Moving To A Bigger Tank

[sannesley]

At present I have a small 20 litre heated tropical tank with 5 fish. We want to upgrade to a larger 60 litre aquarium and want to try and cut down the amount of time that the tank spends cycling.

Could I buy a large filter sponge and soak it in my current tank for 4-6 weeks to start bacteria growing on it? I could then transfer this sponge to the new tank which would hopefully help speed up the cycling process because of the bacteria present on the sponge. Obviously I wouldn't add large numbers of fish until the tank had finished cycling but I would hope that using the sponge would speed the process up.

 

[x-fish]

soz i dont know

 

[BigIan]

i`m assuming you want to transfer the fish in your 20litre to the 60 litre?

If you you can simply move the filter from the smal tank to the big one, then slowly build upo the biomass.

Or if the filter is built in you could take the medis (sponges floss ect) and move that to the new filter....

 

[Callum]

Whilst moving the media i would add some biological supplement as well. If your in the USA use some bio spira as well. otherwise try Tetra safestart or Nutrafin cycle or an equivelant. Ive found they do help when upgrading.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi sannesley

Welcome to the forum!

If you move the filter media from the old filter to the new one, it will immediately support the fish you have presently. Them, in a week or so, you can gradually add more. Just add them slowly to give the bacteria a chance to multiply between additions.

If you are going to do this, I would suggest adding about 1/4 to 1/3 of the water from the old aquarium too. This seems to help it settle. Once you move the filter media, it's going to be necessary to move the fish right away to keep the beneficial bacteria from dying off due to lack of food.

 

[sannesley]

i`m assuming you want to transfer the fish in your 20litre to the 60 litre?

You assume right that is the plan to move the fish to the new tank

Or if the filter is built in you could take the medis (sponges floss ect) and move that to the new filter....

Sorry when I said filter I meant the filter media. I'm not sure if the filter media will be compatible with the new tank but I could squeeze the media into the new tank and let nature do what it does best

 

[sannesley]

I will probably be moving to a different brand of tank and I probably won't be able to just move the filter media (sponge) from the old to the new tank. In this case how would I get the bacteria to the new tank.

Could I just take out the filter sponge from the old tank and squeeze the sponge into the water in the new tank and then transfer the fish over immediately?

Also I want to possibly change the type of substrate used from stones in the current tank to sand in the new tank. This would mean losing any bacteria on the substrate. Would it still be wise to put fish in right away or wait until bacteria colonise the new substrate?

 

[BigIan]

You should be able to fit the sponges into the new filter you`l probably be able to cut the sponge and wedge it in if not. most flteres have compartments for floss/carbon, you can cut the sponge and fit it into there

If your removing the substrate from the old tank stick it into a mesh bag, or even an old pair of tights and suspend it in the tank so the bacteria that are there will spread through the tank

 

[Miss Wiggle]

if you really can't fit the sponges in somehow (like Ian say's it doesn't matter if you wedge them in) then run the new and old filters in tandem either on the new or old tank for 2 weeks or so, that should seed it, then only build up your stock slowly from then

 

[sannesley]

Cheers for the help folks. I'm really looking forward to having a bigger tank and being able to have more fish. I really wish I'd bought the bigger tank in the first place, but you live and you learn