Setting Up A New Tank, Advice Etc Appreciated

[justjon]

If the Rekord filter is the same as the one in the Rio range, you'll find it has a black carbon sponge and a green nitrate one. You don't need either. Set it up as in the instructions, with the fine blue sponge at the bottom, the coarse blue one next, and then where they tell you to put the green and carbon sponges, put in the media from your bio orb filter. Finally, put the white pad on top. It'll make sense when you've got it in front of you. When I set up my Rio, I just chopped up the sponge from my old filter until it fit. Remember to keep the old filter wet while you're doing this, and be as quick as you can.

You'll have to keep the old media in there till the bacteria establish themselves in the new sponges - I'll let someone with a bit more experience tell you how long! Once the new media is established, you can replace the old one with a new sponge, or even a bag holding some ceramic media.

Thank's for this, does anyone have any idea how long? Obvioulsy once I pull the filter from the biorb, the old tank will get VERY messy and I imagine the fish will get stressed, so i'd want to move them in very quickly after doing this, any ideas?

 

[dave1987]

its best to keep it in there for a couple of months but rinse it in mature fish tank water when every it needs cleaning the same as the new filter material... when u change over tanks use the old tank water to ( with the mature filter material ) so its as if you were only doing a water change so put that in 1st then fill up the rest of the tank slowy with dechlorinated tap water and they should be fine

 

[justjon]

Ok, so a step by step...

1) Get Tank
2) Wash gravel out with hot water etc. (just hot tap water?)
3) Pull filter out of old tank
4) Place old filter sponge in new filter/pump system
5) Drain old tank water and put into new tank
6) move fish into new tank with old water
7) Move remaining old water into new tank
8) Put tap water into bucket and mix in chlorine treatment
9) wait 10mins or so (?) And then pour treated water into new tank to top-up


All correct?

 

[dave1987]

perfect when making up new tank water i use the hot tap to make it warm enough for the tank but obviously not to hot some people would dissagree with this but iv never had a problem doing it this way

 

[justjon]

So all the above is ok? I dont want to end up killing the fish! But i cant transfer the old filter sponge without moving the fish eithher.. so it's catch twenty two

 

[vinylman]

You can put newly dechlorinated water into the tank straight away; it works almost instantaneously. If you put the old filter media into the new filter, it will support the amount of fish you already have. Go easy with feeding for the first week or so (maybe just feed every other day). Just don't be impatient and put more fish in there for a while.

 

[Colin_T]

Set up the new tank up with the gravel, water, heater, etc and add some dechlorinator. Let it run for a day or so and this will get the temp correct and all the chlorine out of the water. Then transfer the old bio-orb filter and the fish from the bio-orb into the new tank.

 

[justjon]

Thanks Colin, so you're saying don't put any old water in at all, just put fresh water with the treatments I have got, leave it running for 24 hours so the temp sets in, then take the filter out of old tank quickly, put it in the current running filter in the new tank, then just put the fish straight in and it should be ok?

 

[Essjay37 152]

That's what I did. I let it run for a couple of days to check the tank seals (just in case!) and find the correct heater setting for the temp I wanted (mine didn't have a dial on it). Then transfered the fish, old filter sponge, plants and decorations, though I also moved some of the water too. I kept an eye on the ammonia and nitrite levels for a few days in case I had a mini cycle and never saw a reading above zero. As vinylman says, go easy on the feeding both before and for a few days after the move.

As for the gravel, wash it very thoroughly till all the dust has gone or you'll get a cloudy tank. Plain cold water will do to rinse all the dust away.

 

[kris1978]

hi, i was in the same situation as you a couple months ago and what i did was to wash new gravel with tap water making sure it was nice and clean, add gravel into the tank, use 50% of your water from your biorb tank into new tank and then top up your biorb with treated water, add used filter sponge at bottom into new filter, top up new tank with treated water, add heater ect, get water temp as close as you can and make sure the heater temp is set correctly, turn everything on and it should be nice and clear within about 6 hours and will be ready to add your fish, just keep an eye on water temp to make sure it dont get too hot.
thats what i done and i added my fish within about 6 hours and everything was fine and fish settled in quickly. i started adding more fish after just a few days.
good luck and hope you can post some pics when all set up for everyone to see

 

[justjon]

The problem is Kris, I can't do that as with the biorb the filter system is built into the bottom of the tank (part of the reason I changed it) - basically, what will happen when I pull the old filter out to get the sponge, it will make all the tank really dirty with the fish still in... so I dont know which order to do it etc.

 

[kris1978]

The problem is Kris, I can't do that as with the biorb the filter system is built into the bottom of the tank (part of the reason I changed it) - basically, what will happen when I pull the old filter out to get the sponge, it will make all the tank really dirty with the fish still in... so I dont know which order to do it etc.
[/quote

take half the water from biorb before removing the filter sponge, then top up biorb with treated water but try not to make water too dirty when removing the filter, the fish will be fine just leave filter running without the sponge for oxygen for the fish and new tank should be fine within a short while to add the fish.
hope this helps

kris

 

[justjon]

Thanks, the only problem is with biorb you have no choice, it's kind of a design flaw, you pull the middle tube out and the filter comes up with it, meaning the tank FILLS with muck... however, if you think it'd be fine without the sponge in for say.. 6 hours? then I could do that.... hopefully the fish wont get too stressed... I have just got the new tank now... so about to build its stand quickly and get the tank into position etc....

 

[kris1978]

good luck and hope 2 see some pics soon

 

[Essjay37 152]

Justjon, get your new tank in position, put the gravel, water etc in, and heat it up. Once you're happy with it, move the fish into the new tank, moving some water as well if you want, but leave enough behind to wash the filter. Then as soon as you've moved them, take the filter out of the biorb, wash the media gently in the remaining water, and put the media into the new filter. Since the fish will already be in the new tank, it doen't matter how messy the biorb gets. It shouldn't take more than a few minutes to transfer the filter media, the fish will be fine for that long.