New Tank Ready To Go?

[crackmonkey]

I bought a Juwel 180 and put the sponges from it into my established 240 for around 2 1/2 weeks, Its going to be a fresh or brackish puffer tank (likely fresh). When I put my sponges back into the new tank should I still buy some cycle tester fish and leave it for about another week before adding Puffers? Also I filled the new tank about 2 1/2 weeks ago with no filter turned on, will the water be okay or should i change it?

 

[yvez9]

i would empty out and put fresh water in the tank as stagnant water is not a good thing usually, although 2 weeks should not do much harm

you should be safe to add a puffer fish right away in your tank if the filter cartridge is established well enough

just stock lightly to start off

 

[Erised]

Puffers prefer mature tanks, so neither option would be perfect.

What I recommend is taking some gravel or sand (whatever you use in your already setup tank) and moving it into the new tank (if you're using sand in new, gravel in old, put some gravel in tights [panty hose], knot it up and move it onto the sand of the new tank), fill the tank 50% with water from your old tank, and move the filter material over. This way you'll 'clone' the tank, and it should be ready for any puffer to move in.

This is not a perfect solution either, but the best if you'd want the puffers right away. The best solution would be to move some fish from your first tank into this new tank (once cycled) and leave the tank up and running for at least 6 months. Then move the fish back into their first tank, and get puffers.

 

[Dubby]

I would not put the puffers until the tank has matured.

 

[crackmonkey]

I would not put the puffers until the tank has matured.

What fish would you recconmend I put in there untill it matures for puffers, Im guessing I wont have to use very hardy fish considering filter situation. Its a 40 Gal tank and I was thinking about getting one or 2 little oscars untill they get too big for the tank and I can sell them or give them away, would that be enough time for the tank to mature for Puffers?

 

[Paul_MTS]

i'm going to be toally different here....

but use half of the blue sponges from your current tank in the new one for the puffers and add the puffers straight away. Within 3 hours after adding the media. Better yet go to the fish store get your fish and whilst aclimatising the puffers get the sponges shifted over.

I have done this in every new tank and have had no problems. This includes Cookie the Fahaka Puffer when he was 6-7" and a Congo puffer.

Seeing as you'ved already shifted sponges aorund for a bit with out anything in the tank you have killed off some bacteria, with nothing in the tank there was no ammonia to feed the bacteria so after 2 and a half weeks it would of died off. I would add these back into your Rio 240 for a couple of weeks then do as above.

Until you do that you can have the Rio 180 filtering so the water doesn't go stagnant.

 

[crackmonkey]

i'm going to be toally different here....

but use half of the blue sponges from your current tank in the new one for the puffers and add the puffers straight away. Within 3 hours after adding the media. Better yet go to the fish store get your fish and whilst aclimatising the puffers get the sponges shifted over.

I have done this in every new tank and have had no problems. This includes Cookie the Fahaka Puffer when he was 6-7" and a Congo puffer.

Seeing as you'ved already shifted sponges aorund for a bit with out anything in the tank you have killed off some bacteria, with nothing in the tank there was no ammonia to feed the bacteria so after 2 and a half weeks it would of died off. I would add these back into your Rio 240 for a couple of weeks then do as above.

Until you do that you can have the Rio 180 filtering so the water doesn't go stagnant.

I need an external for my puffer tank and I already have one running in my 50 Gallon tank. The external im probably getting is like 132 Gallon so i'll probably use it for my 50 gallon tank and put the old one in for my puffer tank, it contains biomax so would that make the tank fully cycled after a few hours and also would it colonize the Juwel sponges within a few hours?

Sponges from my 180 are still In my 240, I havn't put them back in yet since bacteria would die with no fish. Wont the bacteria in my 240 tank decline if I take out half of the blue sponges? Or wont it make much difference? Question...Do all the blue sponges colonize bacteria or is itthe one with the biggest holes in it?

 

[Lynden]

For each and every one of my tanks, I added fish after 1 day, and they lived well. I think it is a load of huey, not to mention a massive waste of time and space, to let a tank cycle and mature for more than 2 months, even for Discus cichlids. I had a small puffer and I placed it in a five gallon tank the first day it was set up, using cycle and aquaplus. It lived for months before he kicked the bucket, and he was very happy and healthy thoughout this time.

Please, do yourself a favour and use biomax or bio spheres, with the mentioned chemicals, and place your happy new puffer into its new tank within 2 weeks. "Cloning" the tank is an excellent suggestion, but watch out for ammonia spikes. Most freshwater fish can be used as cyclers in a new tank anyways, so dont waste your time waiting unneccesarily for a tank to mature.

Good luck with the puffers!

P.S., what species of puffers are they?

