-of-acclimatisation/

 

[Fintastic!]

Xraymark, I can't send pics. I tried the other night as I wanted to show off my wood but I don't know what I'm doing. You can imagine it. An empty rio with only sand at the mo. In my 10 gal I have the usual starter fish, 3 platys, 1 molly and 5 corys but if and when I get set up and all is well I hope to get some shoaling types and of course a feature fish. I also have 6 fry so i'm overstocked but water is kept pristine and I'll donate some to my lfs as I'll be over-run with platys!

Thanks Cazgar and Kittykat. I'm amazed that seems fine but happy. I'll check that out Kittykat. Can't wait now.

 

[creeker]

The only thing I would do different would be to fill with water already at the proper temperature. Then you could plop the plants right in. I assume the faucet has both cold and hot, so you could adjust as you fill. As for transferring the fish, I would match the temperature exactly to your existing tank, check the parameters in the new and old tanks, and if they match exactly it's a straight net and drop. If they differ (say a lower ph in the existing for one example,) then I would bag the fish and do a mix in small amounts of the new water over a 30 minute period, then net and drop. The filter would then follow the fish to the new tank.

 

[Xraymark]

<br />Xraymark, I can't send pics. I tried the other night as I wanted to show off my wood but I don't know what I'm doing. You can imagine it. An empty rio with only sand at the mo. In my 10 gal I have the usual starter fish, 3 platys, 1 molly and 5 corys but if and when I get set up and all is well I hope to get some shoaling types and of course a feature fish. I also have 6 fry so i'm overstocked but water is kept pristine and I'll donate some to my lfs as I'll be over-run with platys!<br /><br />Thanks Cazgar and Kittykat. I'm amazed that seems fine but happy. I'll check that out Kittykat. Can't wait now.  <img src='http/www.fishforums.net/public/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' /><br />

<br /><br /><br />

Unfortunately I can imagine it. My rio 180 has sand and no fish with a stalled cycle. Once you get it up running and figure out how to post images(I have not) I will be keen to see your set up. Good luck.

 

[Fintastic!]

That's excellant Kittykat but if I'm transferring from my own water to my own water is it still necessary?
Another point is my water is very hard so I have an artificial softener. I have a tap of drinking water that contains no lime and a tap for general use such as cleaning, cooking etc that contains a little lime and I'm unsure about the salt content for either. I use the general use tap for my aquaruim. Do you reckon this is ok? My ph is 8.2. Must admit I don't know what kh is.....

 

[Fintastic!]

I'll look into it Xraymark. Good luck with your cycle! Hopefully you won't be too long. Thanks Creeker, Where would I be without this forum!

 

[guppi]

Don't forget if you have sand to thick it could trap gases, and when it gets released could kill your fish, you have to stir it up every so often.

 

[Fintastic!]

Will do Guppi. Cheers.

 

[Xraymark]

<br />Don't forget if you have sand to thick it could trap gases, and when it gets released could kill your fish, you have to stir it up every so often.<br />

<br /><br /><br />

A few posts I have read indicate that this is over rated and not to be worried about.

 

[Fintastic!]

Me too Creeker. I'll give it a little stir durin water changes just in case.

 

[waterdrop]

Even though it may seem like overkill, I would follow KK's excellent steps. And I agree with Cazgar that any time you make a major change like this you should be taking periodic stats on all your water parameters (temp, NH3, NO2) just in case. I also agree with creeker that you'll want to speed things up by using a mixing tap to get your temperature close so that the heater won't take a long time. Good luck.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Fintastic!]

Thanks Waterdrop. It's probably best to err on the side of caution!