New Tank

[Blue Bubble]

Hello..........


So get my new tank this week, so reading and reading to learn how to do the transfer over.

Have so many questions etc and from reading some of the other posts and now not trusting my fish shop at all!


What I have now is a 35 litre tank I have 2 real plants in the old tank, a filter (which sticks inside), gravel and of course fish. 2 zebra danios, 4 neon tetras, a loach and a purple, stripey wiggly one that my kids wanted (I think is a loach too)


Sooooo, as I understand it I need to get the good bacteria over to the new tank, but I need to keep my old tank running while my new one sets up. Someone told me to use my old water, but I need that in my old tank?? Do I use the old water when I do a water change?

Should I move my plants over to the new tank now or when I move fish over, or just buy new plants?

I was thinking of having sand in the new tank as I would love coreys - but worried about the cleaning part of it??? Is it hard

What fish would you recommend in my new tank and approx how many, fish shop told me far too many first time round imo.

Thank you and speak soon. x

 

[LauraFrog]

Okay. I'm assuming that the current tank, the 35l, is cycled. This will make your job a lot easier...

Sand versus gravel: If you want corydoras catfish, you can keep them over sand or pea gravel. Pea gravel is the standard gravel you get in aquariums with very smooth edges, sort of like miniature river pebbles. The problem with keeping them over ungraded (rough) gravel is that its sharp edges wear off their sensitive barbels, so if the gravel is very smooth it's fine. If the only reason you want sand is to have corys, and you don't intend on planting heavily, gravel is easier to clean. Sand is not difficult to clean once you get the hang of it, you just siphon the gunk off the surface, but if you disturb it it might cloud the water a bit. It's also very easy to suck up the sand with the gunk - it's a matter of practise really.
Sand is better than gravel if you want to plant your tank, but I wouldn't worry about it if you just want a few plants. IMO if you're going to plant really, really heavily (like a Dutch aquarium with plants the main feature of the display), sand and gravel are equally useless and you need a proper planting substrate. These are a pain in the backside, they cloud the water (often for days on initial setup, and then for hours or days if they ever get disturbed) and they are very expensive.
The best plants to grow in gravel are those that use roots as anchors more than to feed. I've had good luck with anubias and thin val, which are very hardy plants, and java fern is also a good choice - I've never had it (can't get it) but it's supposed to be very tough and it's certainly attractive.

Moving the fish etc:
Set up the 105 litre tank with dechlorinated water. Let it run for two days. This is important. It lets the heater stabilise the temperature, the filter expel all the little air bubbles in it, etc.

When you're ready to move the fish: Turn off both tanks. Get your largest bucket and drain water from the 35 litre into it. Put all the fish in the bucket. If you've got some, add a plastic plant to give them a bit of shelter. Cover the bucket tightly, as frightened fish may jump.
Open the filters from both tanks. Remove a sponge or some filter floss from the filter on the 105 litre and replace it with all the filter media from the 35l. This contains all the beneficial bacteria. Since there are enough bacteria present to cope with the waste from that number of fish, it should be fine. Put the filter back in the 105 litre. Turn the equipment back on and let it run for about an hour. While that's going on, you can be moving plants, ornaments etc, and cleaning the 35 litre. Once the new tank has been running for an hour or so with the cycled media in it, get a big plastic bag. Use a freezer bag intended for food storage, not an old bag from the supermarket. Wash it thoroughly in the remaining old tank water. Put as much old water in it as it can hold. Catch all the fish and put them in it. Turn off the lights in the 105 litre and float the bag in the new tank. After five minutes, open the bag and submerge the opening. After another five minutes, tip out any fish that are still in it.
If you were acclimatising new fish, you would do it a lot more slowly and avoid adding any water from the bag into your own tank, but since it's the same water supply and your own fish, there's no need to take forever. Before you release the fish, check with your hand that the temperature is roughly the same - if it feels the same to your fingertips, it's close enough. Do not turn on the lights or feed the fish until the next morning.


