New Tank Ordered This Is What I Plan On Doing (Help)

[oneblondebrow]

Hi all,

I will be getting my New Juwel 180 aquarium in about 2 - 3 weeks which is an upgrade from my current 48 litre tank, Firstly today i am going to buy some plants and some moss balls for the new aquarium and put them into my current aquarium so they can get some bacteria on them for the transfer.

When the new tank comes i am going to add the new substrate and as it is sand and my current one is gravel i will not be using any of the old substrate (is it worth doing the trick with putting the old gravel in a pair of stockings and just floating it in the tank for a while?), I will add the Granite i have and planning on putting a terracotta plant pot in, I will also transfer the plants i have had in the original tank for a couple of week.

As i will have to empty most of the water from the original tank due to moving it as this is where i want the new tank to go then i will add as much of the removed water as possible into the new tank, I will then run the tank without the lighting on for 24 hours or until temp is exactly the same as the original, Now i will transfer the filter from the old tank and run it alongside the new filter in the new tank, I will keep these 2 running for as long as i can before putting the fish in, I will then gradually put the fish into the new tank, i am planning on doing this 1 species every 30 minutes.

For the next 4 - 6 weeks i will check the toxin levels daily and do water changes when and if necessary.

Now does this sound like a good way of doing this?

 

[Truck]

Hi all,

I will be getting my New Juwel 180 aquarium in about 2 - 3 weeks which is an upgrade from my current 48 litre tank, Firstly today i am going to buy some plants and some moss balls for the new aquarium and put them into my current aquarium so they can get some bacteria on them for the transfer.

It won't make much of a difference if you do this or not, as most of the beneficial bacteria is on the filter pads, if you transfer a section of a current filter pad into the new tank you can speed up the cycle.

When the new tank comes i am going to add the new substrate and as it is sand and my current one is gravel i will not be using any of the old substrate (is it worth doing the trick with putting the old gravel in a pair of stockings and just floating it in the tank for a while?), I will add the Granite i have and planning on putting a terracotta plant pot in, I will also transfer the plants i have had in the original tank for a couple of week.

No point in transferring the gravel, just use a section of an old filter cartridge.

As i will have to empty most of the water from the original tank due to moving it as this is where i want the new tank to go then i will add as much of the removed water as possible into the new tank, I will then run the tank without the lighting on for 24 hours or until temp is exactly the same as the original, Now i will transfer the filter from the old tank and run it alongside the new filter in the new tank, I will keep these 2 running for as long as i can before putting the fish in, I will then gradually put the fish into the new tank, i am planning on doing this 1 species every 30 minutes.

Put both filters on the new tank and add all fish instantly.

For the next 4 - 6 weeks i will check the toxin levels daily and do water changes when and if necessary.

Now does this sound like a good way of doing this?

 

[minxfishy]

The gravel holds no beneficial bacteria, so no point putting any in a stocking, just dump it.

When you set up the new tank, fill it almost to the top,bag the fish, float them in the new tank, add their current tank water, then put the OLD filter in with the new filter, release the fish and you are cycled for the amount of fish you already have, as the filter is already sufficient to cope with their bio load, the new filter will catch up in approx 4 weeks, you can slowly add more stock over a period of weeks, until fully stocked, by which time you can either remove the old filter as the new one will be fully cycled or leave it in the tank, as more filtration the better and if you needed to use it for QT or hospital tank, it will be ready to go.

 

[oneblondebrow]

I knew i would get some good quality speedy reply's from you guys, many thanks.

Also am having trouble deciding what sort of substrate to get, i have 3 choices so far, normal sand colour sand (25kg's), black marine sand (2 x 10kg), Roman Gravel black ( 3 x 8kg), The reason for possibly going black is that the Granite i have is Black, Also i am not completely sure of how much i require to cover the bottom of the new tank? any idea's?

 

[minxfishy]

If your planting, then 15-20kgs should be plenty, if your going to have bottom dwellers like cories, then the finer the better, so the roman is a little large. I think black is best, because it brings out the fishes colours better IMO and is easier to keep clean as the lighter sand shows up the poop IME.