New Tank

[katykaye]

Hiya All

Today I bought a new tank its a Juwel Rekord 120 - almost 3 times the size of my original tank

I was getting rid of my 54L but it looks rather nice in the living room where I moved it to make room forthe new one so am thinking two things

1...Can I transfer all water, filter media and fish to the new tank and set it up for use straight away?

2...Or shall I do fishless cycling with the new one and start from scratch?

A couple more things whilst I am here - When you use terracotta pots for are they the common old garden variety? And can I (or is it wise to) mix real and fake plants in the same tank?

Thanks for your help

Kaye

 

[rabbut]

Hiya All

Today I bought a new tank its a Juwel Rekord 120 - almost 3 times the size of my original tank

I was getting rid of my 54L but it looks rather nice in the living room where I moved it to make room forthe new one so am thinking two things

1...Can I transfer all water, filter media and fish to the new tank and set it up for use straight away?

Yes, you can

2...Or shall I do fishless cycling with the new one and start from scratch?

I think covered above

A couple more things whilst I am here - When you use terracotta pots for are they the common old garden variety? And can I (or is it wise to) mix real and fake plants in the same tank?

Thanks for your help

Kaye

Yes you can mix real and fake plants. IMO it looks best if the fake plants are realistic looking. If you whish to keep fish with long fins, sily plants are best, as the plastic ones can be sharp and can rip the fins

All the best
Rabbut

 

[groovitudedude]

Transfer all the old filter media and filter(s) to your new tank first. Add as much old tank water to the new tank as possible, and you should be fine.

 

[katykaye]

Thanks for your replies

Now - more questions sorry......

Was thinking of trying sand this time round, but how do you clean it without losing most of it? I use a gravel vac at the moment...

Is there any benefit of using sand rather than gravel?

I have real plants in my 50L but have never really done anything - just put them in and trimmed occasionally Should i being doing something different as I want to use lots of plants in my new tank?

thanks again for your help.

Kaye

 

[OldMan47]

To clean sand before you use it, wash it well in a bucket of flowing water. The dirt is still much lighter than the sand so it can be cleaned, you just need to adjust the water flow to not wash the sand over the side of the bucket.
Once it is set up, the suggested method is to swirl the gravel vac above the sand to sort of stir the dirt and let the flow pick up the dirt and carry it away. By staying above the sand you don't pick up the sand in the siphon so you only remove the dirt. I use a coarse sand and find it almost as easy to clean as gravel but the finer sand can be more challenging.