Remember that the more plants, decorations and other hiding places are in your tank, the more heavily you can stock it. Once fish are settled and know their tank, if they know they can find shelter within seconds if threatened they are more likely to be active and visible. There is no need to copy a specific environment (or even use natural looking decorations) as long as the fish have plenty of cover. If there are places for fish to go when they feel threatened you can have more fish or mix fish that you should not combine in an open tank.
If you want corys, get at least four. They are social fish. I also recommend that you get at least four more zebra danios. They are far happier in a school and will display to each other, flashing their fins, making a wonderful display. Other than that - anything you've got in mind? There are so many to choose from that it's impossible to come up with a stocking list from scratch.

 

[donna 123]

ok easy
set up your new tank where you want it,
if you want sand go for it, i have two tanks one gravel one sand, sand looks nicer , get a clean bucket fill with sand about half way run water in to it while mixing, i used a wooden spoon, keep pouring the dirty water away and refill with clean, this seems to take an age but is well worth it in the end,
put clean sand in tank, put a plate or something flat on top this is so when you pour the water in the tank the sand wont disturbe to much, fill tank with treated water as close to 24deg as you can, i use a mixer tap, turn on lights pump heater ect if you have these in the new one to make sure all well,
as for the good bacteria its all in your old filter which you run in the new tank as soon as fish and plants are added, run for 6-8 weeks.
when i did this from a 180 to a 260 i put all fish in a large bucket with a filter running in, they were fine.
Good luck and when your done we can talk fish
edit to add i did save as much water from the old tank as i could.

 

[jackson 10]

hello mate basically take some of your old mature filter media out of your small tank and put it into your new big tanks filter ..this holds all the bacteria in there to break down your fish waste ...secondely get your gravel vac or a bucket (small enough to fit into your old tank) and fill up yoour new tank with your old tank water but ONLY TAKE OUT HALF THE WATER FROM YOUR OLD TANK for ovious reasons ...thirdly fill up your new tank with water make sure it dechlorianted and make sure you top your old tank water up to its original deph ...and last turn on your new tank the filter and heater and let it run for about a day or 2 just to heat up and get the water oxynating around your tank ...

also just for you own peace of mind do a last water check for your new..and just simply add your fish mate

happy fish keeping...

 

[pippoodle]

WHY take old water there is no benfit to adding old tank water you start with all fresh dechlorinated water

fill up new tank with new water sand and plants etc you want to add to it
turn on heater and filter run for 2 days to get to temp

leave the old tank running as is

IF YOU ARE NOT KEEPING THE OLD TANK

add old filter to the new tank with this to run along side new filter for 6 weeks
add your current fish

wait 2 weeks then add 4 of any new fish that you want
then wait 2 more weeks add 4 more

in 6 weeks you can either remove your old filter or leave it running in the tank as a spare - incase newone brakes down and also give you more filtration
if not you can just remove it


this is what i did and it worked perfectly lots and lots of times - no ammonia spikes or anything

its the easiest way i found

cheers sarah

 

[Blue Bubble]

hello mate basically take some of your old mature filter media out of your small tank and put it into your new big tanks filter ..this holds all the bacteria in there to break down your fish waste ...secondely get your gravel vac or a bucket (small enough to fit into your old tank) and fill up yoour new tank with your old tank water but ONLY TAKE OUT HALF THE WATER FROM YOUR OLD TANK for ovious reasons ...thirdly fill up your new tank with water make sure it dechlorianted and make sure you top your old tank water up to its original deph ...and last turn on your new tank the filter and heater and let it run for about a day or 2 just to heat up and get the water oxynating around your tank ...

also just for you own peace of mind do a last water check for your new..and just simply add your fish mate

happy fish keeping...

Thank you all for your comments, so helpful, I am very grateful.

a question for Jackson - In my small tank I have a filter which is one sponge (in a black box) that sticks on the side of the tank, on my new tank the filters are in the lid of the tank, which work by drip method I believe not 100% sure until I get it (does that make sense, I am not very technical haha) I can't put my old sponge in both places at the same time? (I was thinking that I would put my old filter in my new tank anyway when my fish are in there until I am confident with the new filter.)
What should I do for that day or so while the new one is going, should I cut the sponge in half? and put half in each? or is that a stupid idea haha.

Many thanks

ooo just seen your post Sarah, thank you.

I am so excited...... no-one warned me how much fun or how addictive fish keeping would be.

