New 29 Gallon

[Williamc141]

First off I would like to say hello to everyone here at Tropical fish forums, So I have gotten my 29 gallon tank up and running again, I put my filter from my 20 gallon (cycled) to this 29 gallon tank. Does this cycle the tank over time? Also I would like some good starting fish for this tank, Im wanting fish that will be active and colorful but they are hardy and can stand my nooby fish taking mistakes. Thanks

 

[trit0n2003]

ive always liked starting with either Zebra Danios or Neon Tetras, they are fun schooling fish to watch. For me both have worked well and are very hardy fish

 

[Wills]

If you move your filter from your 20 gallon to the 29 gallon you will need to keep the filter alive be giving the bacteria a source of ammonia. So get some bottled ammonia and start adding a small dose as per the calculator (at top of page) says.

Fish wise if its a mature filter, or a fishless cycled tank you pretty much have your choice of fish for the tank

Wills

 

[Williamc141]

Alrighty thanks.

 

[Williamc141]

I was thinking about stocking today and was wondering if this would work.
5 Zebra danios
5 Lemon or bleeding heart tetras
3-4 cory cats
Center peice fish?

The tank has a Marineland penguin biowheel 200 (For tanks up to 50 gallons)

 

[OldMan47]

Assuming the tank's filter was supporting fish very recently, add some fish to keep it going in the new tank. If it has been a while, the filter is no longer cycled but may become cycled faster than many people here experience. It will at least have somewhat of a starter culture in it unless it dried out completely.

 

[Williamc141]

No the filter was switched basically from my 20 gallon cycled to the 29 gallon instantly.

 

[OldMan47]

In that case, stock the 29 with the stocking from the 20. The filter was already supporting those fish and should continue to do so with no problem. If you left the fish behind, they are now probably suffering through a fish-in cycle. The water and other materials provide very little to the cycle status. It is all about the filter media really.

 

[Williamc141]

Even though I had 2 filter medias and I leave on in the filter for the 20 gallon?

 

[AstonN24vantage]

congrats on your new tank. start with something easy, inexpensive and hardy. tetras are prob your best bet. i started with a harliquin rasbora, because it has nice colors, they are usually sold at a lot of fish stores, they are hardy, active, and a great fish to start the cycle.

oh... and i would start of slow with the 29g. i had 2 fish in the first few weeks of my tank. gradually adding more fish induces less stress, and more fish will be less likely to die from bad water quality due to cycling.

 

[Gvilleguy]

If the 29 is not stocked yet, wouldn't 'testing' the bio filtering capacity with pure ammonia help determine whether William needs to start with a slow stock or a slightly bigger one? If he adds about 4ml of ammonia, that should raise it to almost 4 ppm. If that then gets processed to zero within 12 hours (along with nitrites), he's in pretty good shape.

 

[OldMan47]

A truly mature filter will support its share of the stocking from the 20 gallon right away. One that ran side by side the old 20 gallon filter for a week will barely have a started colony of bacteria in it. The maturity of each of the filters that were in the 20 gallon, measured in months, not weeks, will determine whether you can expect that filter you left behind or the filter you moved to properly support the fish in each tank. Either way, one or both tanks will be short some biological capacity since they will have shared the load in that tank to some extent.
Gville's suggestion will never show a cycled filter right after a move. Nobody in their right mind stocks a tank heavily enough to actually produce 4 ppm of ammonia daily. A 5 year old fully matured filter will be lucky to process much more than 2 ppm of ammonia that quickly. We intentionally overdose the ammonia during a fishless cycle to push things way past what the fish will end up needing. It is a bit of overkill but gives some assurance we won't have inadequate biological filtration for our tanks. As in anything, it is best to use conservative measures when you have any unknowns like the actual load of a group of fish or the actual feeding patterns of the owners.

 

[Shelby]

It doesn't say he's getting rid of the 20G? I'm guessing he's adding a 29G tank with totally new fish.

Do you still have a filter running in the 20G? If yes great.
Are you moving the fish from the 20G to the 29G or leaving them?

If you are NOT moving fish over from the 20G to the 29G take a couple of days to let the 29G tank settle. Test the filter you put in it with ammonia and see how fast it drops to 0. If you don't "feed" the filter with ammonia it will die off and you will be starting over again (totally not fun)

 

[Williamc141]

Im not getting rid of the 20 gallon I am keeping the fish that have been in the 20 gallon and I am starting new with the 29 gallon.

 

[OldMan47]

The 29 will have some fraction of the biofilter you had in the 20 gallon. It may be a good idea to try it out with a fishless cycle ammonia dose just to be sure it is processing nitrogen well before you start any stocking. Do not let it just sit without a nitrogen source since that will just let some of the bacteria die off.