Moving A Community

[raptorrex]

Ok my community is in a nice 50ukg 4 foot tank. but many of the fish will need bigger soon. with this in mind i need advice, asto how i transfer my crew from the 4 foot to the 8 footer, when it arrives.

i'm not even sure how i will filter the tank yet, though sump seems to be a good way.

how would you move the established community from one to the other?
need info no how or if i should clone the tank or just do a cycle. do i move the gravel, or just get new. should i move all the fish at once or will i need to move them slowly.

really need your help guys! but whatever happens the main thing is to continue the extrem good health of the tank, 14 months now and never been treated for anything, and its had lots of fish added, and a few inverts too!

 

[OohFeeshy]

Generally, you should be fine just moving all the fish and filter over. Some of the water if you want. And again, if you want the same substrate, feel free to move that too. You can always change filtration at a later date by moving the media.

 

[raptorrex]

thanks for that oohfeeshy

anyone else got any ideas?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

your current filter is capable of supporting the current bio load, the volume of water makes no difference so you can transfer over the fish and existing filter and it'll run happily like that, don't worry about transferring water or gravel it won't make any difference really, if you want new buy new, if you don't wanna spend any money move everything over

just set the new tank up, move your filter onto it and fill it with water, by the time it's got to the right temp you can move your fish over

 

[Clown loach lover]

i have just moved from 60l -190- litre and had some aged treated water to put in the new tank. i moved all the water and some of the gravel. new filter was ok as water and substarte had been in tank for ages.

 

[rdd1952]

As already mentioned and as you know, the filter you have will definitely work to move the fish straight over. here is enough bacteria there to handle their waste load. You will lose a little bacteria that is in the substrate and on the decorations and tank walls but I think that amount is minimal as most of the bacteria is on the filter media so you shouldn't see any kind of mini-cycle.

As for actually moving the fish, I would move as much of the current water as possible just so the fish stay in the water they are accustmed to. That should make acclimation easier. You wouldn't have to bag and float the fish, simply move them over. All you will have to do is finish filling the tank. I don't know how much bigger (in gallons) the new tank is but if is twice the size, it would basically be like doing a 50% water change.

I don't think I would move the substrate unless it is something expensive or for plants such as Eco-Complete or flourite. If you do move it, I would think you should clean it a little to make sure all the trash in it doesn't get moved into the new tank too. That may not apply to the plant substrates as cleaning may wash out some of the nutrients that they are supposed to have in them. Not really sure about the nutrients but just think you wouldn't want to move the trash. As I already mentioned, I don't think there's enough bacteria in the substrate to make that a factor in deciding whether to move it or not.

Clown loach lover, you may want to keep an eye on the ammonia and nitrite levels on the new tank as there is almost no beneficial bacteria present in the water and unless you were using an undergravel filter in the old tank, there is also very little bacteria in the substrate. The bacteria needs water flow to provide it with food (ammonia and nitrite). There is very little water flow, if any, through the substrate so almost all of the nitrifying bacteria are present on the filter and media. Your tank will basically be uncycled.

 

[Clown loach lover]

Thanks for the info, i have been watching my stats and they are ok but will continue to monitor.