 

[jackson 10]

hello mate basically take some of your old mature filter media out of your small tank and put it into your new big tanks filter ..this holds all the bacteria in there to break down your fish waste ...secondely get your gravel vac or a bucket (small enough to fit into your old tank) and fill up yoour new tank with your old tank water but ONLY TAKE OUT HALF THE WATER FROM YOUR OLD TANK for ovious reasons ...thirdly fill up your new tank with water make sure it dechlorianted and make sure you top your old tank water up to its original deph ...and last turn on your new tank the filter and heater and let it run for about a day or 2 just to heat up and get the water oxynating around your tank ...

also just for you own peace of mind do a last water check for your new..and just simply add your fish mate

happy fish keeping...

Thank you all for your comments, so helpful, I am very grateful.

a question for Jackson - In my small tank I have a filter which is one sponge (in a black box) that sticks on the side of the tank, on my new tank the filters are in the lid of the tank, which work by drip method I believe not 100% sure until I get it (does that make sense, I am not very technical haha) I can't put my old sponge in both places at the same time? (I was thinking that I would put my old filter in my new tank anyway when my fish are in there until I am confident with the new filter.)
What should I do for that day or so while the new one is going, should I cut the sponge in half? and put half in each? or is that a stupid idea haha.

Many thanks

ooo just seen your post Sarah, thank you.

I am so excited...... no-one warned me how much fun or how addictive fish keeping would be.

just basically mate cut it to the correct size of your new filter and there we go.. and sarah there is a beneficial fact to why you should put abit of mature tank water to your new tank as it homes alot of the food to make your good bacteria grow more and more so therefore leaving it for a couple of days is all what it needs if you put fresh water in and leave it for 4-6 weeks as you said the good bacteria will be developing very slowly thats even if its developes atall and its very time consuming for a very exited fish keeper who cant wait to buy fish...dont get me wrong the info you gave is correct in every way i just refering to ludawigs topic on "Cycling are we being over the top ?"

and i think he is correct in everyway like him my great uncle has kept fish for over 50 years had hundreds of tanks and bred loads of different fish in that time this is where i got my info from about maturing new tanks

My uncle gave me some mature media for my new tank and gave me a bootle full of his tank water and told me to let lit run through my filter for a couple of days then test then if all is right add fish ...my watere stats after those 2 days where what i wanted and there has never been a problem in my tank which now ive had for 2 months.


if someone who done something everyday for 50 years they cant be wrong surely

have fun picking your fish fella

 

[Blue Bubble]

hello mate basically take some of your old mature filter media out of your small tank and put it into your new big tanks filter ..this holds all the bacteria in there to break down your fish waste ...secondely get your gravel vac or a bucket (small enough to fit into your old tank) and fill up yoour new tank with your old tank water but ONLY TAKE OUT HALF THE WATER FROM YOUR OLD TANK for ovious reasons ...thirdly fill up your new tank with water make sure it dechlorianted and make sure you top your old tank water up to its original deph ...and last turn on your new tank the filter and heater and let it run for about a day or 2 just to heat up and get the water oxynating around your tank ...

also just for you own peace of mind do a last water check for your new..and just simply add your fish mate

happy fish keeping...

Thank you all for your comments, so helpful, I am very grateful.

a question for Jackson - In my small tank I have a filter which is one sponge (in a black box) that sticks on the side of the tank, on my new tank the filters are in the lid of the tank, which work by drip method I believe not 100% sure until I get it (does that make sense, I am not very technical haha) I can't put my old sponge in both places at the same time? (I was thinking that I would put my old filter in my new tank anyway when my fish are in there until I am confident with the new filter.)
What should I do for that day or so while the new one is going, should I cut the sponge in half? and put half in each? or is that a stupid idea haha.

Many thanks

ooo just seen your post Sarah, thank you.