 

[crackmonkey]

For each and every one of my tanks, I added fish after 1 day, and they lived well. I think it is a load of huey, not to mention a massive waste of time and space, to let a tank cycle and mature for more than 2 months, even for Discus cichlids. I had a small puffer and I placed it in a five gallon tank the first day it was set up, using cycle and aquaplus. It lived for months before he kicked the bucket, and he was very happy and healthy thoughout this time.

Please, do yourself a favour and use biomax or bio spheres, with the mentioned chemicals, and place your happy new puffer into its new tank within 2 weeks. "Cloning" the tank is an excellent suggestion, but watch out for ammonia spikes. Most freshwater fish can be used as cyclers in a new tank anyways, so dont waste your time waiting unneccesarily for a tank to mature.

Good luck with the puffers!

P.S., what species of puffers are they?

Was thinking about brackish figurs eights, but probably just going for freshwater puffers to save some hassle. South American, Dwarf, red eye, i dunno yet.

 

[Paul_MTS]

Righty,

If you already have a external and getitng another one it's the same principle but take half of the biological media out of the old external and put it in the new one. And split the new media between the external filters aswell, so in each filter you have 50% old bacteria loaded media and 50% brand spankers media. In external filter the bacteria will quickly colonise the new media aswell.

As regards the juwel foams, all the blue ones will contain bacteria, yes there will be a slight decline in thew tank you take it out of but cut down of feeding for a couple of days and you will overcome this problem.

Don't leave any form of biological media without ammonia for more than 2 hours.

 

[Lynden]

Awesome. Leopards are nice too, they have a ton of them at my LFS.

 

[crackmonkey]

Righty,

If you already have a external and getitng another one it's the same principle but take half of the biological media out of the old external and put it in the new one. And split the new media between the external filters aswell, so in each filter you have 50% old bacteria loaded media and 50% brand spankers media. In external filter the bacteria will quickly colonise the new media aswell.

As regards the juwel foams, all the blue ones will contain bacteria, yes there will be a slight decline in thew tank you take it out of but cut down of feeding for a couple of days and you will overcome this problem.

Don't leave any form of biological media without ammonia for more than 2 hours.

In my 50 Gal I depend on the bacteria in the Juwel internal filter since everytime I clean my external I clean and squeeze the sponges in cold tap water so it probably kills bacteria, and I fill up the external with cold water. So I might aswell just switch filters when I get my new one without sharing media and my 50 gal will be the same bacteria wise with the new filter and new media. And im guessing the new tank will be ready to go with the old 50 gal external since it;ll contain lots of bacteria.

 

[Dubby]

In my 50 Gal I depend on the bacteria in the Juwel internal filter since everytime I clean my external I clean and squeeze the sponges in cold tap water so it probably kills bacteria, and I fill up the external with cold water. So I might aswell just switch filters when I get my new one without sharing media and my 50 gal will be the same bacteria wise with the new filter and new media. And im guessing the new tank will be ready to go with the old 50 gal external since it;ll contain lots of bacteria.

Bacteria form on every media that is there in your filters (blue & white). They also colonise your substrate. Infact some reckon that there is more bacteria in the gravel than in the filter itself.

When you wash the sponges it probably kills a few bacteria but not all.

And yes, by switching the external filter to the new tank you've effectively introduced loads of bacteria. So if the initial fish load in the new tank is not too high, you should be ready to go!

 

[crackmonkey]

In my 50 Gal I depend on the bacteria in the Juwel internal filter since everytime I clean my external I clean and squeeze the sponges in cold tap water so it probably kills bacteria, and I fill up the external with cold water. So I might aswell just switch filters when I get my new one without sharing media and my 50 gal will be the same bacteria wise with the new filter and new media. And im guessing the new tank will be ready to go with the old 50 gal external since it;ll contain lots of bacteria.

Bacteria form on every media that is there in your filters (blue & white). They also colonise your substrate. Infact some reckon that there is more bacteria in the gravel than in the filter itself.

When you wash the sponges it probably kills a few bacteria but not all.

And yes, by switching the external filter to the new tank you've effectively introduced loads of bacteria. So if the initial fish load in the new tank is not too high, you should be ready to go!

Think by switching my externals it'll be okay to put Puffers in my new tank or buy some other fish for it until it matures a little more?

 

[Dubby]

Bacteria form on every media that is there in your filters (blue & white). They also colonise your substrate. Infact some reckon that there is more bacteria in the gravel than in the filter itself.

When you wash the sponges it probably kills a few bacteria but not all.

And yes, by switching the external filter to the new tank you've effectively introduced loads of bacteria. So if the initial fish load in the new tank is not too high, you should be ready to go!

Think by switching my externals it'll be okay to put Puffers in my new tank or buy some other fish for it until it matures a little more?

I would wait before adding puffers.....