Problem Swapping Tanks Help!

[southyorkshireguy]

I've just got my new secondhand tank and i have a big problem, i did want to transfer the media over from the old tank into the new tank.

Problem is my old tank is a juwel rekord 120 fish tank and the filter is glued in and you cannot remove it, also the sponges in the secondhand tank are totally different from the sponges in the old tank, the sponges in the old tank are bigger than the ones in the new secondhand tank so what can i do? i really wanted to transfer the media from the old tank into the new one.

I don't wanna wait weeks to cycle this new tank as well

Any suggestions? as i am wanting to transfer my fish into the new tank tomorrow if possible.

 

[Kiwigirl]

Doing a fishless cycle is a lot safer than doing one with fish.



You can transfer some substrate from your mature tank, this will provide some benificial bacteria straight away.

Your platys are hardy fish you could put these in your tank, but you may need to do daily water changes to keep the toxic levels down.

 

[southyorkshireguy]

What i was hoping to do was transfer the sponges from the old filter into the new filter but the new filter is totally different and it dont look like the sponges will fit into the new filter, the old filter has several different sponges but the new filter has just one big sponge, i really wanted to transfer my fish but if i do transfer them into the new tank they would all probably die.

 

[Kiwigirl]

Another option is to soak your new filter media in the mature tank for a while.

The more benificial bacteria you can transfer over the better.

 

[southyorkshireguy]

Thanks what i might do then is soak the media in the old tank for today and then tomorrow put the media into the new tank and then use the water from the old tank as well and hope there will be quite a bit of beneficial bacteria in the new tank, i will also add some king british safewater in the new tank as that encourages more beneficial bacteria to grow.

 

[Egmel]

Thanks what i might do then is soak the media in the old tank for today and then tomorrow put the media into the new tank and then use the water from the old tank as well and hope there will be quite a bit of beneficial bacteria in the new tank, i will also add some king british safewater in the new tank as that encourages more beneficial bacteria to grow.

From what I remember there is very little beneficial bacteria in the water, but I think your fish will be happier if the water is similar between the old and new tanks.

There are 2 main ways of cloning tanks:
Run the new filter in the old tank for about 2 weeks before setting up the new tank.

OR

Transfer over some old media into the new tank. As you say the best way to do this would be to put it in the new filter however if this isn't possible try putting it in a stocking and hanging it in the new tank close to the filter inlet or outlet so it gets a good flow of water.

HTH

 

[southyorkshireguy]

Thanks for the helpful info, i will probably run the new filter in the new tank and put the filter media from the old tank into a stocking and put it next to the filter, never heard of doing that before but it's something that would help get the bacteria into the new tank so thats for that advice.