I am so excited...... no-one warned me how much fun or how addictive fish keeping would be.

just basically mate cut it to the correct size of your new filter and there we go.. and sarah there is a beneficial fact to why you should put abit of mature tank water to your new tank as it homes alot of the food to make your good bacteria grow more and more so therefore leaving it for a couple of days is all what it needs if you put fresh water in and leave it for 4-6 weeks as you said the good bacteria will be developing very slowly thats even if its developes atall and its very time consuming for a very exited fish keeper who cant wait to buy fish...dont get me wrong the info you gave is correct in every way i just refering to ludawigs topic on "Cycling are we being over the top ?"

and i think he is correct in everyway like him my great uncle has kept fish for over 50 years had hundreds of tanks and bred loads of different fish in that time this is where i got my info from about maturing new tanks

My uncle gave me some mature media for my new tank and gave me a bootle full of his tank water and told me to let lit run through my filter for a couple of days then test then if all is right add fish ...my watere stats after those 2 days where what i wanted and there has never been a problem in my tank which now ive had for 2 months.


if someone who done something everyday for 50 years they cant be wrong surely

have fun picking your fish fella

Thank you Jackson, should I move my plants when I set up the new one or just before I transfer fish over,or does it not matter?.

Elaine (Blue Bubble)

 

[OldMan47]

Blue Bubble, If you are going to move the fish and plants to the new tank and then retire the old tank try doing it this way. Set up and dechlorinate the new tank but leave a little room in the tank for more water. Move the plants over and then the old filter and fish. You left a little room so you could move some water and not shock the fish with a 100% water change. After the tank has been running for a few weeks, you can remove the old filter.
What we are setting up is to put a small filter that is already handling your bioload into the new tank where it can continue to handle that load. By running the filters in parallel, the new filter will develop a colony of beneficial bacteria. Once those bacteria have established, the old filter is removed.

 

[pippoodle]

just basically mate cut it to the correct size of your new filter and there we go.. and sarah there is a beneficial fact to why you should put abit of mature tank water to your new tank as it homes alot of the food to make your good bacteria grow more and more so therefore leaving it for a couple of days is all what it needs if you put fresh water in and leave it for 4-6 weeks as you said the good bacteria will be developing very slowly thats even if its developes atall and its very time consuming for a very exited fish keeper who cant wait to buy fish...dont get me wrong the info you gave is correct in every way i just refering to ludawigs topic on "Cycling are we being over the top ?"

and i think he is correct in everyway like him my great uncle has kept fish for over 50 years had hundreds of tanks and bred loads of different fish in that time this is where i got my info from about maturing new tanks

My uncle gave me some mature media for my new tank and gave me a bootle full of his tank water and told me to let lit run through my filter for a couple of days then test then if all is right add fish ...my watere stats after those 2 days where what i wanted and there has never been a problem in my tank which now ive had for 2 months.


if someone who done something everyday for 50 years they cant be wrong surely

have fun picking your fish fella

i did not say he couldnt add any fish for 6 weeks
i said he add his fish right away and then in 2 weeks add 4 more fish and 2 weeks later add another 4 fish

you cant just add tonnes of fish to a new tank even with using the the mature filter as you are liable to get an ammonia spike cos you increase the bioload too much for the bacteria that the filter can handle

i've been doing it this way with coldwater fish , then on to tropical for the past 15-20 years and never had a problem

you dont tell people to add lots of fish to a new tank as the filter will not be able to cope with the increased bioload
that is why i said add fish 4 at a time and then after 6 weeks either remove the old filter or keep it in as a spare this way the new filter will be full of all beneficial bacteria and you wont get any ammonia or nitrite spikes
that can poison the fish

 

[Blue Bubble]

Hiii

He is a she.........haha...Elaine

I knew what you meant Sarah about adding the fish etc and after 6 weeks removing the old filter if I wanted.

Thank you for all your comments, really appreciate.

 

[pippoodle]

Hiii

He is a she.........haha...Elaine

I knew what you meant Sarah about adding the fish etc and after 6 weeks removing the old filter if I wanted.

Thank you for all your comments, really appreciate.

sorry elaine lol i seen your name lmao and still called you a he MS head lol

good luck hun xx

Sarah xx

 

[OldMan47]

Pippoodle, you must get over your sexist leanings. I am trying to be obvious about my gender with my ID but not everyone does dearie.

 

[pippoodle]

Pippoodle, you must get over your sexist leanings. I am trying to be obvious about my gender with my ID but not everyone does dearie.

i read that as sexiest leanings and got all confused again
please excuse me lmao i have MS and things dont always register right or when i type then read right